Jeremiah 5

Jeremiah 5:20-24

Reprofs for sin and threatenings of judgment are interwoven in this chapter. (1.) The sin they are charged with are, Injustice, ver. 1. Hypocrisy in religion, ver. 2. Inverisskinesis, ver. 3. Both poor and rich are corrupt, ver. 4, 5. History and adultery, ver. 9, 8. Transcerous departures from God, ver. 11. An impudent defiance of him, ver. 12, 13. And that which is at the bottom of all this, worst of the fear of God, ver. 20-24. Vitriens and oppression, ver. 26-28. And a combination of those to debauch the nation that should have been alive to reform it, ver. 30, 31. (2.) The judgments they are threatened with are very terrible: In general, they shall be reckoned with, ver. 9, 29. A foreign enemy shall be brought in upon them, ver. 15-17. Shall let guards upon them, ver. 6. Shall destroy their Jerusalem, ver. 18. Shall carry them away into oppression, ver. 19. And keep all good things from them, ver. 25. And barren the word of God’s prophets shall be fulfilled, ver. 14. But, (3.) Here is an injunctions their grieve that God would in the midst of wrath remember mercy, and not utterly destroy them, ver. 10, 18.

1. FUN ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and look in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that execuents judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it. 2. And though they say, The LORD liveth, surely they swear fally. 3. O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast thicken them, but they have not grieved: thou hast confessed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return. 4. Therefore I said, surely these are poor, they are foolish; for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. 5. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burth the bonds. 6. Wherefore a lion out of the fared shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spail them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslating are increased. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and I sworn by these that are no gods: where I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses. 8. They were at fed houses in the morning: every one weighed after his neighbour’s wife. 9. Shall I not wise for these things? faith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

2. 1-9. God will ever be justified in his judgments: and when he visits, vestly there is a cause. We have here,

3. Their many and aggravated sins.

(1) All truth and harmless were banished. Search Jerusalem throughout, in all the places of concourse, and neither a magistrate could be found upright, nor a man faithful, such a universal corruption was spread through all ranks and degrees. To spare Sodom ten righteous were required; to spare Jerusalem one would have suffered, and is not found; at least no such was to be met in the places of public resort, where, if a few remained, they dared not appear.

(2.) They were false-hearted hypocrites. Some indeed made profusion of religion, and pretended a regard for truth, but they were perjured wretches, and zathies in all their vows of fidelity to God, whose eye was upon them, and from whom they could not be concealed, v. 2, 3. Note, (1.) Perjury is a crying sin, and there is an avenging God who hears. (2.) They who are infamous in their profession of Godilords, are more guilty than the openly abandoned.

(3.) They were abominately hardened. All God’s vibrations produced no humiliation: they neither grieved for the sins that provoked him, nor fought to answer the end of his corrections; but daringly barred the divine rest, cause, or neither ashamed of their wickedness nor afraid of the punishment, and infidelity refused to return. Note, When judgments have no effect, and men grow impudent in sin, their case appears desperate.

(4.) They were shamefully ignorant, v. 4. They knew not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. They understood neither his word, the manner of his worship, or the designs of his providence. But the prophet was willing to hope these were foolish, because poor, and might have less opportunities of improvement: yet he found the case no way mened with their betters. Note, (1.) Prevailing ignorance of the things of God cannot but be accompanied with abounding iniquity. (2.) The high attainments of knowledge may not be in their power, all truths needful to salvation the poorest may learn. So that they are without excuse: for wilful ignorance is wilful sin.

(5.) The great had utterly call off the divine government. Among the princes, the priests, and the elders, at least, he expected wisdom and piety, and that they would pay attention to his word. But just the reverse: whatever their knowledge was, their practice was avowed unguiltiness; breaking the yoke, and burthing the bonds of God’s commands. Note, in a corrupted state, the higher men’s stations are, we may expect to find in them the greater abominations.

