Vers. 1 — 10. — A severe lesson unlearned. L OrtoBTUNiTT to learn thb lesson. The suffering had not happened a long way off and to a people of strangers. Those who were to be taught had seen fur themselves. The suffering was the very cause that prompted them to seek a home in Egypt, and even at this moment it was no great distance that separated them from the land of desolation. And so also have we oppor- tunities, only too many, to learn from the sufferings of otbers. All suffering teaches something, if only we are willing to learn, and the suffering that comes through sin should have a peculiarly instructing power. Opportunity is also given, not only to learn ourselves, but to teach others. The daily newspaper, with its records of crime, folly, violent death, and lifelong disgrace, puts all who read it under a great responsi- bility for ordering their lives aright.
II. The full explanation of the buffebino. The cause of it all is clearly stated. The unfaithfulness of a nation to their God. Even to have begun a departure from God was great wickedness, but persistency still further intensified the guilt. Other nations were faithful to their gods, though they were really no gods and had rendered no service, whereas Israel owed its growth, its position, its prosperity, its fiime, to Jehovah. We do not know the origin and moulding of any other people as we do those of the people of God. We canu' t think ot the great suffering connected with the desolated cities of Judah without thinking also of Jehovah's long-suffering, and of the continuous prophetic means he empluyed to set before his people their wickedness and peril. On tlie other hand, we have a lesson with respect to what seems unpunished iniquity. Suffering is surely being gathered up for it. Time is being given for repent- ance and amendment.
III. The lesson is altogether unlearned. We say " unlearned," because it effected no change. Suffering; liy itself cannot change. Suffering, indeed, appears to have different effects with did'erent people, but the suffering is not really a cause. It but gives occasion to see whether men will yield to the new life and energy which comes from God. There had been a great upheaval in Judah, but so far as concerned the Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt the only change was one in the scene of their idolatries. They were the same men in Egypt as at Jerusalem. — T.
Yen. 11— 14.— 2%« doom on those making sure of safety in Egypt. L A nxEo bebolution. The obstinate self-will of man brings into relief the inflexibility of the righteous judgments of God. The remnant of Judah set their faces to go into the laud of Egypt to sojourn there. What, then, is to be expected but that Jehovah should set \i*faet against them f The more self-will becomes a power in the life, the more nearly
198 THE BOOK OF THE PKOPHET JEREMIAH. [oH. xliv. 1— 30.
does it mnve in direct opposition to him who is the true Rovoreign and Disposer of every human lite. We can guess something of the thoughts of these Egypt-seekers. They say to themselves, " Henceforth we shall consult for our own safety." They speak aa if the peculiar perils hitlierto besi'tting them were the perils of one place rather than another. Perhaps even they reckoned that outside the land of Israel they were beyond Jehovah's reach. Here there is a lesson for us in our selfish aims and pursuits. All selfishness is bad, but even in selfishness a lesser badness is a degree of jioodijess, and it is well for a man it he gets frequently shaken in his selfisliness; for then, liis face not being steadily apainst God, he will find God looking on him encouragingly, to draw him out of his selfishne.'is altogether.
II. A COMPLETE DESTRUCTION. Complete, that is, in the sense of peneral and final. There was but a remnant to begin witli, and of tliat a very small remnant miglit escape. The very smallness of the remnant, however, would but magnify the com- pleteness of the destruction. No place is .secure against the visitations of God's righteous wrath. Indeed, the greatc'r the appearance of natural security, the more n anifest will be the breaking in on this security of the Divine justice. Men must be tau'iht, even bv terrible lessons, that, as there is the best kind of safety under the shadow of God's wings, so there is the worst kind of dan;ier the further we go from God. To miilti])ly our own defences is really to multiply our own perils.
III. A Nui.Lii'iEn puui'osE. This remnant, not fiiiding in Egypt the expected safety, thinks there is notiiing easier than to go back again to the land of Judah. Whereas they find too late that, while departure from their own proper place is easy enough, return to it may be impossible. Opening the door to get out was one thing ; opening it to get in again qii'te another. Seventy years was to pass before they of the Captivity should return IVum Babylon— indeed, it would really be another generation altogether; and should those who sought Egypt in contumacy and rebelliun expect to fare better? We must be wise in time. "To be wise too late gives sutii ring its keenest edge. So Judas brought back in vain the thirty pieces of silver, and Esau found no place ot repentance though he sought it cai'eful'}' with tears. This is why God is so earnest in promising wisdom and liglit to those who seek for them, that we may seek for them at the right time, at the beginning of the great.opportunity of life, and at the beginning of every smaller opportunity. — Y,