Ver. 8. — Zedehiah'i army stxtttored, Zedekiah's aim was to keep his army together, for as long as be could do that there was a chance of averting the evil day, and perhaps in the end escaping it altogether. But without his army he was utterly helpless. He could not bring himself to heed Jeremiah's counsels, doing the right and putting his trust in Jehovah. And so when the army was gone everything was gone. Nothing remained but random, desperate attempts at flight, and the certainty of ultimate capture. We have to ask ourselves what we shall do when our army is scattered from us, when the resources of our own making are vanished. The chief battles of our life are not to be fought with external resources at all. In every warfare where the weapons are carnal the weapons must &i! at last. Only when we are engaged in truly spiritual warfare, and have the hosts of heaven on our side, can we be sore that our army will not be scattered from as. — Y.
Ver. 11. — ZedekiaVi/txte. Here ia a triple l>ondage— the bondi^e of blindnecR, fetters, and imprisonment. Truly a dreadful doom I Look —
L At ths cause or it. 1. The cause so/or as it ties in his cwn conduct. There was no need for him to accept a throne as viceroy for Babylon, but, having done so, he had entered Into an implied covenant. No wonder that the King of Babylon took special care to stamp such conduct in a peculiar way. 2. The cause so far as it lies in the notiont of the time. Zedekiah was treated, not only vindictively, but savagely. The meaning must have been to humiliate him, to make the iron enter into his very souL What a diffetence Christianity has made in the treatment of conquered foes 1 The change has come very slowly, but it is real and stable. One cannot imagine the time returning when a captured enemy would be deprived of his eyesight.
TI, At a oontbast mMEDiATELT SUGGESTED. One canuot but think of Samson, whose external condition was exactly that of Zedekiah, blinded, fettered, and imprisoned. Reduced to this state the Philistines reckoned he was impotent. Zedekiah r^Ily was impotent ; he seems to have gone on to the day of his death in monotonous submission to what he felt necessity. But it was only necessity because he made it so. The worst limitations our fellow-men can put on us may become in certain conditions like an easily snapped thread. Zedekiah might have risen above all these insults and puns. Perhaps he md rise. It is well for us to recollect how GKhI has placed the essential liberty of every individual in his own hands. — ^T.
Vers. 12, 1Z.—A great burning. L The BUSNiNa in oenbbal. The sum of the details amounts to a statement that the city was reduced to ashes. For this not Babylon is to be blamed, but Zedekiah and bis predecessors, together with their advisers. Babylon was only acting according to the fashion of the times. The hand of Jehovah was withdrawn, the hand that might have averted the torch ; and it was withdrawn because the destruction of Jerusalem had become a better thing for the world than its preservation. Still, it is not to be said in the fullest sense of the word that Jeh«vak
TEBEUAH— H. T
321 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEBEMIAH. [oh lil 1— 34^
destroyed Jerusalem say as he destroyed Babylon. In the course of a few generations Jerusalem rose from its ashes, temple included. The mere destruction of buildings, terrible as it is at the time, may soon be got 07er, as witness the rebuilding of London, and Chicago. The decay of national spirit and national resources is the thing to be feared.
IL The BUBinNO or thb temple ik pabtiodlab. Babylon had no fear in destroy- ing the house of the Lord. Doubtless it was quite a common thiog in war to destroy the temples of gods, for tliey were looked upon merely as part of the resources of nations. We must distinguish between what is essentially sacred and what is sacred only by association and to serve a purpose. Whun the purpose is accomplished the sacred sinks back into the common. God dwelleth not in temples made with hands. He was none the poorer for all this burning. Babylon learned hereafter that, though his house had been burned, his power was not at all diminished. The chief value of the temple lay in tbie, that it had beeh an expression of the piety and devotion of David and Solomon. Kings and people alike had proved themselves onworthj of their great anceiton— T.
HOMILETICAL INDEX
TO
THE BOOK OF THE PEOPHET JEREMIAH.
VOLUME n.
CHAPTER XXX. rnmra taqu
" Scripture— the Written WordofGod" 8
"Fear not" ... ... ^ 4
Divine Healing ... ... m 6
Joys of Bedemption ... ... 5
Written in a Book ; or, Words held
over ... ... ... ... 6
The Twofold Wonder of Israel's Sal-
Vatiun... ... ... ... 7
The Multitude of God's MeroieB ... 7
The Ideal Buler m, 8
CHAPTEB XXXI.
The Close Eelations of God and hU
People... ... ... ... 15
The Everlasting Love of God 16, 32, 40 Bachel weeping for her Children 17, 24
Ephraim's Return ... ... 18
Divine Satisfaction ... ... 19
Heredity and Individual Besponsi-
bility 19
The New Covenant ... 20, 25, 37
Guarantees of Perpetuity ... ... 21
Grace preparing for Graee ... ... 22
The Character of the Divine Law in- ferred from its History ... ... 23
The Unity of the Ghurch ... ... 23
The Redemption of Israel a Great and
Notable Event ... ... ... 24
Ephraim bemoaning himself; or the
Penitent's Bestoratlon ... ... 25
Ifiwiona put an End to m ... 26
THEHE r^ex
The New Jemsalem mi •.. 27
The Bestoration of Israel ... ... 28
The Steps of the Kingdom of God ... 29
Trouble lessened by Increase m. 31
God's Will done at Last ... ... 33
The Scatterer the Gatherer ... 83, 42
Strong, Stronger, Strongest m. 34
Satisfied ... m. m. 35
Strong Consolation m. ... 35
Bemoaning Cue's Self .» ••. 86 Conversion and Bepentanoe ... 37 Great Encouragements for those re- turning to God ... ... ... 88
God the Husband of his People ... 40 Work yet to be found in the Vine- yard ... ... ... ,„ 41
God the Gatherer of his People ... 42 Praise waiting for God in Zion ... 43 Sorrovring Mothers and their Conso- lation ... M. — ... 44 Sweet Sleep ... ... ... 45
Jehovah visiting the Individual for
his Sins ... ... ... 45
The New Covenant and the Old ... iC The Seed of Israel ; Signs of its Ever- lasting Duration ... ,„ 47
CHAPTEB XXXIL
Faith tested by Action ... m. 50
The Prayer of a Perplexed Soul ... 51
The Omnipotence of God ... n. 52
Unity M. M 53
INDEX.
Qttd rejoicing m» an n» 53
Sttencing a Prophet ». m* 51
FRMthasing by Divine Oommand m. 55
The FrayeT of Jeremiah ,., ... 55
The Unities of the Divine Kingdom 56
A Story of God's Sustaining Grace .m 56
O Blessed Death I ... m. 5S
A Parable of Bedemption ... m— 59
Nothing hid from God ... m* 59
Truth confessed, but not realized m< 60
Loye's Labour apparently lost m. 61
The Refiner's Fire ... m. 63
The Batio of 8orro-<r and Joy ... 64 Jeremiah showing his Faith by his
Works ... ... ... 65
Man's Neglect of God's Teaching ... 66 The Bonda of Abiding Attachment to
God ... ... ••« ••• 66
Evil the Measure of Good .» «• 67