Jeremiah 2

Jeremiah 2:1-8

Jeremiah here opens his ministry with a most pathetic discourse on the soil and danger of their fires, and particularly of their shameful idolatries. They are told, 1. That this was ungrateful to God, who had been so kind to them, ver. 1—8. 2. That it was without precedent, that a nation should change their zeal, ver. 9—13. 3. That hereby they had disparaged and ruined themselves, ver. 14—19. 4. That they had broken their covenants, and degenerated from their good beginnings, ver. 20, 21. 5. That their wickedness was too plain to be concealed, and too had to be revealed, ver. 22, 23, 25. 6. That they were irresistable and indefatigable in their idolatries, ver. 24, 25, 33, 36. 7. That they shamed themselves by their idolatry, and should shortly be made ashamed of it, ver. 26—29, 37. 8. That they had not been reformed by the rebules of providence, ver. 30, 9. That they had put a great contempt upon God, ver. 31, 32. 10. That with their idolatries they had mixed the most unnatural murders, ver. 34. And O that by meditating as this chapter we might be brought to repent of our spiritual idolatries, giving that place in our souls to the world and the flesh, which should have been reserved for God only.

1. MOREOVER the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2. Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus faith the LORD, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine spous, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not fown. 3. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the first fruits of his increase: all that devour him, shall offend; evil shall come upon them, faith the LORD. 4. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5. Thus faith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 6. Neither said they, Where is the LORD, that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of defects, and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? 7. And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. 8. The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law, knew me not: the paltors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Being ordained a prophet to the Lord, Jeremiah hath his meddle delivered to him, and is commanded to go to Jerusalem from Anathoth, the place of his residence, and there publicly declare the word of God, that all may hear, and either repent of their iniquities, or be left inaccessible in their unbelief and hardness of heart.

1. He reminds them of their own former professions, and God’s dealing with them; when by every instance of kindness he had engaged their affections, and they had given such fair expectations of their making a suitable return. I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth; either God’s kindness to them in their early days, or rather their affectionate regard to him; the love of thine spous, when their warm hearts, filled with affection, as a new-married bride, sought only how to please their Lord; when thou wantest after me in the wilderness, trusting on his guidance, and depending on his providence; in a land that was not fown, and where none of the necessaries of life were to be obtained, but they were fed by daily miracles. Israel was holiness to the Lord, separated for him, consecrated to him, and in the bonds of his covenant solemnly engaged to be his, and his alone; and the first fruits of his increase, presenting themselves, bodies, souls, and spirits, as the first fruits at the temple, a holy offering unto him. Thus they did run well, and God’s blessing was in the midst of them: all that devour him shall offend, or be guilty; God protected them, they were as the apple of his eye dear to him, none dared touch them with impunity; evil shall come upon them, faith the Lord; God will be the averger of their wrongs, and their enemies shall perish. From Egypt’s iron bondage he brought them, led them through the wilderness by his pillar of a cloud and fire; through a land of abusers, and of pits, where venomous creatures lodged, scorpions, and fiery living serpents; through a land of drought, where no water could be found, and of the shadow of death, dismal and lonely; through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt, pattlels, without inhabitants, and yet amidst difficul-

ties so insurmountable by human power, God safely conducted them, covered them with the shadow of his cloud from the scorching sun, fed them with plenty of the richest food, opened streams from the rock, protected them from every danger, and brought them safe at last to his promised rest, to a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof, to a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands; for which unfeasible favours he justly might expect from them the deepest returns of duty, love, and service. Note, (1.) Our first love should be often remembered, to humble us for our departure from God, and to lustre our return to him, Rev. xi. 4, 5. (2.) God takes pleasure in beholding the affections of his people placed upon him. (3.) Where we love God in sincerity, we shall follow him implicitly, and fear no dangers even in the wilderness. (4.) God’s Israel are a holy people; they who answer not this character, have no lot our portion among them. (5.) They who persecute God’s choice, will find him the averger of their quarrel. (6.) The wee to heaven lies through difficulties impalliable for mortal strength; and if ever our souls are safely led to the heavenly Causan. we must acknowledge ourselves utterly indebted to his everlasting arms of power and love. (7.) The greater our trials, the more is the grace of God magnified in our deliverance. (8.) For all the wonders of his grace, God hath the deepest and most just demands of love and service from us. (9.) The promising beginnings we have shewn, and the fair professions we have made, will greatly aggravate our guilt, should we begin in the spirit and end in the flesh.

