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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. IV.
It should seem that the
of this chapter might better have been joined to the close of the
foregoing chapter, for they are directed to Israel, the ten tribes, by
way of reply to their compliance with God’s call, directing and
encouraging them to hold their resolution,
The rest of the chapter concerns Judah and Jerusalem.
I. They are called to repent and reform,
II. They are warned of the advance of Nebuchadnezzar and his forces
against them, and are told that it is for their sins, from which they
are again exhorted to wash themselves,
III. To affect them the more with the greatness of the desolation that
was coming, the prophet does himself bitterly lament it, and sympathize
with his people in the calamities it brought upon them, and the plunge
it brought them to, representing it as a reduction of the world to its
first chaos,
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1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto
me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,
then shalt thou not remove.
2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment,
and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in
him, and in him shall they glory.
When God called to backsliding Israel to return
they immediately answered, Lord, we return; now God here takes
notice of their answer, and, by way of reply to it,
I. He directs them how to pursue their good resolutions: “Dost thou
say, I will return?”
1. “Then thou must return unto me; make a thorough work of it.
Do not only turn from thy idolatries, but return to the instituted
worship of the God of Israel.” Or, “Thou must return speedily and not
delay (as
If you will enquire, enquire you); if you will return unto me,
return you: do not talk of it, but do it.”
2. “Thou must utterly abandon all sin, and not retain any of the
relics of idolatry: Put away thy abominations out of my sight,”
that is, out of all places (for every place is under the eye of God),
especially out of the temple, the house which he had in a particular
manner his eye upon, to see that it was kept clean. It intimates that
their idolatries were not only obvious, but offensive, to the eye of
God. They were abominations which he could not endure the sight of;
therefore they must be put away out of his sight, because they
were a provocation to the pure eyes of God’s glory. Sin must be put
away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of God’s sight, for
the heart and all that is in it lie open before his eye.
3. They must not return to sin again; so some understand that, Thou
shalt not remove, reading it, Thou shalt not, or must
not, wander. “If thou wilt put away thy abominations, and wilt not
wander after them again, as thou hast done, all shall be well.”
4. They must give unto God the glory due unto his name
(v. 2):
“Thou shalt sear, The Lord liveth. His existence shall be with
thee the most sacred fact, than which nothing can be more sure, and his
judgment the supreme court to which thou shalt appeal, than which
nothing can be more awful.” Swearing is an act of religious worship, in
which we are to give honour to God three ways:–
(1.) We must swear by the true God only, and not by creatures, or any
false gods,–by the God that liveth, not by the gods that are deaf and
dumb and dead,–by him only, and not by the Lord and by Malcham,
as
(2.) We must swear that only which is true, in truth and in
righteousness, not daring to assert that which is false, or which
we do not know to be true, nor to assert that as certain which is
doubtful, nor to promise that which we mean not to perform, nor to
violate the promise we have made. To say that which is untrue, or to do
that which is unrighteous, is bad, but to back either with an oath is
much worse.
(3.) We must do it solemnly, swear in judgment, that is, when
judicially called to it, and not in common conversation. Rash swearing
is as great a profanation of God’s name as solemn swearing is an honour
to it. See
II. He encourages them to keep in this good mind and adhere to their
resolutions. If the scattered Israelites will thus return to God,
1. They shall be blessed themselves; for to that sense the first words
may be read: “If thou wilt return to me, then thou shalt
return, that is, thou shalt be brought back out of thy captivity
into thy own land again, as was of old promised,”
Or, “Then thou shalt rest in me, shalt return to me as they
rest, even while thou art in the land of thy captivity.”
2. They shall be blessings to others; for their returning to God again
will be a means of others turning to him who never new him. If thou
wilt own the living Lord, thou wilt thereby influence the nations among
whom thou art to bless themselves in him, to place their happiness in
his favour and to think themselves happy in being brought to the fear
of him. See
They shall bless themselves in the God of truth, and not in
false gods, shall do themselves the honour, and give themselves the
satisfaction, to join themselves to him; and then in him shall they
glory; they shall make him their glory, and shall please, nay,
shall pride, themselves in the blessed change they have made. Those
that part with their sins to return to God, however they scrupled at
the bargain at first, when they go away, then they boast.
