Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17:1-4

In this chapter, (1). God consults the Years of idolatry, and condows them to captivity for it, ver. 1-4. (2.) He shews them the folly of all their carnal confidence, and that this was one of the few upon which his controversy with them was grounded, ver. 5-11. (3.) The prophet appears to God on account of the matter of his enemies, committing himself to the divine protection, and begging of God to appear for him, ver. 12-18. (4.) God by the prophet warns the people to keep holy the Sabbath day, affaring them that, if they did, it should be the lengthening use of their tranquillity; but if not, God would, by some defelating judgment, affirms the honor of his Sabbaths, ver. 19-27.

1. THE sin of Judah is written with “a pen of iron, and with the 1st point of a diamond; it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars: 2. Whilst “their children remember their altars and “their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. 3. O my mountain in the field, “I will give thy substance, and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders. 4. And thou, even 1st thyself shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee, and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knoweth not: for ye have kindled “a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.

They seemed to wonder, chap. xvi. 10. what they had done to deserve such heavy judgments. But surely there was cause abundant given.

1. The 14. xi. x 3 Chapter XVIII. John-Cheff dear.

2. The far of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond; deep, legible, and tafting are the characters; the form of their iniquities is grown upon their hearts; the form of the abars of their idols, furnished with the blood of their licences, proclaimed their guilt; and their very children, trained up in their idolatrous rites, were evidences against them; or, as they remember their children, so do they their abars, with the same fondness, and so strongly attached to their abomination. Now, The iniquity of sinners is written before God. If the blood of Jesus blot not out the deadly charge, wee unto them in the day when the judgment shall fit, and the books be opened.

3. The charge being proved, judgment is passed on them. The city and temple, called the mountain of the Lord’s house, Aft. iv. 1. are devoted to the spoil, with all their treasures, for the far of the people throughout the land. The far was universal, and so would be the defoliation. And then, even thyself, or in this, those who dwell in the land, or through thyself, the ruin is of thy own looking, shall discontinue from the heritage that I gave thee, led captive into a strange land, and doomed to hard servitude under their tyrannical conquerors, and this through the fierce anger of the Lord kindled against them, and which would burn against the impenitent among them, not only all their days, but in memory. Now, if sinners continue hardened under God’s present judgment, they will find thee but the beginning of sorrows, and the sparks of those everlasting burnings which are kindling for them.

4. ¶ Thus faith the LORD, Curled be the man that trutheth in man, and 6 makes flesh his arm, and whofe heart departeth from the LORD. 6. For he shall be 7 like the heath in the defart, and shall not fee when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in 8 a fall land, and not inhabited. 7. 9 Bleifed at the man that trutheth in the LORD, and whofe hope the LORD is. 8. For he shall be 9 as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the rivers, and shall not fee when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, 10 neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9. ¶ The heart is deceitful above all things, and 11 desperately wicked, who can know it? 10. 12 I the LORD feareth the heart, 13 try the reins, 14 even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. 11. As the partridge firteth at eggs, and hatcheth them not: 15 he that getteth riches, and not by right, 16 shall leave them in the midst of his days, and 17 at his end shall be a fool.

5. 1. 1. The Jews often thought by their alliances with the neighbouring nations to gain protection against their invading enemies. This was both their sin, and a chief cause of their ruin.

6. The prophet denounces the curse of God against such a fruitful in man, and made flesh their arm, and whofe heart departed from the Lord, withdrawing their confidence from him, to place it on worms, which was to change a rock for a reed. Thus they trailed alternately on the Egyptians and Afghians, for desp. xi. 26, 37. to their sad disappointment; or they placed such confidence in their relation after the flesh to Abraham, that they promised themselves security, notwithstanding their faithless departures from Abraham’s God. But the consequences would be ruinous: for the heath in the wilderness, so defoliate should they be made, and leave as fast to the flames of God’s wrath, and for no good days, or behold and pine away at the mortars others should receive, from which they would be excluded, and become as a land parched and uninhabited; their country’s defart, themselves desirous of every comfort. Now, (1.) God is the only worthy object of our faith and hope: human confidences may fail us, he never will. (2.) When we depend on our own doings and duties to recommend us to God’s favour, instead of trusting on the divine righteousness and grace of Jesus, we shall by the little be convinced of the vanity of our dependence.

7. As miserable as they are who depart from God, so bleifed and happy are they, who, renouncing all other grounds of hope, rest their souls on God in Christ alone, 9. 7. They shall be like the men planted by the rivers, always flourishing and fruitful, free-pound, and in the most scorching season watered abundantly. Their profession shall be ornamental, their stability, focused; in time of greatest temptation they shall be kept from withering, and their fruits of holiness shall abound and abide, till grace ripens into glory.