(6.) Their idolatries were infamous. Forsaking God, they paid their worship to shack and shores, and swore by them that were no gods. Well might he therefore say, How shall I pardon thee for this? v. 7.

(7.) They gave full hope to their bestial lusts, abused the plenty God bestowed to pamper their bodies, and, having made provision for the flesh, to impudent and harassed were they in their indulgences, that in troops they assembled in the harlots houses; and, infallible in their raging lusts, like fed horses in the morning, they weighed after their neighbour’s wife, and added adultery to whoredom, to kill up the measure of their iniquities. Note, They who would keep from gentle pollutions much bristle their appetites, and than idleness. If the fuel be prepared, the fire will quickly kindle.

2. Their defractions is threatened by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. As a lion, resistless in strength; as an evening wolf, fierce with hunger; and as a leopard, watching, darte on his prey; so irresistible, ravening, and swift, shall he come to execute God’s judgments, to besiege their cities, and tend in pieces those who either come forth to oppose him, or seek to escape: and this because their transgressions are so many, and their backslating so increased.

3. God appeals to them for the justice of this procedure. Shall I not wise for these things? The honour of his government, as well as the bestands of his nature, requires that requisition should be made, and judgment pass upon such offenders. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? His vindictive justice is essential to his nature; and national sins call for national judgments. Note, Sin must be avenged, and visited either on the sinner’s person or his surety.

4. ¶ Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end: take away her battlements, for they are not the LORD’s. 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, faith the LORD. 12. They have belied the LORD, and said, ‘It is not he, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we fee fowl nor famine: 13. And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. 14. Wherefore thus faith the LORD God of hosts, because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, faith the LORD; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation