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3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the
foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none
can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
The prophet here turns his speech, in God’s name, to the men of the
place where he lived. We have heard what words he proclaimed towards
the north
(ch. iii. 12),
for the comfort of those that were now in captivity and were humbled
under the hand of God; let us now see what he says to the men of
Judah and Jerusalem, who were now in prosperity, for their
conviction and awakening. In these two verses he exhorts them to
repentance and reformation, as the only way left them to prevent the
desolating judgments that were ready to break in upon them.
Observe,
I. The duties required of them, which they are concerned to do.
1. They must do by their hearts as they do by their ground that they
expect any good of; they must plough it up
(v. 3):
“Break up your fallow-ground. Plough to yourselves a ploughing
(or plough up your plough land), that you sow not among
thorns, that you may not labour in vain, for your own safety and
welfare, as those do that sow good seed among thorns and as you have
been doing a great while. Put yourselves into a frame fit to receive
mercy from God, and put away all that which keeps it from you, and then
you may expect to receive mercy and to prosper in your endeavours to
help yourselves.” Note,
(1.) An unconvinced unhumbled heart is like fallow-ground, ground
untilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improvement; it is our
ground, let out to us, and we must be accountable for it; but it is
fallow; it is unfenced and lies common; it is unfruitful and of no
advantage to the owner, and (which is principally intended) it is
overgrown with thorns and weeds, which are the natural product of the
corrupt heart; and, if it be not renewed with grace, rain and sunshine
are lost upon it,
(2.) We are concerned to get this fallow-ground ploughed up. We must
search into our own hearts, let the word of God divide (as the plough
does) between the joints and the marrow,
Heb. iv. 12.
We must rend our hearts,
Joel ii. 13.
We must pluck up by the roots those corruptions which, as thorns, choke
both our endeavours and our expectations,
2. They must do that to their souls which was done to their bodies when
they were taken into covenant with God
(v. 4):
“Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of
your heart. Mortify the flesh and the lusts of it. Pare off that
superfluity of naughtiness which hinders your receiving with
meekness the engrafted word,
Jam. i. 21.
Boast not of, and rest not in, the circumcision of the body, for that
is but a sign, and will not serve without the thing signified. It is a
dedicating sign. Do that in sincerity which was done in profession by
your circumcision; devote and consecrate yourselves unto the Lord, to
be to him a peculiar people. Circumcision is an obligation to keep
the law; lay yourselves afresh under that obligation. It is a
seal of the righteousness of faith; lay hold then of that
righteousness, and so circumcise yourselves to the Lord.“
II. The danger they are threatened with, which they are concerned to
avoid. Repent and reform, lest my fury come forth like fire,
which it is now ready to do, as that fire which came forth from the
Lord and consumed the sacrifices, and which was always kept burning
upon the altar and none might quench it; such is God’s wrath against
impenitent sinners, because of the evil of their doings. Note,
1. That which is to be dreaded by us more than any thing else is the
wrath of God; for that is the spring and bitterness of all present
miseries and will be the quintessence and perfection of everlasting
misery.
2. It is the evil of our doings that kindles the fire of God’s
wrath against us.
3. The consideration of the imminent danger we are in of falling and
perishing under this wrath should awaken us with all possible care to
sanctify ourselves to God’s glory and to see to it that we be
sanctified by his grace.
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5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow
ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will
bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of
the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to
make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste,
without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the
fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that
the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes;
and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall
wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived
this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas
the sword reacheth unto the soul.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to
Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward
the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me:
now also will I give sentence against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall
be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto
us! for we are spoiled.
14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou
mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within
thee?
15 For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction
from mount Ephraim.
16 Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against
Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out
their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about;
because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto
thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it
reacheth unto thine heart.
God’s usual method is to warn before he wounds. In these verses,
accordingly, God gives notice to the Jews of the general desolation
that would shortly be brought upon them by a foreign invasion. This
must be declared and published in all the cities of Judah and streets
of Jerusalem, that all might hear and fear, and by this loud alarm be
either brought to repentance or left inexcusable. The prediction of
this calamity is here given very largely, and in lively expressions,
which one would think should have awakened and affected the most
stupid. Observe,
I. The war proclaimed, and general notice given of the advance of the
enemy. It is published now, some years before, by the prophet; but,
since this will be slighted, it shall be published after another manner
when the judgment is actually breaking in,
The trumpet must be blown, the standard must be
set up, a summons must be issued out to the people to gather
together and to draw towards Zion, either to guard it or
expecting to be guarded by it. There must be a general rendezvous. The
militia must be raised and all the forces mustered. Those that are able
men, and fit for service, must go into the defenced cities, to
garrison them; those that are weak, and would lessen their provisions,
but not increase their strength, must retire, and not
stay.
