Ver. 16. — Sparing the poor. L The fact. Whilst the king, the nobles, the wealthy, and many others were carried into exile, certain of the poor were still left in the lami. We are accustomed to speak of the hanlships of poverty, but there are compensating advantages not a few. Many evils of the worst character only visit the rich. In times. of public trouble the houses of the rich are attacked and the persons of the great are threatened, while the poor are left in happy neglect. Great men are beset with anxieties such as are unknown to the simpler lives of the poor. Who would be a king now that kings are all marks for the assassin ? In those countries where the sovereign is com- pelled to take elaborate precautions for his safety, the poor citizen can move about the streets without fear. The one is a prisoner in his own palace, the other s bee man with liberty to roam over the whole kingdom. Ambition aims at distinction, but that is a poor crown to win. Distinguished men have peculiar vexations and dangers of their own. There is more happiness in obscurity. The wise man will say, " Give me nuither poverty nor riches;" and the Christian will add, " Not my will, but thine, be done," knowing well that for him that lot is best which his heavenly i<'ather assigns to him.
II. 'iHE explanation. What was there in the condition of the poor to induce the Chaldeans to spare them? 1. 2'heir innocence. The peasants had not been plotting against Nebuchadnezzar, and the vengeance that the Babylonian monarch vented on the king and the seat of his government was naturally averted from the quiet country- lolk. These men were also more innocent in the sight of God. The leading people had shown their I'aithlessness in turning from Jehovah to Egypt ; tliey, too, had proiiably descended the lowest in the vices of the age, which brougut upon the nation the wrath of God. Poor men may be bad men. But there are sins to which they are less liable than great men. 2. Their weakness. While the great men were removed to Babylon, there would appear to be little danger of an insurrection among the poor people scattered over the farms, who had enougli to do to earn their daily bread. There is a protection in weakness. A little strength often courts danger. They who are weak in themselves may be strong in the protection of God's providence. 3. Their usefulness. These poor people were left to work as " vine-dressers and husbandmen." Nebuchadnezzar had no wish to see his newly acquired territory converted into a desert. It was for his advan- tage that some of the people should be spared, 'i here is uo protection like usefulness. Be serviceable and you will be safe. He who lives for the real good of his fellow-men and the glory of his great Master may be sure that no harm can touch him so long ■■ be is faithful to his task.
81« THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. toH. ui. 1— 34.
Vers. 81 — 34. — The deliverance of Jehoiachin. The new king signalized his accession to power by an act of clemency. Possibly he saw no reason to continue the cruelty of his predecessor liow that the Jews were quieted ; possibly he was influenced by Daniel. Whatever the cause of it may have been, it is pleasant to see how mercy " becomes the throned monarch better than his crown."
I. Deliverance may come at length aftbb prolonobd suffbbino. Jehoiachin liad endured tliirty-seven years of imprisonment. He must have lost hope long before his liberation. Yet the longest night hns its end. If trouble outlast life, there is the blessed liberatdr, death, that ultimately Iroes the most wretched from his distresses. Then what will thirty-seven years of suffering be to the ages of eteruity ? It is a weary time to eiidnre, but, compared with the ,ifo beyond, it will seem both light and brief.
II. The pbolonoed endueanoe of suffebino must make the return of the COMMON mercies OF LIFE A WONDERFUL BLEssDia. What n meaning there is in the word " liberty " in the ears of the captive 1 Only the sufferers from thirst know the sweetness of water. The sick, when restored, enjoy health as the strong never caa Jehoiachin would find his change of circumstances wonderful beyond all expression.
III. No EARTHLY DELIVERANCE IS PERFECT. The old man had endured captivity so long that lie must have been bewildered and distracted by his release. For him, jnce a proud tyrant, now an aged, humiliated captive, crushed with the imprisonment 01 more than a third of a century, the thoughtless merriment ot a court would scein like the life of another world or like a dream of childhood. His sufferings must have been too severe and too protracted for him to eater at once into the liberty and honour that were offered to him. One can scarcely think that he could ever feel at home with them. We know not what will be the first impressions of a new world when the soul escapes from its earthly captivity and enters the court of heaven. But there is an essential difference between Jehoiaohin's condition and this. Jehoiachin remained an old man, worn with suffering as well as with years. The Christian has the gift of eternal life. To him the liberation by death is more than a change of external circumstances. He looks for the renewal of the fresh vigour of youth. Jehoiachin was never restored tu his kingdom ; at best he was an honoured subject of Babylon. But the Christian is restored to more than the primitive rights of man — to glory and kingship. Finally, there is no indication that Jehoiachin was changed in character. His long, lonely sufferings and the many reflections of thirty-seven years of imprisonment may have humbled him to penitence. But the historian does not appear to know of any such change. Yet a man's greatest enemy is himself. Deliverance of the body from a dungeon is a small boon if the soul is still captive to sin. The salvation in Ghnst effects this complete deliverance.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1. — Zedekidh. (Cf. former homily, ch. xxzviL 1.^—0.
Ver. 8. — The Lord creating evil. This is one of the passages of Scripture the masning of which does not lie on the surface. It seems to represent God as instigating sin. For " through the anger of the Lord " it is said " that Zedekiah rebelled." But it was for that very rebellion he was so sorely punished, and yet it is said it was " throush the Lord." Note—
I. Thbrk abb othkb pabsaobs like this. Of. "the Lord hardening Pharaoh's heart." The history of Judas. " None of them is lost, but the son of perdition ; that the Scripture might be fulfilled " (John xvii. 12). Again, " Is there evil in the city and 1 have not done it?" (Amos iii. 6; Isa. xlv. 7). And St. Peter's word to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 23). They wickedly did what nevertheless God had determined before to be done. And there are yet other Scriptures besides these.