L It has been guarded by awful sanctions. Frequently in Old Testament history the death-penalty was inflicted upon spiritual pretenders, false prophets, and idolatrous worshippers of Jehovah. The warning of the text is very significant; a time was to come when no Jew would any more swear by Jehovah in Egypt, for the very good reason that there would be none there. " In the form of asseveration the Name of Jehovah would he still retained, although they had long since been devoted to the service of other gods. But Jehovah, who is a jealous God, rejects honour and acknowledgment which he must share with others ; and so his Name shall no longer be heard from the mouth of any Jews in Egypt " (Hitzig). In the New Testament men are warned of making the Word of God " a cloke for lasciviousness ; " of " perishing in the gainsaying of Core ; " of tasting of the powers of the world to come, and falling back ; of making gain of godliness ; of handling the Word of God deceitfully, and wresting it to their own destruction ; or of adding aught to the revealed truth (Rev. xxiL 18, 19).
II. Reasons fob this sevebitt. 1. Objective. (1) The slow advance of truth. (2) The costliness of the Divine relation. 2. Suljective. (1) Partly in the very nature of the case — moral simplicity being sacrificed in the self-consciousness of a cor- rupt worship. (2) The necessity of inspiration by the truth in order to the spiritual welfare and true immortality of man. — M.
Vera. 1 — 30. — Jeremiah's last sermon. There are other prophecies of Jeremiah recorded in this hook in the chapters that remain, but this discourse is the last that we know of his delivering. And with it the curtain falls upon this great prophet of God ; upon Baruch, his beloved companion and helper ; and upon the wretched Jews for whose good he had laboured, but in vain. A long interval separates it from that in the previous chapter ; for we see the people not now at Tahpanhes, at the border of Egypt, but gathering from all parts of the land to Pathros, to a great heathen festival there. And a very awful discourse it is. There is not one word of gospel in it, but the boom of the heavy bell of doom is heard resounding all through it — not one sohtary chime of grace, or mercy, or hope anywhere. It is like the words of the Son of man when he comes to judge the world, and all nations are brought before him, to those on his left hand. They are told their sin and their doom. They make such defence as they can, which is rather a defiance than a defence ; they are answered, and their sentence is pronounced again. There is throughout both these discourses nought but "a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation." " There remaineth no more sacri- fice for sin." Such sermons might well have suggested these apostolic words. In this one note—
I, Its coumenoehent — the indictment or thb condemned. The prophet reminds them that they had seen God's judgments upon their brethren and fathers, and they knew the cause, that it was their sin against God. They had heard warning after warning addressed to themselves against the same sin. And not only had these warnings been repeated, but many messengers had been sent, and these had given their message with all earnestness and zeal, in season and out of season, and God himself had deigned to entreat with them and plead with them, saying, "Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate 1 " But they had disregarded, despised, disobeyed all, and they were not humbled (ver. 10) even now. Therefore was their judgment pronounced against them and their doom was fixed.
II. Thk answeb of the people. They would not believe in their doom. The; reserved to persist in their sin. They declared they were every way bett«r off in serving idols than in serving God,
OH. XLIT. 1—80.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 193
in. The prophet's eeplt axtd beiteba.tion of G-on's judoment aoainst them.
Conclusion. As we read and ponder this terribli' chapter, and remember that as its declarations concerning the past were true, so also weie thc^e that related to the future ; for the judgment came upon them to the uttermost, far more than fell on those in Babylon. What can our hearts say to this ? " Who would not fear thee, Lord ? " " Keep back thy servant . . . from presumptuous sins." — C.