II. An express arrived with intelligence of the approach of the king of
Babylon and his army. It is an evil that God will bring from the
north (as he had said,
even a great destruction, beyond all that had yet come upon the
nation of the Jews. The enemy is here compared,
1. To a lion that comes up from his thicket, when he is
hungry, to seek his prey,
v. 7.
The helpless beasts are so terrified with his roaring (as some report)
that they cannot flee from him, and so become an easy prey to him.
Nebuchadnezzar is this roaring tearing lion, the destroyer of the
nations, that has laid many countries waste, and now is on his
way in full speed towards the land of Judah. The destroyer of
the Gentiles shall be the destroyer of the Jews too, when
they have by their idolatry made themselves like the Gentiles. “He has
gone forth from his place, from Babylon, or the place of the
rendezvous of his army, on purpose against this land; that is
the prey he has now his eye upon, not to plunder it only, but to make
it desolate, and herein he shall succeed to such a degree that the
cities shall be laid waste, without inhabitants, shall be
overgrown with grass as a field;” so some read it.
2. To a drying blasting wind
(v. 11),
a parching scorching wind, which spoils the fruits of the earth and
withers them, not a wind which brings rain, but such as comes out of
the north, which drives away rain
but brings something worse instead of it; such shall this evil out of
the north be to this people, a black freezing wind, which they
can neither fence against nor flee from, but, wherever they go, it
shall surround and pursue them; and they cannot see it before it comes,
but, when it comes, they shall feel it. It is a wind of the high
places in the wilderness, or plain, that beats upon the tops
of the hills or that carries all before it in the plain, where there is
no shelter, but the ground is all champaign. It shall come in its full
force towards the daughters of my people, that have been brought
up so tenderly and delicately that they could not endure to have the
wind blow upon them. Now this fierce wind shall come against them,
not to fan, nor cleanse them, not such a gentle wind as is used
in winnowing corn, but a full wind
(v. 12),
a strong and violent wind, blowing full upon them. This shall come
to me, or rather for me; it shall come with commission
from God and shall accomplish that for which he sends it; for this, as
other stormy winds, fulfills his word.
3. To clouds and whirlwinds for swiftness,
The Chaldean army shall come up as clouds driven with the wind,
so thick shall they stand, so fast shall they march, and it shall be to
no purpose to offer to stop them or make head against them, any more
than to arrest a cloud or give check to a whirlwind. The horses are
swifter than eagles when they fly upon their prey; it is in vain
to think either of opposing them or of outrunning them.
4. To watchers and the keepers of a field,
The voice declares from Dan, a city which lay furthest north of
all the cities of Canaan, and therefore received the first tidings of
this evil from the north and hastened it to Mount Ephraim, that
part of the land of Israel which lay next to Judea; they received the
news of the affliction and transmitted it to Jerusalem. Ill news flies
apace; and an impenitent people, that hates to be reformed, can expect
no other that ill news. Now, what is the news? “Tell the
nations, those mixed nations that now inhabit the cities of the ten
tribes, mention it to them, that they may provide for their own safety;
but publish it against Jerusalem, that is the place aimed at,
the game shot at, let them know that watchers have come from a far
country, that is, soldiers, that will watch all opportunities to do
mischief.” Private soldiers we call private sentinels, or
watchmen. “They are coming in full career, and give out their
voice against the cities of Judah; they design to invest them, to
make themselves masters of them, and to attack them with loud shouts,
as sure of victory. As keepers of a field surround it, to keep
all out from it, so shall they surround the cities of Judah, to keep
all in them, till they be constrained to surrender at discretion; they
are against her round about, compassing her in on every side.”
See
As formerly the good angels, those watchers, and holy
ones, were like keepers of a field to Jerusalem, watching
about it, that nothing might go in to its prejudice, so now their
enemies were as watchers and keepers of a field, surrounding it that
nothing might go in to its relief and succour.
III. The lamentable cause of this judgment. How is it that Judah and
Jerusalem come to be thus abandoned to ruin? See how it came to this.
1. They sinned against God; it was all owing to themselves: She has
been rebellious against me, saith the Lord,
v. 17.