2. He upbraids them with their black ingratitude. Thus faith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me? Had he done them injustice, been a hard master, or unsatisfied to any of his promises? No; there is no unrighteousness in him: they who forsake him, forsake their own unceven, and not of their own mouths will be condemned—that they are gone far from me, apostates from his service and worship; for those who depart from a religious profession, become usually viler than those who never pretended to it; and have walked after vanity, after idols, which are the greatest vanities, and are become none of corrupt in their practice, as dark in their imagination; defiling the good land, into which the Lord had brought them, with their abominations, and which they held only on condition of their fidelity. God was utterly forgotten, even said, Where is the Lord? notwithstanding all his miracles of mercy shewn them: nay, the priests, who should have been the first to refrain others, were chief in the transgression; the priests said not, Where is the Lord? and if they, who were their guides, took no pains to acquaint themselves with him, no marvel the people forgot God: and they that handle the law knew me not; pretending to instruct others, but totally ignorant themselves, and strangers to all experimental knowledge of God and his truth. The paltors also transgressed against me, civil, as well as ecclesiastical, cutting off all fear of God; and the prophets prophesied by Baal, pretending inspiration from their idols to contradict the prophets of the Lord, and supported by the princes and priests in their iniquity; and walked after things that do not profit, their false gods, from whom no blessing could be derived. Note, When blind priests lead a blind people, no marvel they perish together.

3. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, faith the LORD, and with your children’s children will be plead. 10. For I pass over the idles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. 11. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which don’t not profit. 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, faith the LORD. 13. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 2:9-13

Having rebuked their ingratitude, God pleads against them the unprecedented folly of their conduct. He desires to convince sinners, and therefore he uses every argument, and at least will leave them inexcusable in their impenitence.

1. They were in this respect more false and feeble, even than the idolatrous nations they affected to resemble. They retained a veneration for their fathers gods: has as the idols were which they worshipped, nothing could prevail with them to forsake the religion of their ancestors. Go to the idles of Chittim, Greece, or Italy, or to Kedar in Arabia, and not an instance would be found of a nation that had changed their gods; but my people have changed their glory, have forsaken the living, true, and only God, which serves they should have accounted their highest honour, and their distinguished separation for him their most exalted glory; for that which and not profit; for idols, for Baal, in whole worship neither honour nor advantage could be found, but the very contrary.

behold this scene of aggravated guilt and folly. Be aforesaid, O ye however, at this, the inhabitants of them, or the very ten eminent creation might well be amazed, and be ye terribly afraid, trembling for sins so great, and that must bring down judgments so heavy: be ye very defiates, faith the Lord, as if the sin should refuse his light to such milcramps, the clouds thicken with thunder and lightning over them, and sweep them from the earth with the hedon of destruction. For my people, separated for God, once professives of his truth, and thereby every departure from him being rendered more infamous and exceeding sinful; my people have committed two evils, their transgressions are numberless, but these the capital sins, and the sources of all the rest: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, repelling his government, neglecting his ordinances, and leaving him for above, out of their sight; and in so doing, have cut themselves off from the fountain of living waters, from that God of all grace and consolation, in whom they might have for ever found a rich supply for all their wants; and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water; hath never their idols, that after all the pains and expence bestowed on them, did not afford the least consolation, not even the miserable relief of a deep of putrid stagnating water, to quench the thrift of their votaries. Note, (1.) They who forsake God, forsake their own mercies. (2.) As long as our souls come to John the living fountain, so long shall we find the waters of his grace within us a well of water, springing up to everlasting life. (3.) Whatever creature enjoyments may promise, they will deceive our expectations: if we seek our happiness from wealth, honour, or indulgence, toil as we can to secure the bliss, we shall find the cisterns empty; but one portion can adequately satisfy an immortal soul, and that is, the love of the eternal God.

1. 1st. I Israel a servant? 2. 1st. The young lions round upon him, and I yelled, and they made his land waite: His cities are burnt without inhabitant. 16. Also the children of Noph and ‘Tahapanes I have broken the crown of thy head. 17. 1st. I had thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way? 18. And now what hath thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hath thou to do in the way of Affyria, to drink the waters of the river? 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidinge shall reprove thee: know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, faith the LORD God of hosts.

2. ¶ D Israel a servant? 2. 1st. The young lions round upon him, and I yelled, and they made his land waite: His cities are burnt without inhabitant. 16. Also the children of Noph and ‘Tahapanes I have broken the crown of thy head. 17. 1st. I had thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way? 18. And now what hath thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hath thou to do in the way of Affyria, to drink the waters of the river? 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidinge shall reprove thee: know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, faith the LORD God of hosts.

3. 14—19. The miseries coming upon them for their sins are spoken of as already present, because they were so near and certain.