8. The curse of all departures from God is here laid open. The heart is deceitful above all things, and differently wicked, who can know it? Man’s nature is fallen; his heart is radically corrupt, all its faculties perverted, and his whole mind and confidence defiled: deceitful above all things; puts false glories upon sin, that hide its malignity and danger; fences deughes

in the ways of indulgence, that are never found; buoys up the vain confidence of the sinner with hopes of impunity and peace; when God hath said, There is no peace: and differently wicked; not only evil, but evil continually and lucratively, deliberately set upon it, without power to seldom from it, or ability to get rid of the bondage of corruption; nay, rather hugging the chains: who can know it? The more we know of ourselves, far from having fathomed the abyss of evil, we discover but the more clearly, that the depths of corruption are unfathomable; we can neither understand the number of our errors; not promote ourselves for a moment security from the deepest and foulest falls. There is a mystery of iniquity within us, that none can know but God alone, and nothing can cure but his almighty grace; and therefore it were fully to depend on ourselves or others, in whofe hearts such deceit and deference wickedness are so deeply rooted. But if the Lord fawls the heart; its most secret purposes are known to him: I try the reins, and see the rising thought afar off: from him nothing is lost, nothing is secret; and thus all-feeling ought he to be, who is the final judge of all, and by whofe decisions our eternal state must be determined, and every man receive judgment according to truth. Now, (1.) Nothing affords so humbling a consideration to us, as this drinking view of our fallen nature; the pride of man must here for ever stand aghast and confounded. (2.) They who place confidence in their own hearts, in their resolutions and purposes, prove how ignorant they are of themselves, and predict only their own falls. (3.) Since at God’s awful judgment we must shortly stand to receive our dooms, it becomes us daily to be proving ourselves, and begging of God to discover to us our own hearts, that we may now to judge ourselves, as not then to be condemned of the Lord.

4. A heavy charge is laid against them for their covetousness and injustice. They would be rich, and flack at no methods to succeed, right or wrong; but God will not suffer them to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. Though brooding over them, as a partridge on her neft, their riches, like her eggs added or broken, should afford them no solid fatuation; and in the midst of their days, when they thought their rolls were over, and began to talk of enjoying themselves, they shall be cut off, and leave their wealth all behind, made monuments of the folly of trusting on uncertain riches more than in the living God; and these things are written for our admonition: may we hear and be wise.

5. ¶ A glorious high throne from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. 13. O LORD, the hope of Israel, 14 all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. 14. Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved: for 15 thou art my praise. 15. ¶ Behold, they say unto me, 16 Where is the word of the LORD? In it come now. 16. As for me, 17 I have not hastened from long a pallor to follow thee, neither have I defired the world day, thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee. 17. Be not a terror unto me, 18 thou art my hope in the day of evil. 18. Let them be confounded that pernicate me, but let not me be confounded; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and 19 destroy them with double destruction.

6. 12—18. We have the prophet here,

7. Acknowledging how well they deferred to be rejected, who were ungrateful to a God so great and gracious. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary; in the temple at Jerusalem God had erected his throne, there he manifested his presence, and thither, as to a sanctuary, the guilty might flee, and find an hiding-place, even to the mercy-fear. O God, the hope of Israel, the never-failing refuge of the faithful, in whom none ever trusted and were confounded; but all that forbids thee, safely withdraw their allegiance, turn aside unto idols, or place their dependence on an arm of flesh, they shall be ashamed; their confidences shall fall them, and their iniquities issue in their confusion. They that depart from me, and will not hear the warnings of God in the mouth of his prophets, shall be written in the earth, numbered with transgressors, and transpired upon with contempt; or rather consigned to the grave, cut off in their iniquities, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters, the source of all infligedness; and they who depart from him court their own misery.

8. He prays for himself. Heal me, O Lord; for though a prophet, he found, much infirmity cleaving to him, and the inveterate disease of sin still caused in his heart, the effects of which would prove mortal, without the powerful efficacy of divine grace: or he was broken-hearted for the first of the people, and in the view of the evils coming upon them, Heal me, and I shall be healed: fear me, and I shall be saved. God’s power was all-sufficient; on this he placed his dependence, and with humble

humble prayer, in God’s appraised way, fought the blessing he wanted; for thou art my pride, this object of it continually, who hitherto had given him abundance matter for his praise, and he trailed would contrition to do so. Note, (1.) Every blessing we need must be fought by the prayer of faith. (2.) But is the God’s disease, and will be fatal unless healed by grace. The salvation of eternity must be begun on earth: they who would be saved in heaven, must now be saved from the power of evil.