Their enemies surrounded them as keepers of a field, because they had
taken up arms against their rightful Lord and sovereign, and were to be
seized as rebels. The Chaldeans were breaking in upon them, and it was
sin that opened the gap at which they entered: Thy way and thy
doings have procured these things unto thee
(v. 18),
thy evil way and thy doings that have not been good. It was not a false
step or two that did them this mischief, but their way and course of
living were bad. Note, Sin is the procuring cause of all our troubles.
Those that go on in sin while they are endeavouring to ward off
mischiefs with one hand are at the same time pulling them upon their
own heads with the other.
2. God was angry with them for their sin. It is the fierce anger of
the Lord that makes the army of the Chaldeans thus fierce, thus
furious; that is kindled against us, and is not turned back from
us,
v. 8.
Note, In men’s anger against us, and the violence of that, we must see
and own God’s anger and the power of that. If that were turned back
from us, our enemies could not come forward against us.
3. In his just and holy anger he condemned them to this dreadful
punishment: Now also will I give sentence against them,
v. 12.
The execution was done, not in a heat, but in pursuance of a sentence
solemnly passed, according to equity, and upon mature deliberation.
Some read it, Now will I do execution upon them, according to
the doom formerly passed; and we are sure that the judgment of God
is according to the truth, and the execution of that judgment.
IV. The lamentable effects of this judgment, upon the first alarm given
of it.
1. The people that should fight shall quite despair and shall not have
a heart to make the least stand against the enemy
(v. 8):
“For this gird yourself with sackcloth, lament and howl,” that
is, “you will do so. When the cry is made through the kingdom, Arm,
arm! all will be seized with a consternation, and all put into
confusion. Instead of girding on the sword, they will gird on the
sackcloth; instead of animating one another to a vigorous resistance,
they will lament and howl, and so dishearten one another. While
the enemy is yet at a distance they will give up all for gone, and cry,
Woe unto us! for we are spoiled,
v. 13.
We are all undone, the spoilers will certainly carry the day, and it is
in vain to make head against them.” Judah and Jerusalem had been famed
for valiant men; but see what is the effect of sin: by depriving men of
their confidence towards God, it deprives them of their courage towards
men.
2. Their great men, who should contrive for the public safety, shall be
at their wits’ end
(v. 9):
At that day the heart of the king shall perish, both his wisdom
and his courage. Despairing of success, he shall have no spirit to do
any thing, and, if he had, he will not know what to do. His princes and
privy-counselors, who should animate and advise him, shall be as much
at a loss and as much in despair as he. See how easily, how
effectually, God can bring ruin upon a people that are doomed to it,
merely by dispiriting them, taking away the heart of the chief
of them
cutting off the spirit of princes,
Ps. lxxvi. 12.
The business of the priests was to encourage the people in the time of
war; they were to say to the people, Fear not, and let not your
hearts faint,
Deut. xx. 2, 3.
They were to blow the trumpets, for an assurance to them that in the
day of battle they should be remembered before the Lord their
God,
Num. x. 9.
But now the priests themselves shall be astonished, and
shall have no heart themselves to do their office, and therefore shall
not be likely to put spirit into the people. The prophets too,
the false prophets, who had cried peace to them, shall be put
into the greatest amazement imaginable, seeing their own guilty blood
ready to be shed by that sword which they had often told the people
there was no danger of. Note, God’s judgments come with the greatest
terror upon those that have been most secure. Our Saviour foretels that
at the last destruction of Jerusalem men’s hearts should fail
them for fear,
Luke xxi. 26.
And it is common for those who have cheated and flattered people into a
carnal security not only to fail them, but to discourage them, when the
trouble comes.
V. The prophet’s complaint of the people’s being deceived,
It is expressed strangely, as we read it: Ah! Lord God, surely thou
hast greatly deceived this people, saying, You shall have peace. We
are sure that God deceives none. Let no man say, when he is
tempted or deluded, that God has tempted or deluded him. But,
1. The people deceived themselves with the promises that God had made
in general of his favour to that nation, and the many peculiar
privileges with which they were dignified, building upon them, though
they took no care to perform the conditions on which the accomplishment
of those promises and the continuance of those privileges did depend;
and they had no regard to the threatenings which in the law were set
over-against those promises. Thus they cheated themselves and then
wickedly complained that God had cheated them.
2. The false prophets deceived them with promises of peace, which they
made them in God’s name.
If God had sent them, he had indeed greatly deceived the people, but he
had not. It was the people’s fault that they gave them credit; and here
also they deceived themselves.