whose Before Chall 6.12. 1. Chap. 2. Chap. 10. 3. Chap. 10. 4. Chap. 10. 5. a Chron. 6. chap. 10. 7. Chap. 10. 8. chap. 10. 9. Chap. 10. 10. chap. 10. 11. chap. 10. 12. chap. 10. 13. chap. 10. 14. chap. 10. 15. chap. 10. 16. chap. 10. 17. chap. 10. 18. chap. 10. 19. chap. 10. 20. chap. 10. 21. chap. 10. 22. chap. 10. 23. chap. 10. 24. chap. 10. 25. chap. 10. 26. chap. 10. 27. chap. 10. 28. chap. 10. 29. chap. 10. 30. chap. 10. 31. chap. 10. 32. chap. 10. 33. chap. 10. 34. chap. 10. 35. chap. 10. 36. chap. 10. 37. chap. 10. 38. chap. 10. 39. chap. 10. 40. chap. 10. 41. chap. 10. 42. chap. 10. 43. chap. 10. 44. chap. 10. 45. chap. 10. 46. chap. 10. 47. chap. 10. 48. chap. 10. 49. chap. 10. 50. chap. 10. 51. chap. 10. 52. chap. 10. 53. chap. 10. 54. chap. 10. 55. chap. 10. 56. chap. 10. 57. chap. 10. 58. chap. 10. 59. chap. 10. 60. chap. 10. 61. chap. 10. 62. chap. 10. 63. chap. 10. 64. chap. 10. 65. chap. 10. 66. chap. 10. 67. chap. 10. 68. chap. 10. 69. chap. 10. 70. chap. 10. 71. chap. 10. 72. chap. 10. 73. chap. 10. 74. chap. 10. 75. chap. 10. 76. chap. 10. 77. chap. 10. 78. chap. 10. 79. chap. 10. 80. chap. 10. 81. chap. 10. 82. chap. 10. 83. chap. 10. 84. chap. 10. 85. chap. 10. 86. chap. 10. 87. chap. 10. 88. chap. 10. 89. chap. 10. 90. chap. 10. 91. chap. 10. 92. chap. 10. 93. chap. 10. 94. chap. 10. 95. chap. 10. 96. chap. 10. 97. chap. 10. 98. chap. 10. 99. chap. 10. 100. chap. 10. Before God 8th. 4. Let, e.g., 16. Don. seven, 37. 13. 4. Chap. ix. 8. 4. Chap. xii. 8. & ex. 10. 4. Don. seven, 42. 48. whoe langu-se thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 16. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17. And they shall eat up these harvest, and thy bread, which thy Son and thy taughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedit, with the sword. 18. Nevertheless in those days, faith the LORD, ‘I will not make a full end with you. 19. ¶ And it shall come to pass when ye shall lay, ‘Wherefore doth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall thou answer them, Like as ye have freedom me, and served strange gods in your land; so ‘shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 4. 10—19. The subject of these verses is nearly the same as the foregoing. 1. The provocations they have given. Israel and Judah, alike rebellions, have treacherously departed from God’s ways and worthing, v. 11. fearless of God’s warnings, yea daring to give the lie to his word in the mouth of his prophets, and vainly proming themselves peace and plenty: as if the threatenings they abounded were melancholy thanks to their own brains, v. 12. and would prove but as a puff of wind; and as if their own false prophets were rather to be regarded, returning their circumstances upon them, thus shall it be dear unto them, or let it be dear, giving orders to punish the true prophets with the famine and the sword, for presuming to predict such judgments against them, v. 13. Note, (1.) It is at the bottom of the flower’s presumption and fecurite, that he does not believe God as so holy as his word declares, and flatters himself there are some reserves of mercy, or that his faithful servants are too severe, and misrepresent his word. (2.) Many now scoff at the preaching of God’s prophets as folly, and treat them as visionary enthusiasts, who will shortly find that what they despise as belown, construed to frighten the minds of the superstitious, are fearful realities. 2. The punishment threatened for their impenitence. That word of God’s prophets they had despised should fearfully be fulfilled: as for it should burn, and they be fuel to the flame, v. 14. Those proud battlements, in which they relied, deserted of God their only sure defence, shall be easily thrown down by the belaying fire, v. 10. From far, a mighty nation, an ancient nation, to whom they were utter strangers, marches at God’s command against them, v. 15. Their arrows devouring as the grave, and their warriors so mighty that they cannot stand before them, v. 16. Their country shall be forraged, wasted, and plundered; their corn and cattle seized, and themselves and children left to pine with hunger; their cities ruined, and their garrisons flare with the sword, v. 17. Note, (1.) God will make sinners know at last whose word shall stand, his or theirs. (2.) Vain are all our confidences, when God hath foreseen us. (3.) The God of hosts hath all nations at his beck, and soon can make one fearful nation a courage to its neighbour. 3. In wrath God remembers mercy. For the like of the remmant according to the election of grace, a full end shall not be made of this brutal nation, v. 18. Note, When God gives a commision to the sword, he prescribes the bounds; hitherto shall thou come, and no further. 4. God’s justice will appear in his judgments. Many of them quarreling with their punishment would charge God foolishly; and, as if underserving of this treatment, expeditate with him thereupon: wherefore doth the Lord our God (to whom they hypocritically pinched relation) all these things unto us? The reason is obvious, and the uprightness of his procedure clear: thus shall answer them, Like as ye have foreseen me, my worship and service, and served strange Gods in your land, ye shall ye serve strangers, the Chaldeans, in a land which is not yours: and this a most just rerelation. Note, (1.) It is a sure sign of an unhumbled heart, when we murmur against and find fault with the severity of our corrections. (2.) They who make themselves servants of sin shall, sooner or later, be made sick of the service. 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21. Hear now this, O’ foolish people, and without 3 understanding, which have eyes and see not, which have ears and hear not: 22. ‘Fear ye not me? faith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the land for’ the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof tois themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they rose, yet can they not pass over? 23. But this people hath a trembling and a rebellions heart: they are revolted and gone. 24. Neither say they in their hearts, Let us now fear the LORD our God’ that governs rain, ‘both the former and the latter in his reason: he rebreveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. When the prophet had to do with a people so obflunate and perverse, he had need cry aloud and spree: not. He charges them. 1. With their stupidity and tonsilence. They neither used their ears to attend to God’s word, nor their eyes to contemplate his works; but, as if blind and deaf, continued void of understanding. Note, None so blind as those who will not see, or deal as they who refuse to hear; and none so criminal as those that, in the midst of means and mercies, chute darkness rather than light. 2. They were destitute of God’s fear, notwithstanding the displays of majesty and mercy they behold and experienced. They saw the raging seas arise, and threaten to rush another deluge; yet, by his mighty power shut up as with gates of adament, the proud waters are flared, and their linens fixed by a perpetual decree; and Fear ye not me? faith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence? Surely this must prove them more feofeless, perverse, and disobedient, than these foaming hollows. Yet, if his majesty moved them not, his mercy should engage them to fear the Lord and his goodness; who, with such confitant providential care, causeth the rain to descend; the former, which in Judea was in part of October and November, after the sowing; and the latter one, in part of March and April; in his fealon, as would be most conducive to produce a plemish; which he graciously bestowed on them. Yet in ungrateful and inferible were they, that all this kindness wrought not on their obdurate souls, nor engaged them to lay in their hearts, Let us now fear the Lord our God. Note, (1.) If the Lord put out his fear in our hearts, neither the works of his power nor the wonders of his providence will affect us: yet will they leave us inexcusable. (2.) Where the fear of God is not, there must be confusion and every evil work. 3. They were obstinately rebellious, and revolted from God: their hearts were applause from him: and not for a season merely, but they went on in one continued course of iniquity, daily widening the breath, and hiling up the measure of their iniquities. Note, Such others are we all by nature, so foolish, fearless, and revolted: at comity against God, and hating the restraints of his law, till he by his grace spree our eyes, put his fear in our hearts, and reduce them to the obedience of Christ. 25. ¶ “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. 26. For among my people are found wicked men: ’they ’lay wait as he that feterth foams, they set a trap, they catch men. 27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. 28. They ‘are waxen fat, they shine: yea, ’they overpass the deeds of the wicked: ’they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, ‘yet they prosper: and the right of the needy and they not judge. 29. ‘Shall I not visit for these things? faith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30. ¶ A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. 31. ‘The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and ‘my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Jeremiah 5:25-31