4. By their iniquities they had brought themselves into slavery, were defeated by their enemies, and their country ravaged. Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? whence comes this grievous change, how is their glorious liberty lost? Why is he justice? Surely some awful provocation hath brought on him this calamity, for terrible are his defoliations. The young lions round upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waite; his invading fire, the King of Affyria with his army, forces and cruel as these ravenous beasts, roaring and yelling with all the horrid sin of war, hath plundered the country, and his cities are burnt without inhabitant; all led captives, or slain by the sword, and none left to restore them from their ruins. All the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head, the Egyptians, whose chief cities there were, as well as the Affyrians, contributed to their ruin, Judah being slain by Pharaoh Wichah, his son dethroned, Jerusalem plundered, and a tribute for upon them, 2 Kings xxiii. 20—25. Hath thou not procured this unto thyself? yea, verily; none but themselves had they to blame for their sufferings, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God; him, who was so able to protect them, who stood in a relation to them so glorious, and from whom it was so foolish as well as wicked, to depart: him they forsook for idols, and human confidences, changing a rock for a reed; when he led thee by the way, the right way, the path of duty; in which had they abode, they would have certainly found it the way of safety, but they refused his guidance, and rushed on their own ruin. Note, Whatever miseries a sinner is involved in, whether in time or eternity, this bitter reflection will sharpen their edge, Hath thou not procured this unto thyself?

5. The sinful methods they took to extricate themselves from their troubles, served but to hasten their destruction. Instead of seeking unto God for help against their enemies, they fought other supports. When threatened by Affyria, they ran to Egypt for licences; when invaded by Egypt, they courted the Affyrian help. What hath thou to do with these, who in their turn will deceive, oppress, and plunder thee? Thine own wickedness in general, or this in particular, of trusting on these vain helpers,

VOL. II.

shall correct thee, bring severe chaffishment upon them, and thy backslidinge, their treacherous departure from God, shall reprove thee. Know therefore, and see, that it is an evil and bitter thing, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, faith the Lord God of hosts. The event would prove to their terrible conviction, the evil and misery of the ways which they had chosen, and sinners will find this truth universally verified. Observe, (1.) The root of all sin. My fear is not in thee; there is deep unbelief in the natural heart, God’s warnings make no imposition, and the practice can rise no higher than the principle. Hence, (2.) The effect produced. Thou hast forsaken the Lord; when the heart is not restrained by his fear, corrupt nature, prone to sin, easily hurries on the soul to all the forbidden indulgence of sin and spirit. (3.) The issue of sin is evil and bitter. It is not only evil in its own nature, as opposite to God’s purity and perfection, but the consequences are ever evil and bitter to the soul; the curse follows the sinner closer than his shadow; his miseries and disappointments are many, his enjoyments embittered; and death, eternal death, shares him in the face, the terrible wages of sin. (4.) It is happy for those who are brought to see and know this, before it is too late; and all God’s violations have this design to lead us to repentance for our sins, that we may not perish in them.

20. ¶ For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burnt thy hands, and ’thou faith, I will not ye transigree; when upon every high hill, and under every green tree, thou wanderest, playing the harlot. 21. Yet I had ‘planted thee a noble vine wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into ’the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22. For though thou ‘wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet ’thine iniquity is marked before me, faith the Lord GOD. 23. ‘How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? ‘see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a loath dronedary traversing her ways. 24. ‘A wild ash I used to the wilderness, that is suffeat up the wind at her pleasure, in her occasion who can’t turn her away? all they that feed her, will not weary themselves, in her month they shall find her. 25. Withhold thy foot from being unshoud, and thy throat from thirst: but ’thou faith, I there is no hope. No, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. 26. As the thief is ashamed when he is found: so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, 27. Saying to a flock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast ‘brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but ‘in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. 28. But ‘where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, ‘if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for ‘according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

21. 20—28. The prophet prosecutes his charge against this rebellious people.

22. Their crying for was idolatry; and when they had left the one true God, their wanderinge were enslife, and their idols innumerable; every city had its god and tutelate deity, 9. 28. On every hill their idols stood thick, and not a spreading tree or grove was there, where their instable had not brooded, and where they had not played the barrier, committing quizzed adultery, 9. 20. Nor was this the crime of the crisis of the people only; their kings, princes, priests and prophet, horrible to tell! these were the patrons of idolatry, and the most bigoted votaries, saying to the flock, thou art my father; and to the stone, thou hast brought me forth; and whilst infatuated, and more fentelets than the images they worshipped, to these they ascribed divine honours, they turned their back on God, with insolent contempt of his worship and service. Note, When a sinner is given up to his own heart, there are no lengths of folly, iniquity, and impiety to which he may not run.