3. God had permitted the false prophets to deceive, and the people to
be deceived by them, giving both up to strong delusions, to
punish them for not receiving the truth in the love of it.
Herein the Lord was righteous; but the prophet complains of it as the
sorest judgment of all, for by this means they had been hardened in
their sins.
4. It may be read with an interrogation, “Hast thou indeed thus
deceived this people? It is plain that they are greatly deceived,
for they expect peace, whereas the sword reaches unto the
soul; that is, it is a killing sword, abundance of lives are lost,
and more likely to be.” Now, was it God that deceived them? No, he had
often given them warning of judgments in general and of this in
particular; but their own prophets deceive them, and cry peace to those
to whom the God of heaven does not speak peace. It is a pitiable thing,
and that which every good man greatly laments, to see people flattered
into their own ruin, and promising themselves peace when war is at the
door; and this we should complain of to God, who alone can prevent such
a fatal delusion.
VI. The prophet’s endeavour to undeceive them. When the prophets they
loved and caressed dealt falsely with them, he whom they hated and
persecuted dealt faithfully.
1. He shows them their wound. They were loth to see it, very loth to
have it searched into; but, if they will allow themselves the liberty
of a free thought, they might discover their punishment in their sin
(v. 18):
“This is thy wickedness because it is bitter. Now thou seest
that it is a bitter thing to depart from God, and will certainly be
bitterness in the latter end,
ch. ii. 19.
It produces bitter effects, and grief that reaches unto the
heart, touches to the quick, and in the most tender part; the sword
reaches to the soul,”
God can make trouble reach the heart even of those that would lay
nothing to heart. “And by this thou mayest see what is thy
wickedness, that it is a bitter thing, a root of bitterness,
that bears gall and wormwood, and that it has reached to the
heart; it is the corruption of the soul, of the imagination of
the thought of the heart.” If the heart were not polluted with sin,
it would not be disturbed and disquieted as it is with trouble.
2. He shows them the cure,
“Since thy wickedness reaches to the heart, there the
application must be made. O Jerusalem! wash thy heart from
wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.” By Jerusalem he means each
one of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; for every man has a heart of his
own to take care of, and it is personal reformation that must help the
public. Every one must return from his own evil way, and, in
order to that, cleanse his own evil heart. “And let the heart
of the city too be purified, not the suburbs only, the outskirts of
it.” The vitals of a state must be amended by the reformation of those
that have the commanding influence upon it. Note,
(1.) Reformation is absolutely necessary to salvation. There is no
other way of preventing judgments, or turning them away when we are
threatened with them, but taking away the sin by which we have procured
them to ourselves.
(2.) No reformation is saving but that which reaches the heart. There
is heart-wickedness that is defiling to the soul, from which we must
wash ourselves. By repentance and faith we must wash our hearts from
the guilt we have contracted by spiritual wickedness, by those sins
which begin and end in the heart and go no further; and by
mortification and watchfulness we must suppress and prevent this
heart-wickedness for the future. The tree must be made good, else the
fruit will not. Jerusalem was all overspread with the leprosy of sin.
Now as the physicians agree with respect to the body when afflicted
with leprosy that external applications will do no good, unless physic
be taken inwardly to carry off the humours that lurk there and to
change the mass of the blood, so it is with the soul, so it is with the
state: there will be no effectual reformation of the manners without a
reformation of the mind; the mistakes there must be rectified, the
corruptions there must be mortified, and the evil dispositions there
changed. “Though thou art Jerusalem, called a holy city, that
will not save thee, unless thou wash thy heart from wickedness.”
In the latter part of the verse he reasons with them: How long shall
thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? He complains here
[1.] Of the delays of their reformation: “How long shall that
filthy heart of thine continue unwashed? When shall it once be?” Note,
The God of heaven thinks the time long that his room is usurped, and
his interest opposed, in our souls,
[2.] Of the root of their corruption, the vain thoughts that lodged
within them and defiled their hearts, from which they must wash
their hearts. Thoughts of iniquity or mischief, these are
the evil thoughts that are the spawn of the evil heart, from
which all other wickedness is produced,
These are our own, the conceptions of our own lusts
(Jam. i. 15),
and they are the most dangerous when they lodge within us, when they
are admitted and entertained as guests, and are suffered to continue.
