absurd as it would seem in many eyes, and as it perhaps partly seemed even in Ms own eyes, he felt need still of more assurance and confidence tlian he yet possessed. And K) in this prayer he pours out his perplexities before God. And if we analyze this prayer, we shall see that he begins by going over in devout confession and adora- tion the many reasons which ought to establish his faith. First he confesses the sure truth — nothing is too hard for the Lord. Then he proceeds from this general truth to several proofs of it in Israel's own history — how, in spite of all difficulty, God redeemed, preserved, and settled his people in the land he promised. Then he turns to the per- plexing facts which, at the moment, were so staggering his own mind — the dreadful wickedness of the people and the actual presence of God's judgments. How, in the face of all this, could God's promises be fulfilled? It is as if he had said, "Lord, 1 believe, I ought to believe, but I am sore perplexed, I desire to believe yet more ; help my unbelief." Such seems to have been the meaning of this prayer. It is prayer because this is its meaning, though there is not one word of petition in the whole oi it. The prayer has to be read between the lines. And God does ever so read the desires of his servants, even when not expressed in words, or when words are used that are not formal prayers. Nor can we doubt that thus coming to the Lord with his per- plexities was of great help to the prophet. It must have been so ; it ever is so. 3. Ood gives him fresh grasp of his promises, new asswcmce of the truth of his Word. This is the third and last step in this sustaining grace, of which this whole chapter tells. The account of this answer to the prophet's prayer is given in vers. 26 — 44. He gave him to feel afresh the blessed truth that nothing was too hard for the Lord (ver. 27). There- fore it mattered not, even though he could not understand all God's ways, though the Chaldean armies were thundering at the gates of Jerusalem, though the people were so hopelessly wicked. " Therefore (ver. 36) " saitb the Lord," and then follows a whole series of " I wills " and " shall be's, in which God again bears in upon his servant's soul the certainty of the things he had already declared. And more than be had declared should be — a spiritual restoration as well as a literal one. And then (vers. 43, 44), referring to Jeremiah's own transaction, "fields shall be bought in this land," etc. That which now seemed so unreasonable and hopeless should be matter of everyday occurrence in the blessed times of restoration which Gnd would surely bring about. The instruction, therefore, for every perplexed soul is — ^Use what faith thou hast ; tell •11 thy perplexities to God; receive the new assurance of bis faithfulness ha will rarely give. — C.
Ver. 6. — blessed death I " Until I visit him." Zedekiah does not seem to have been a bad man, though he did evil. Weak rather than wicked. One like our own Charles I. or Louis XVI. of France. One of those men unhappily called to places of great responsibility and difficulty, without the moral strength requisite for so arduous a post. A sadder life than that of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah and Jerusalem, can- not be conceived. It is a piteous tale. Bereaved, a captive, blinded, he was dragged to Babylon, and there died. And it is because the prophet of God recognizes that death to such an one could not but be a sweet messenger of relief, therefore he calls it " the Lord visiting him." True, the visit of the Lord often means the wrath of the Lord. He will " visit the sins of the fathers," etc. But it yet more often means the goodness of the Lord. " The Lord hath visited and redeemed his people." He visited Hannah. He visits his flock. And this gentler meaning it has here ; for the sore punishment of his sins Zedekiah liad already been visited. This visit, therefore, tells of Crod's merciful visitation.
I. Death hot always a visit of mebot. Not to those who die in their sins. It is represented often as the judgment of God. " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," as they who die impenitent and unbelieving fall.
IL But death is hobe often the Lobd's visit of mebot. It is : 1. To (hose whom Ood punishes in this life. Zedekiah was an instance. Gf. those of whom St. Paul says (1 Cor. xL 33) that they were judged now that they might not be condemned with the world. And probably there are many such. 2. To the sorrowful and ihosa whose lives are a prolonged pain. We speak of death for such as being a merciful relief; and we are right. 3. To all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Death for them is the Lord's visiting them — Christ's coming again, as he said he would, and
OH. rsxn. 1— 44J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 69
receiving them unto himself, that where he is they may be also. Which kind d Tisi- tation of the Lord shall death be to ua t — 0.
Vers. 6 — 15, — A parable of redemption. For the sake of variety and interest, it is lawful uow and then to make the transactions of earth tell of the transactions of heaven ; to make prosaic matters of fact — as the redeeming of this field — parables of spiritual realities. Let us so deal with this narrative. Here was —
L A POSSESSION IN AN eneut'b fowbb. The field, as the whole land virtually was 80 at that very moment. So man.
IL The Loed promptino kbdemption. Jeremiah knew that it was " of the Lord." God is tlie Author of redemption. " He BO loved the world that," etc. " God was in Christ reconciling," etc.
III. The Kedgemeb voluntabilt undebtaeino the wore. Jeremiah might have refused. So Christ thought not his equality with God a thing he should tenaciously retain, but emptied himself (Phil. iii.). " For our sakes, though he was rich, yet ho became poor."
IV. The seeming hopelessness of such eedemption. What likelihood did there seem in Jeremiah's payment that he should ever possess the land? What could Christ's cross do to redeem man ? " The oifence of the cross."
V. Redemption accomplished and attested. The prophet paid the silver, and the transaction was attested in due form. Christ paid our ransom, and that that great purchase was valid was attested by the resurrection from the dead : that was the seal.
VI. Witnesses are commissioned to declare the tbuth. (Vers. 12, 13.) So Christ commanded his apostles to testify of what he had done.
VII. The twofold testimony. (Ver. 14.) There was that which was sealed and that which was open. So is it of the great redemption. There is a testimony that is sealed, hidden from the world, but revealed to the believer by the Spirit of God in his inward experience, the witness of God in his soul, the Spirit bearing witness with his spirit. And there is that which is open — the historic evidence of the resurrection of Christ and of the truth of Christianity.