23. Their attempts to deny it were vain, and the methods they used to enquire their sins useless. Like the adulteress, Prov. xxx. 20. they disowned the charge of idolatry, when the evidence was so notorious. In the valley, probably of Husson, where they burnt their children to Moslech, the monuments of their sin testified against them, 9. 25. And their excuses were frivolous when God had, in his omnificence, marked their iniquities with a brand they never could wash out, or rather, as 9. 25. may legally, their ceremonial ablution and sacrifices to which they had recourse, could never cancel the guilt of their sins, or remove the stain of them from their omnificence. Note, (1.) To deny, or seek to palliate the evil of our sins, is the sure sign of an impenitent heart. (2.) Nothing can wash

D d out Before Christ will 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1st. I had. vii. 9. 1 Before Christ feal. out the stain of sin’s black guilt, but the blood of Jesus; every other method will but fix the dye deeper and stronger. 3. Their sins were abundantly aggravated by the mercies they had received, and the fair promises they had made. Of old God had delivered them from the Egyptian yoke, v. 20. planted them in the promised land as a noble wine wholly a right food, v. 21. both with respect to their worthy ancestors, and their own gracious conduct on their first possessing their inheritance, Jop. xxiv. 31. nor could there be more solemn engagements, than they had repeatedly made of their perpetual fidelity, v. 20. Hand. xix. 8. xxiv. 7. yet like a broken bow they had feared aside, degenerated from their primitive piety, and became as wild gourds, not only useless but noxious. Note, (1.) The greatness of God’s mercies aggravates our guilt and ingratitude. (2.) We need often reflect with shame on the promises we have made not to transgress, and on our repeated unfathfulness. 4. They are represented as purifying their idolatries with determined waywardness in spite of all warnings, as the dromedary and wild ass, when in their scurfism they are looking the males, are to eager in running from place to place to find them, that every attempt to restrain them is vain, and will only weary those that pursue them, till their month comes, when big with young, they might more easily be found and caught: so were this people raging in their idolatrous luth, and no hope remained of reclaiming them, till the judgments of God were heavy upon them, and stopped their career. Note, (1.) Nothing so lawless as brutal lull; vain are all the restraints of reason, conscience, honour, when appetite foieses the veins. (2.) However headstrong in the vigour of health men are in the pursuit of their forbidden gratifications, the hours will come of deep remorse, when their career will be stopped; and when the joys of sin no more inebriate, the sting of sin, like a scorpion, will torment the guilty conscience. 5. Fair warning is given them of the issue of their ways, and they are admonished by repentance to prevent their captivity. Restrain thy feet from being unfound, and thy throat from thirst, for unless they repented of their evil ways, and turned from them, this would be the consequence, that barefoot, and ready to be choked with thirst in the journey, they should be led captives into a distant land. Some understood it as an admonition, not to wear out the shoes of their messengers, and be at the pains of sending to Egypt or Affyria for help, since these foresees would be of no use to them; but the former sense seems best. 6. Their obstinacy, or their despair, is rebuked. But thou faidst, there is no hope; bidding the prophets cease their attempts, for they would never attend to them, either to quit their idolatries, or to desist from seeking the help of their heathen neighbours; they liked, and would pursue their own inventions. Or this is the language of despair, as if their case was past hope either for God to pardon, or their corruptions so strong, that to attempt to resist them was vain, therefore they desperate to abandon themselves to their iniquities. Note, Nothing so effectually enslaves the soul to sin, as despair; and therefore whilst Satan is ever a preacher of preemption to the careful, he fails not to be a preacher of despair to the awakened, as if their iniquities were too great to be forgiven, or their corruptions too strong to be subdued; and therefore that it were best to banish their convictions, and abandon themselves to their luth, but he was a liar from the beginning. We do not be too great for sovereign grace to pardon, on corruption so strong, that Almighty grace cannot subdue. Let us take to us words, and return unto the Lord, and then there is surely yet hope in our end. 7. If they persisted in their ways, confusion would cover them in the day of their calamity, as a chief detected in the fact, when their false gods cannot relieve them; and the true God, whom they have forsaken, will refute to hear their prayer, v. 27, 28. Note, (1.) In the day of calamity, many who never thought of him before, are driven to God in cry, love us; but when the fear of hell merely, not the sense of the evil of sin, dictazes the prayer, no marvel it is rejected. (2.) Whatever the impenitent sinner places his comfort or confidence in, the day will come when it will prove a refuge of lies. 29. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD. 30. In vain have? I smitten your children, they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophes, like a destroying lion. 31. O generation, see ye the word of the LORD: have I been a wilderness unto life? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords, we will come no more unto line? 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 33. Why trimmed thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways. 34. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by a secret search, but upon all these. 35. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me: behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. 36. Why gadeest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Affyria. 37. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

Jeremiah 2:10

whom they truffed, and thou shalt not proper in them, but he gives them up for a prey to their enemies. Nere, (1.) The foul that leaves God wanders endlessly, flecking rest, and finding none. (2.) Human confidences and comforts in the day of evil will prove a broken reed, unable to support the foul.

