II. The eternal law of righteousness, the evee-living witness of bpikitual PROPHBCT, CAN NEVER CEASE. The words, the commandments and prohibitions, the outward ordinances, might pass away for a season of Divine displeasure, might be absorbed in the fuller revelation of the gospel. But the principles of the moral law, the obligations of unchanging righteousness, can never cease ; for they are the expression of the mind and will of him whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. The vision may no longer be granted to the seer of Jerusalem ; the city may stone her prophets or the Lord himself remove them. But every purified eye shall through aU time behold God's glory, and the ear that is oxjen to truth and love shall not cease to recognize the still, small voice of Heaven. — T.
Ver. 13. — Commiseration. The spirit of the prophet deserves our warm admiration. Jerusalem, its king and its citizens, had treated him with injustice and indignities. But in the day when his predictions were fulfilled and the city was overwhelmed by disaster and humiliaticjn, so far from boasting over her, Jeremiah regarded her state with profoundest pity. Observe in this verse —
I. The affectionate and admiring LANOnAOB BY WHICH THE prophet DESIGNATES
THE AFFLICTED CITY. Not a word of insult or of contempt, but, on the contrary, language evincing the deepest, the fondest interest. The population that had so despised his prophecy and had treated liim so ill is here iiersonified in language apparently more appropriate to times of prosperity. Jeremiah bewails the state of the daughter of Jerusalem, the virgin daughter of Zion.
II. The tender commiseration of the prophet with the city's woes. 1. He pronounces the sorrows of Jerusalem unequalled. It is a common mode of expressing sympathy to assure the afflicted that others have the same griefs and trials to endure. No such consolation is offered here ; the prophet lool<s around in vain for a case bo distressing. The breach is " great like the sea." This is either a figure drawn from the vastness of the ocean, with which the great woe of Judah is compared ; or it depicts the enemy as rushing in upon Jerusalem, as the sea in its fury makes a breach in the wall of a low-lying territory, and, sweeping the defences away by irresistible forcev
OH. u. 1—22.] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEBEMIAH. 17
creates a desolation, so that a waste of waters is beheld where villages and fruitful fields once smiled in peace and plenty. 2. He pronounces the sorrows of Jerusalem irre- mediable. A mortal wound has been inflicted, which no leeohcraft can heal. If Jeru- salem is again to flourish it must be by a revival from the dead. For nothing now can save her.
Apflioation. 1. The captive city is a picture of the desolation and misery to which (sooner or later) sin will surely bring all those who submit themselves to it. 2. The commiseration shown by the prophet is an example of the state of mind with which the pious should contemplate the ravages of sin and the wretchedness of sinful men. 3. The gospel forbids despondency over even the most utter debasement and humiliation of man. " There is balm in Gilead ; there is a Physician there." — T.
Yer. 16. — ITie glory and the shame of Jerusalem. Contrast with misery escaped heightens the joy of the rescued and the happy ; and, on the other hand, contrast with bygone prosperity adds to the wretchedness of those who are fallen from high estate,
I. Thb beauty and benown oi' Jbbubaleh m its prosferitt. Into these many elements entered. 1. Its situation was superb. Nature pointed out the heights of Ziou for a metropolis. Especially when beheld from the brow of Olivet the city impresses every traveller with admiration. 2. Its history and memorable associations. Won by the valour of David, adorned by the magnificeuce of Solomon, the home of heroes and of saints, this city possessed a fascination with which few cities of the earth could compare. 3. Its sacred ed^ce ranked alone, far above all the temples of the ancient world. Not that its architecture was commanding or beautiful in the highest degree ; but that its erection, its dedication, the presence of the Eternal, all lent an interest and a sacredness to the peerless building. 4. Its sacrifices and festivals, which were attended by hundreds of thousands of worshippers, were altogether uniq^ue.
II. The dibobaoe of Jebusalem. This appears : 1. From its ruinous and almost uninhabitable condition. 2. From the slaughter or dispersion of its citizens. 3. From its degradation from its proud position as the metropolis of a nation. 4. From the hatred, scorn, and insults of its triumphant enemies.
Application. There is a day of visitation which it behoves every child of privilege and mercy to use aright. To neglect that day is surely to entail a bitter overtaking by the night of calamity and destruction.— T.
Vers. 18, 19. — The entreaty of anguish. This surely is one of those passagen which justify the title of this book ; these utterances are " lamentations " indeed ; never did human sorrow make of language anything more resembling a wail than this.
I. The souls feom which tearful entreaties arise. The true language of passion — this utterance is lacking in coherence. The heart of the people cries aloud ; the very walls of the city are invoked in their desolation to call upon the Lord. Clearly the distress is that of the inhabitants of the wretched city, of those survivors whose fate is sadder than that of those who fell by the sword.
II. The circumstances that occasion the entreaty. 1. Personal want, suffering, and distress. 2. The spectacle of the woes of others, especially of children. Literature has no more agonizing picture than this of the young children fainting and dying of hunger in every street.
in. The Being to whom the supplications of the anguished are addressed. in such circumstances vain is the help of man. Upon whom shall Jerusalem call but upon the Lord, the King of the city, the great Patron and Protector of the chosen nation, who has forsaken even his own people because they have forgotten him, and in whose favour alone is hope of salvation ?
IV. The ohabaoteb of the entreaty ubged. 1. It is sorrowful, accompanied by many tears, flowing like a river and pausing not. 2. Earnest, as appears from the description — ^heart, eyes, and hands all uniting in the appeal with imploring prayer. 3. Continuous ; for not only by day, but through the night watches, supplications ascend unto heaven, invoking compassion and aid. — T.
Ver. 20 1 — Consideration besought. How truly human is this language I How real
28 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [oh. IL 1—22
was the eternal Lord to him who could shape his entreaty thus I As if to mge a plea for pity, the prophet implores him who has been offended hy the nation's sins, who has suffered the nation's misery and apparent ruin, to consider ; to rememher who Judah is, and to hare mercy.