Some read it thoughts of affliction, such thoughts as will bring
nothing but affliction and misery. Some by the vain thoughts here
understand all those frivolous pleas and excuses with which they turned
off the reproofs and calls of the word and rendered them ineffectual,
and bolstered themselves up in their wickedness. Wash thy heart from
wickedness, and think not to say, We are not polluted
(ch. ii. 23),
or, “We are Jerusalem; we have Abraham to our father,”
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19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart
maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast
heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is
spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a
moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of
the trumpet?
22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they
are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they
are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and
void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the
hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of
the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of
the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be
desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be
black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will
not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and
bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks:
every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though
thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with
ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in
vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise
thee, they will seek thy life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the
anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice
of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that
spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is
wearied because of murderers.
The prophet is here in an agony, and cries out like one upon the rack
of pain with some acute distemper, or as a woman in travail. The
expressions are very pathetic and moving, enough to melt a heart of
stone into compassion: My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my very
heart; and yet well, and in health himself, and nothing ails him.
Note, A good man, in such a bad world as this is, cannot but be a
man of sorrows. My heart makes a noise in me, through the tumult
of my spirits, and I cannot hold my peace. Note, The grievance
and the grief sometimes may be such that the most prudent patient man
cannot forbear complaining.
Now, what is the matter? What is it that puts the good man into such
agitation? It is not for himself, or any affliction in his family that
he grieves thus; but it is purely upon the public account, it is his
people’s case that he lays to heart thus.
I. They are very sinful and will not be reformed,
These are the words of God himself, for so the prophet chose to give
this character of the people, rather than in his own words, or as from
himself: My people are foolish. God calls them his people,
though they are foolish. They have cast him off, but he has not cast
them off,
“They are my people, whom I have been in covenant with, and
still have mercy in store for. They are foolish, for they
have not known me.” Note, Those are foolish indeed that have not
known God, especially that call themselves his people, and have the
advantages of coming into acquaintance with him, and yet have not known
him. They are sottish children, stupid and senseless, and have
no understanding. They cannot distinguish between truth and
falsehood, good and evil; they cannot discern the mind of God either in
his word or in his providence; they do not understand what their true
interest is, nor on which side it lies. They are wise to do
evil, to plot mischief against the quiet in the land, wise to
contrive the gratification of their lusts, and then to conceal and
palliate them. But to do good they have no knowledge, no
contrivance, no application of mind; they know not how to make a good
use either of the ordinances or of the providences of God, nor how to
bring about any design for the good of their country. Contrary to this
should be our character.
I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning
evil.
II. They are miserable, and cannot be relieved.
1. He cries out, Because thou hast heard, O my soul! the sound of
the trumpet, and seen the standard, both giving the alarm
of war,
v. 19, 21.
He does not say, Thou hast heard, O my ear! but, O my
soul! because the event was yet future, and it is by the spirit
of prophecy that he see it and receives the impression of it. His
soul heard it from the words of God, and therefore he was as
well assured of it, and as much affected with it, as if he had heard it
with his bodily ears. He expresses this deep concern,
(1.) To show that, though he foretold this calamity, yet he was far
from desiring the woeful day; for a woeful day it would be to
him. It becomes us to tremble at the thought of the misery that sinners
are running themselves into, though we have good hopes, through grace,
that we ourselves are delivered from the wrath to come.
(2.) To awaken them to a holy fear, and so to a care to prevent so
great a judgment by a true and timely repentance. Note, Those that
would affect other with the word of God should evidence that they are
themselves affected with it. Now,
2. Let us see what there is in the destruction here foreseen and
foretold that is so very affecting.
(1.) It is a swift and sudden destruction; it comes upon Judah
and Jerusalem ere they are aware, and pours in so fast upon them that
they have not the east breathing time. They have no time to recollect
their thoughts, much less to recruit or recover their strength:
Destruction upon destruction is cried
(v. 20),
breach upon breach, one sad calamity, like Job’s messengers,
treading upon the heels of another. The death of Josiah breaks the ice,
and plucks up the flood-gates; within three months after that his son
and successor Jehoahaz is deposed by the king of Egypt; within two or
three years after Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took it, and
thenceforward he was continually making descents upon the land of Judah
with his armies during the reigns of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah,
till about nineteen years after he completed their ruin in the
destruction of Jerusalem: but suddenly were their tents spoiled and
their curtains in a moment. Though the cities held out for some
time, the country was laid waste at the very first. The shepherds and
all that lived in tents were plundered immediately; they and their
effects fell into the enemies’ hands; therefore we find the Rechabites,
who dwelt in tents, upon the first coming of the army of the Chaldees
into the land retiring to Jerusalem,
The inhabitants of the villages soon ceased: Suddenly were the tents
spoiled. The plain men that dwelt in tents were first made a prey
of.
