Vers. 7 — 12. — Divine cmnforte for those in doubt and fear. I. The meaning of THE nJTBEVAL. There are ten days to wait between the prayer of Jeremiah and the answer of Jehovah. Why.this waiting ? It must have been in some way for the sake of the people. They had said very emphatically they would be obedient ; would they be obedient to begin with, to the extent of waiting ten days for God's answer ? It had also to be seen whether they would continue in the spirit of obedience at all ; and would they all continue in the same spirit?
IL EvEBYTHiNa depends on the disposition of the peopIjK. Glod will do great things for them if only they do uot destroy the effect of his anious by their self-will and instability. They were to show their trust in God by abiding in the land. Nothing could be done without this. Goa uses, to indicate hin work for them, two wordi^
OH. xuL 1— 22.] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 178
which imply fixity — building and planting. Let us also recollect the greatness of God's power to them that believe. If we take no trouble to furuish the occasion, we must not complaiii.
III. The great wobk God is disposed to do. It is indicated by these two not infrequent figures of buildin gaud planting. God was willing to make these people his husbandry, his building (1 Cor. iii. 9). He had been lately engaged in a great pulling down and rooting up; and why ? Because his people bad been putting up the wrong buildings, planting the wrong plant. Every plant not planted by God must be rooted up. God is the Builder, not a mere helper in building. We may be said to be fellow- workers with God, but it can never describe him rightly to call him fellow-worker with us. The work and the glory are his of building up the holy character, the perfect manhood, the everlasting home. He it is who makes his people fruitful in every good word and work. And the way for all this building and planting was now clear so far as God himself was concerned. All the pulling down and rooting up was done. Only let the people give the needed opportunity and all else would prosper.
IV. Caution against needless feab. The temptation here, as so often, was to fear man too much and God too little or even none at all. " The fear of man bringeth a suare." The people feared the King of B:ibyion, forgetting the limits of his power and the way in which he was controlled by Jehovah. — Y.
Vers. 13 — 18. — A land to le avoided. How solemn and urgent this warning! Let us ask why it was needed, why God seemed thus to cast doubt on the power of the people to obey him,
I. Thb perilous land was near. They were right in the way to Egypt, having, indeed, moved Egyptwards rather than in any other direction (ch. xli. 17).
IL It had obvious attractions. 1. It seemed to he a land of peace. Egypt had been looked to as a friend and ally. The desolation of Jerusalem had come from the north. When people have been going through a time of war and siege, peace u naturally the blessing put in front of their thou;jht8. And is not this a good thing, it may be asked ? Yes, surely, if peace be desired on high grounds, and from a horror of discord among men. But men may seek it simply to escape from disturbance and from loss of life and property. Their seeking of peace may be a sign of cowardice and altogether grovelling aims. Danger may be escaped bj' the outer man, only to be concentrated more effictually on the man within. 2. It would he a land of bread. Another recommendation of a land which it was unquestionably right, for men to attend to. Egypt was one of the great granaries of the ancient world. But it did not there- fore follow that it was a land to live in. Israelites, in particular, needed to recollect how their fathers, beginning by going to Egypt for bread, ended by sinking into most oppr' ssive bondage. Besides, even the land of bread was at times a land of famine. 3. It consequently looked a land to dwell in. God is the God of his people only when they are in their proper place. He was God of the exiles in Babylon, because their going into Baiylon was of his operation. But those who went to Egj pt in search of mere immnnity from toil and inglorious ease could not expect to have the Divine favotir. They wanted to get the great ends of life without discipline, sacrifice, and endurance.
III. Thb vain purpose to escape from evil. God tries to make the people understand that they take the germs and principles of evil with them. What we find in any place depends on what we bring ; and what we bring we must, in process of time, inevitaMy find. What had there been to hinder the land of Israel from being a land of peace and a land of bread ? Nothing bnt the faithlessness and general w ieked- ness of the peo]>le. We cannot sow wickedness in one place, and then hope to go and reap only good things in some other place. God can turn any place, however fruitful, into a wildejness ; and, on the other hand, we know how Jesus made a wiMerness a place to feed five thousand tnen. Jehovah spoke with all this severity to these people to make them understand how hard a thing real obedience was. — Y.
Vers. 19 — 22. — Searching the heart. There is here a very sudden and striking turn kway from the tone of the previous part of the message. God looks into the future, •nd, seeing what actually will happen, seeing that Egypt will maintain its attraction,
180
THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh, xliit. 1— 13-
he warns the people they are going towards a certain doom. Their present state was one of undue, overweening self-confidence; and God will not allow people to remun under deceiition as to their own weakness, if a startling and abrupt message will serve to arouse them from it. Perhaps we shall not he far wrong in assuming that the chang- ing tone of the prophecy is occasioned by the changing mood of the audience. Whil« the prophet is speaking of the dangers of Egypt, their deep desire after Egypt is half revealed. The one gate into which they wished to enter is peremptorily closed agamst them. All at once there may have been a sort of awakening to the fact that God knew their hearts better than they did themselves. We must recollect, too, that Jeremiah spoke out of no short or impeifect experience. He saw that the people were disap- pointed ; that, instead of a word poiniing them towards Egypt, there was sentence upon sentence warning them against it. How hard it is to be sure of knowing the will of God I How easy to mistake for it the impulses of indulgent human prudence 1 God tells the (.eople plainly they are going to seek for things tliey will never find. Instead of living in peace, they are to die by the sword. Instead of getting abundance of bread, they are to die by famine and by the pestilence that accompanies lack of bread. Here altogethec is an example (A the need of that prayer in Fa. cxxxix. 23, 24. — Y,
EXPOSITION.
OHAFTEB XLIU.