not far <iff. " If I had been a little child among the Israelites, I think I should have known, when father set the bitter herbs upon the table, that the lamb was roasting somewhere, and would be set out too^' With bitter herbs shall ye eat it ' — and so if there be bitter herbs, the dainty dish is near " (Spurgeon). 2. That the two come from the same hand. If there be a designed proportion then, not two independent minds are at work, but one only ; ratio and proportion ever argue unity of mind. There is not an evil god who hurls sorrow upon men, and another a gracious God who sends only joy. That was the old Manicliasan heresy, which is not dead yet. But the truth is that there is a likeness, a proportion between the good which God sends upon his people and the eyil he has brought upon them. From one hand both come. Bat —
V. The ratio is not equal toe the child or God. " Our light a£9iction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The proportion of the evil we suffer to the good we shall enjoy is not that of equals, but that of the very little to the infinitely great.
VI. The belationship also is that of mothbe and child. Sorrow is the mother of joy. Cf. our Lord's own metaphor : " A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come : but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." " Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Cf. also above : " Our light aflSio- tion . . . worketh for us," etc., so that joy is begotten of sorrow.
TIL BoT this can only be fob the child of God. Therefom^
" Help, Lord, that we may oome To thy saints' happy home. Where a thousand years As one day appears ;
Nor go Where one day appears As a thonsandi years
For woe I*
a
Vers. 6 — 16. — Jeremiah showing Ms faith by his works, Jeremiah, as a prophet ol Jehovah, had not only to utter warnings and predictions, but to show, on needful occa- sion, that he himself believed in them. He who would have others obey the Lord, must keep on persuading them to obedience by being prominent in obedience himself. Observe —
I. How the Lobd fbefabeb Jebemiah aoainst a diffioitltt. Hanameel, we may take it, was coming in any case with this proposition of purchase, and, but for the Divine warning, might have come on the prophet unexpectedly, so that he would hardly know what to do. There may have been many considerations to perplex Jeremiah. But all perplexities were removed by a plain commandment. Moreover, Jeremiah was helped to come into an obedient and restful mood of mind by the very fact that the visit of his relative was foretold. He was made to feel that God's eye was on him — on his ways, his needs, his difficulties. Things he himself could not prepare for, God prepared for. Instead of the prophet having to ask, " Shall I buy or shall I not? " his way was made clear by a plain commandment. And surely we have here an indication how God ever watches over his true servants. We make difficulties greater than they otherwise would be by neglecting to ascertain whether there be not some clear expression of God'." will concerning them.
II. The example herb given to ub of the obbdibnob of faith. Jeremiah, left to Mmself, might very well have said that this was no time either for buying or selling. The King of Babylon's army would soon have the whole country, and where then could be the worth of purchases and contracts ? Let us for a moment suppose there had been no Divine commandment at all, and that Jeremiah had been left to his own Judgment to decide on Hanameel's demand. If he had refused to buy, then there would not have been wanting those to exclaim that Jeremiah, so eloquent about the neglected duties of others, was shirking his own duties. On the other hand, if he had bought, then he would have been viewed with suspicion, as not really believing, after all, in the alienation of the land to Babyloo. And of course, actually buying as he did, no doubt
jkbxmiah— n. »
66 THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xxxn. 1— 44.
some sarcastic criticisms were made on his conduct. But then, through all, he was secure in the certainty that he was doing God's will. The transaction, however incon- sistent or ridiculous it might look to others, was really one of the most prudent and well-based that ever man engaged in. Jeremiah himsc'lf could not well see how things were going to come right again, but he trusted in the foresight and omnipotence ol Jehovah. — Y.
Ver. 33. — Man's neglect of OocCs teaching. I. God'b attitude as a Tbachei TOWARDS MAN. God's Complaint is that man turns to him the back and not the face. Hence we are to understand that God turns his face to us, full of meaning and very earnestly. Consider that expression, " I will guide thee with mine eye." Of course all such expressions are purely anthropomorphic, but behind them there is the truth that, when God speaks to us, it is in the same way as we do when we are most earnest and concerned in speaking. We speak then in every feature.
II. God's assiduity as a Tmachbr. Rising early and teaching them. The effort to make the people understand truth and duty is continuous and unremitting. Nothing was left undone that could be done, so far as the Teacher's side was concerned. Laws and symbols, great providences, great deliverances, great punitive visitations on other peoples, punishments of men like Eorah and Achan and Saul, chastisements like those of David, — thus Israelite-history abounded in lessons from God. Here is instruc- tion from the great Teacher to all teachers. God was ready to seize on every oppor- tunity to give a lesson, for opportunity is a great part ot success. And seeing that God is thus declared among his people as a great Teacher, we should look on the Old Testa- ment as a lesson-book, and study how far it may be useful to us. For though we have our own peculiar lesson-book in the New Testament, yet even the New Testament becomes clearer the better we understand the Old.
III, Man's attitude as scholar towards God. His proper attitude is with the face, eyes looking on the Teacher, an expression oMnterest manifested, ready with the lip to ask further instruction and explanation.
rV. TkB FAOBS of these people WEBB TURNED TO OTHER TEACHERS. The faCt is,
man must ever be learning from somebody ; and Israel, with the back to God, had its face towards the priests of idolatry, the ministers of cruelty, and was obedient to all their worst instructions. Let every one who has truth to teach and heavenly light to give remember that he is a rival of those who teach falsehood, error, cruelty, vice, superstition. If he ia not successful in teaching the principles that liberate the spirit, then others will be successful in leading it into the worst of bondage. — Y.