3. He complains of their hardened infidelity. He faithfully delivered the message he received from God, and they treated it with contempt. Where is the word of the Lord? where are the threatened judgments? they law no symptoms of their approach, and utterly disbelieved them; and therefore in defiance bid them come. Let it come now, as if they were above all fear, and dared the arm of omnipotence. Note, When sinners are thus incorrigible, their damnation flunkharsh not.

4. Their ill usage and inflictent treatment had not discouraged him from the faithful and diligent discharge of his office. I have not bathed from being a putter after thee; following God’s directions, notwithstanding every opposition: neither have I desired the world day, or wished to fix the milderies he intended; but prayed and preached with all his might, that by a timely repudiance they might prevent the threatened judgments. And for this he could appeal to the heart-searching God; Thus harmless it: that which came out of my lips was right before thee; he broke cruelty according to God’s word, with uprightness and limplicity, and was conscious of God’s approbation of his conduct. Note, (1.) Whatever treatment we meet with, we must patiently and boldly persist in the work of our ministry. (2.) Many think the preachers of God’s word delight in declaring the terrors of the Lord, but it is the most painful part of their office. (3.) They who have the heart-searching God to appeal to, need not regard the reviling of men.

5. He begs God’s protection and support, and that his enemies might be put to confusion. Be not a terror to me; not only do not confound me before them, but comfort me under their opposition; for more germs to be implied than is expressed. Thus are my hope in the day of evil, I disclaim all other dependance. Let them be confounded; convinced and penitent, or silenced by the infliction of the threatened vengeance; but let not me be confounded by their wickedness, or in the event proved to have spoken falsely. Let them be dismayed, with the sense of their danger; but let not me be dismayed by their reviling or persecutions. Bring upon them the day of evil, at which they scoff; since they will not be reformed, it is but just they should suffer for their impunity; and destroy them with a double de-Brullion; utterly, or beyond all their apprehensions; or by the Chaldeans first, and finally by the Romans: and this he prays, not out of revenge for a private injury done to him, but in real for God’s glory dishonoured by them. Note, (1.) There is enough in the best to terrify them, if God were first to mark what is amiss. (2.) When he is our hope, we need fear no evil. (3.) If we are faithful, God will never suffer us to be confounded.

Prop. vii.

19. Thus said the LORD unto me, Go and Stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20. And lay unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates. 21. That hath the LORD, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath-day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22. Neither carry forth a burden out of your hostels on the Sabbath-day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath-day, as I commanded your fathers. 23. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. 24. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, so bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath-day, but hallow the Sabbath-day, to do no work therein: 25. Then shall there enter into the gates of this city, kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in charters, and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city shall remain for ever. 26. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meat-offerings, and incense, and I bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the LORD. 27. But if you will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sab-

bath-day, and not to bear a burden, even cutting in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day: then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

9. 19—27. This is a new discourse; the subject relates to the fortification of the Sabbath-day. We have,

10. The places where he must deliver it. In the gate of the king, that all the great men at the court might bear it, whose good example would be very influential, or their bad conduct productive of peculiar evil: and then in all the gates of Jerusalem, that all might bear, and none plowed ignorance, from the least to the greatest, where the matter was of such universal concern.

11. The manner is prescribed in which the Sabbath-day should be observed. Thus saith the Lord, whom all are bound to obey, and whose word whoever is not yet, doth it at his peril; Take heed to yourselves; where so much depended upon it, they had need be careful: or, take heed to your flesh; for nothing is well done in God’s fight, but what comes from the heart. They must bear no burden, be employed in no fertile work of their ordinary calling, in husbandry, traffic, or merchandize; but hallow the Sabbath-day, in the diligent and conscientious improvement of those sacred hours in every public and private means of grace, as I commanded your fathers. It was no new commandment, but enjoined from the day they were taken into covenant with God, on their deliverance from Egypt, though their fathers had rebelled and smarted for it, whose ill examples they must have, and be admonished by their suffering, and not be, like them, unreachable and disobedient.

12. The bleshedness and benefit of observing the divine command would be very great to the nation, and to all who belonged thereunto. Their kings of the royal race of David should continue to reign in splendor, and they be happy under their mild government, v. 85. Their city and country should prosper exceedingly, religion flourish through the land, God’s altar never want sacrifices, nor they the liberal offerings to bring, out of the abundance which God would believe on them. Note, (1.) True religion is the greatest friend to national happiness. (2.) Nothing hath to immediate a tendency to promote godliness, as the conscientious observation of the Sabbath-day.

13. Disobedience to this injunction would certainly be attended with the most fatal consequences. In just indignation for his slightest Sabbath, the fire of God’s wrath would be kindled, nor ever be quenched, till the gates of Jerusalem are in flames by invading foes, the executioners of his vengeance, her palaces laid in smoky ruins, and utter desolations poured out upon all the cities of Judah. Let tabbed-breakers remember, and tremble at the fire of divine vengeance which they provoke.