The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 531

'!'hero may be in it a peculiar coherency and submissiveness, and a peculiar energy of gruwLh; so that the promiHe of fruitfulness and increase will be amply fulfilled. Tho Divine course of action with this remnant seems to be much the same as that followed with Noah and his family in tho repeopling of the world after the Deluge. III. THE SUFFICIENCY OF PASTORAL OVERSIGHT PROMISED FOR THE FUTURE. Of bad shepherds there have been only too many, and of good shepherds none have been so good but what they might have been a great deal better. 'l'he cause of all these bitter experiences has, however, lain with the people themselves. Wanting to be like nations round about, they desired kings; and God gave them these desires to the full, to show what the end would be. Then when the folly of the sheep, in trying to choose shep- herds of their own devising, has been illustrated sufficiently, God sends shepherds who shall be true shepherds. He alone is able, as he alone has right, to appoint such shepherds as will be equal to all the serious charge put into their hands. No pastors will be able to do anything for God's flock save those who are indubitably of God's appointment. Our wisdom is to allow God to provide out of his knowledge, rather than try ourselves to provide, seeing how ignorant we are. The acceptance of God's true teachers and guides has to come at the last, and many disappointments and vexations would be spared if this acceptance were allowed to come at the first.-Y. Vers. 5, 6.-The righteous Scion of David. What is general in vers. 3 and 4 now becomes exceedingly definite. Attention is directed to one particular person in whom shall centre all the blessings that can come through a king worthy of the name. The days are coming in which he will rule in the midst of a kingdom worthy of him. Jehovah sees these days coming as a watchman might observe people approaching in the far distance and moving steadily in the right direction. These days are on the way, and the actual experience of them is only a matter of _time. In these days will appear- I. A SoION OF DAVID. "Branch" is a somewhat misleading word here, especially con- sidering the use which is made of the branch in the New Testament. The branch is properly taken in relation to'the trunk, both being parts of a. living wholo. "I am tho Vine, ye are the branches." Instead of the Christ being spoken of as e. Branch from David, David is rather to be spoken of, by virtue of his faith in the coming One, as a. branch of the Christ. The real meaning, of course, is that, at some time in the future, one of the lineal descendants of David will fulfil these purposes of God and the consc- q uent hopes of devout men. Hence the importance which belongs to the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. The more the Gospels are looked into, the more it will be seen how they are constructed on certain lines indicated in the prophecies. The two Gospel genealogies become additionally credible when we reflect what e. motive there was to preserve the record of lineal succession from David. Con~idering how uncertain it is that any man will have lineal descendants centuries a[ter his own times, it is a peculiarly noticeable miracle that he who appeared something like a. thousaud yearn after David to do such great works, should have been unquestionably David'd descendant, born at Bethlehem and named as Son of David by the common people. II. A RIGHTEOUS ScroN OF DAVID. In a not unreasonable sense of the word, David was himself e. righteous man. \Ve cannot say anything for him, any more than for ourselves, if we contrast him with the righteous God. Ilut we have also to look at him over against the vile men with whom he was so often in conflict, men who appear not to have had one generous feeling or upward aspiration. Especially we must contrast him with some of his own dcsceudants. When we look down th~ line as far as history gives the opportunity, we see first good men and then bad men. And it is e. great mystery in the Christ's human nature that he should havo been a Scion of the bad ns well as thEt good in this line. \Vo are, therefore, obliged to recollect: 1. 'l'he.t David, who was righteous in a modified sense, we.s in due time followed by e. descendant who was com- pletely righteous. He who was ever reaching forward, trying to o.pproximate more and more to the will of God, was followed by One who revealed that will in all the conduct of his life on earth. 2. That even as a bad father had e. good son ( or take, as a very striking illustration, the bad grandfather Manasseh and the good grandson Josiah), so all these bad kings had in due time a successor in Jesus of No.zarcth, who was undefiled l>y o.oy taint that might_ reasonably be supposed to havo como J.own from them. Ali 538 THE DOOK OF 'l'llE PROPIIET JEREMIAH. [cu. xxm. 1-40.