Jeremiah 2:29-37

It is the folly and wickedness of sinners that they complain against God, as if his punishments were severe, and his ways unequal; when they alone are the authors of their own misery, and their punishment less than their iniquities deserve. 1. God vindicates his justice. Wherefore will ye plead with me? when their case was so indefensible; ye all have transgressed against me, and therefore could neither exculpate themselves from guilt, nor justly complain of their sufferings. Note, We are all sinners at God’s bar; every mouth must be stopped; we have nothing to do but to confess our guilt, justly as judgments, and call ourselves wholly on his mercy. 2. He charges upon them their incorrigishness. In vain had been all the afflictions he had brought upon them; hardened under the rod, they received no correction, were not brought to any repentance. Nay, as it exasperated by what they suffered, when he seconded the rebukes of his providences by the word of his prophets, like furious lions they rushed on these ministers of God, and cruelly shed their blood for their fidelity, v. 30. Note, (1.) They who will be zealous in rebuking men’s sins, must put their life in their hands. (2.) It is the sign of a desperate state when afflictions harden, instead of softening the heart. 3. He repudiates with them on their ingratitude. Had he shown them unkindness, or brought them into darkness and distress, they might have had some plea for their result; but his conduct to them in the wilderness, the rich provision he made for them, the light with which he led them, and the land in which he placed them, all evidenced his unutterable kindness; and the least attention to his dealings with them might convince them of it: how ungrateful then was their rebellion, thus to cut off his government, and reject his worship and service? v. 31. Note, (1.) They who cleave to God, find all his ways pleasantly and peace: if sinners are entangled in a wilderness, or enveloped with darkness, it is because of their departures from him. (2.) They who affect to emancipate themselves from God’s government, only exchange his service, which is perfect freedom, for the base and tyrannical servitude of their luth. 4. He accuses them of sundry crimes against him. (1.) Forgetfulness of him. It would be counted strange if a maid forgot her ornaments, and a bride her attire; but, stranger far! my people have forgotten me days without number. They were his professing people, and therefore the more criminal their neglect of him, and equicially when so long persisted in. (2.) They were corrupters of others. Like a lewd harlot that dresses and paints, to inveigle men into her fiasco, so had they sought to engage their heathen neighbours to become their confederates, and join in their idolatries: therefore kept them also sought the wicked ones thy ways, instructing them in their superstitions; and vile as they were before, making them worse by the connection. Note, (1.) They who entice others into sin, will have most aggravated guilt on their heads. (2.) Fellowship with the workers of iniquity is dangerously infectious, and diligently to be avoided. (3.) They were polluted with innocent blood, v. 34. of the children whom they sacrificed to Malachi; or of innocent persons, especially the prophets and faithful men, who were murdered for removing their impatience, 2 Kings xxx. 16. and this openly and notoriously; it needed no search, nor deep enquiry; these skirts were dyed with blood, and the corpses cried for vengeance against them. And therefore, (4.) Their plea of innocence, v. 35. was presumptuous, and their expectation of God’s wrath being removed, vain. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned, which was an aggravation of their sin, and provoked God the more to arise in judgment against them. Note, (1.) If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. (2.) Until a sinner is brought to acknowledge the justice of God’s wrath, it will never depart from him. 5. Their confidences should at last fail them, and they be led into a miserable captivity. Like an adulteress that gads about to gratify her lewdness, so had they gone to Affyria and Egypt, making leagues with them in turn for their assistance, as they were pressed by either, but they would disappoint them. Affyria had distressed them formerly as allies, 2. Chow. xxviii. 20. and the Egyptians would alike be their confusion, as they afterwards proved, when against Nebuchadnezzar, they promised help in vain; so that thou shalt go forth with these hands upon thine head, as a mourner, led into a shameful capivity; for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, their allies, in whom Before Christ feal. Lutheran ? Heal. Dignity. ? Exult. rel. no. ? Prov. res. no. Vir. ex. ? Chap. xxx. xx. ? Ill. ex. ? 2 Chow. xxxix. 16. no. ? 2 Ex. vol. 19.