We have here, 1. The militias their sins had already brought upon them: Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have holden good things from you. The heavens had been shut up, the earth unfruitful, the seasons unkindly, and their harmless had failed. Note, Lefter visitations, slighted, prepare the way for heavier judgments. 2. Their provocations continued as bad as ever, yea grew worse and worse. Their general character was wickedness, and that the more aggravated as being in profession God’s people. They were deceitful, treacherous, oppressive, covetous. They had shares to outrage and destroy those who any ways interfered with their interests, or were become the objects of their resentment for reproving them for their sins, v. 26. As a cage with birds set for a decree, that is filled with those that are caught, so are their houses filled with the gain of fraud and deceit. Thus they become great, v. 27. and, indulging their appetites out of their ill-gotten wealth, wax fat and shine. They overpass the deeds of the wicked, are worse than the heathens around them; or, though pretending to religion, they exceed in iniquity the most abandoned predilection. In vain the fatherless and needy cry for their affections, to vindicate them from oppression, or relieve them from their distresses; their ears are deaf to their cry; neither as advocates for them, or magistrates, do they regard right or justice; and yet, astonishing to tell they proper, v. 28. Yet surely they fatten but for the slaughter. But, above all other crimes, a unadvised and horrible thing is committed as the land, enough to make the ears of every one that heareth it to tingle, and be amazed at the pitch of impiety to which they are arrived; The prophets prophesy falsely, see lying divinations, and visions of ¶ PC. rev. 10. Ill. 14. 1. 11. 17. Or prs. w fowlers lay in wari. 6. Don; seven, 17. Zach. v. 6, 7. Ills. 1, 15. Zach. 10. 10. Ills 10, 6. Pl. 3000. 12. Chap. xii. 1. War. 9.