The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 501

from the burning. 4. Oonclusion. Let us give God thanks that he does this, That Amons have Josiahs for children; Ahaz, Hezekiah; Henry Vlll .• Edward VI. That ,from such a court as that of the previous reigns CJUr own beloved queen should have come. God be praised for this and every such instance !-C. Ver. 29.-The impassioned cry of God to man. This cry," 0 earth, earth, earth," etc., sounds out like the alarm of fire, or some bitter cry of distress. It startles by its earnestness, arrests and demands attention, and compels us to inquire into its cause. Note, therefore- . I. TRE OCCASION OF IT. This will show us what word of the Lord's is meant. It was wrung out from the prophet's heart by the sight of the calamities now so swiftly coming upon his beloved land. To think of that land overrun by the cruel armies of Babylon, the holy city burnt with fire, the temple of the Lord desecrated and destroyed, and her kings, one after another, ending their days in misery; Josiah, the happiest of them, slain in battle; Shallum, his son, exiled in Egypt, and dying there; Jehoia- kim carried off by Nebuchadnezzar, and perishing at a very early age, and in some miserable manner-" buried with the burial of an ass" (ver. 19); Jeconiah, with his mother, seized by the Chaldeans, tom from his home and taken to Babylon, and there living and dying in drear exile-he the last of the royal race, after whom none other filled the throne of David. It was the sight of all these calamities, and the shame and disgrace attached to them, and especially the remembrance of the cause of them all, that extorted this loud cry of pain, this impassioned appeal. (Cf. Stanley's 'Lectures on Jew_ish Church,' Leet. xl., for history of period.) Would we realize the prophet's distress,-let ns endeavour to imagine that the circumstances were our own; that it was our own land, people, temples, princes, thus threatened, thus exiled, thus miserably perishing. What should we think then? No wonder that Jeremiah was "the weeping prophet;" that he felt the woes of his country to be so great that he could appeal to all who witnessed them, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if," etc. (Lam. i. 12). And, like Dives in hell, who bethought himself of his five careless, godless brethren, and would have them warned; so the prophet of God, knowing how all the world was heedless of God, even as his own land had been, to its sore cost, now passionately cries, "0 earth, earth, earth," etc. Ile would have sinnel'S everywhere take heed, by Judah's awful fate, of how God will surely punish sin. The word he would have them hear was the word of warning. 'l'his is the lesson which the occasion of this ·appeal teaches us. 'l'here are many other words which God addresses to us- words of mercy, promise, instruction,, and the like; but unless we take heed to this word and dread the sin which works such woe, all the others will be but lightly esteemed. And that which makes this word yet more emphatic is the position of privilege and honour and security which those now judged of God once occupied (cf. ver. 24). Coniah wns as God's signet-ring, precious, honourable, and guarded with nil care. But it mado no dilJerence: as a ring might be plucked off and cast away, so now God would root out and cast a.way these evil-doers, though once so dear to him. It matters not, then, what position of privilege, profession, reputation, service, and the like we fill, disobedience to God's commands will cast us down and work our ruin. "Let him that standeth take heod lest he fall;" "De not high-minded, but fear;" "1f God spared not the natural branches, tako heed lest he also spare not thee." II. THE MANNER OF IT. This will show how disregarded this word of tho Lord too commonly is. There would have been no need of such impassioned nppeal if men were eager to listen. But the cry has to be loud, repeated, and ever louder still. 'l'he world has but to whisper; the lowest accents of pleasure, self-interest, and _often of sin, nre caught in a moment and obeyed. Ilut the word of the Lord finds no such reception ready. How different this from all other creatures of God !-from the holy angels that "excel in strength and do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word," down to the meanest and humblest of oil the works of his hands. Man alone stands out in disITT"aceful exception. One should have thought that the near approach of danger would° quicken the sense of fear and lead to increased caution. As when the ship nears n perilous coast how frequent the soundings, how sharp the look out I But the ungodly, t1,c mnrcr they come to the shore of the, for them, awful other world, the less conccrnctl they seem to be, the more dull of hearing tile word of the Lord. Like the colJ, which 608 TlIE DOOK OF TltE PROPHET JEREMIAI1. (ou. x.xtI, 1-30.