(2.) This dreadful war continued a great while, not in the borders, but
in the bowels of the country; for the people were very obstinate, and
would not submit to the king of Babylon, but took all opportunities to
rebel against him, which did but lengthen out the calamity; they might
as well have yielded at first as at last. This is complained of
(v. 21):
How long shall I see the standard? Shall the sword devour for
ever? Good men are none of those that delight in war, for they
know not how to fish in troubled waters; they are for peace
(Ps. cxx. 7),
and will heartily say Amen to that prayer, “Give peace in out
time, O Lord!” O thou sword of the Lord! when wilt thou be
quiet?
(3.) The desolations made by it in the land were general and universal:
The whole land is spoiled, or plundered
(v. 20);
so it was at first, and at length it became a perfect chaos. It was
such a desolation as amounted in a manner to a dissolution; not only
the superstructure, but even the foundations, were all out of
course. The prophet in vision saw the extent and extremity of this
destruction, and he here gives a most lively description of it, which
one would think might have made those uneasy in their sins who dwelt in
a land doomed to such a ruin, which might yet have been prevented by
their repentance.
[1.] The earth is without form, and void
(v. 23),
as it was
It is Tohu and Bohu, the words there used, as far as the
land of Judea goes. It is confusion and emptiness,
stripped of all its beauty, void of all its wealth, and, compared with
what it was, every thing out of place and out of shape. To a worse
chaos than this will the earth be reduced at the end of time, when it,
and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.
[2.] The heavens too are without light, as the earth is
without fruits. This alludes to the darkness that was upon
the face of the deep
(Gen. i. 2),
and represents God’s displeasure against them, as the eclipse of the
sun did at our Saviour’s death. It was not only the earth that failed
them, but heaven also frowned upon them; and with their trouble they
had darkness, for they could not see through their troubles. The smoke
of their houses and cities which the enemy burnt, and the dust which
their army raised in its march, even darkened the sun, so that the
heavens had no light. Or it may be taken figuratively: The
earth (that is, the common people) was impoverished and in
confusion; and the heavens (that is, the princes and rulers)
had no light, no wisdom in themselves, nor were any comfort to
the people, nor a guide to them. Comp.
[3.] The mountains trembled, and the hills moved lightly,
v. 24.
So formidable were the appearances of God against his people, as in the
days of old they had been for them, that the mountains skipped like
rams and the little hills like lambs,
Ps. cxiv. 4.
The everlasting mountains seemed to be scattered,
Hab. iii. 6.
The mountains on which they had worshipped their idols, the mountains
over which they had looked for succours, all trembled, as if they had
been conscious of the people’s guilt. The mountains, those among them
that seemed to the highest and strongest, and of the firmest
resolution, trembled at the approach of the Chaldean army. The hills
moved lightly, as being eased of the burden of a sinful nation,
[4.] Not the earth only, but the air, was dispeopled, and left
uninhabited
(v. 25):
I beheld the cities, the countries that used to be populous,
and, lo, there was no man to be seen; all the inhabitants were
either killed, or fled, or taken captives, such a ruining depopulating
thing is sin: nay, even the birds of the heavens, that used to
fly about and sing among the branches, had now fled away,
and were no more to be seen or heard. The land of Judah had now
become like the lake of Sodom, over which (they say) no bird
flies; see
The enemies shall make such havoc of the country that they shall not so
much as leave a bird alive in it.
[5.] Both the ground and the houses shall be laid waste
(v. 26):
Lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, being deserted by the
inhabitants that should cultivate it, and then soon overgrown with
thorns and briers, or being trodden down by the destroying army of the
enemy. The cities also and their gates and walls are broken
down and levelled with the ground. Those that look no further than
second causes impute it to the policy and fury of the invaders; but the
prophet, who looks to the first cause, says that it is at the
presence of the Lord, at his face (that is, the anger of his
countenance), even by his fierce anger, that this was done. Even
angry men cannot do us any real hurt, unless God be angry with us. If
our ways please him, all is well.
[6.] The meaning of all this is that the nation shall be entirely
ruined, and every part of it shall share in the destruction; neither
town nor country shall escape. First, Not the country, for
the whole land shall be desolate, corn land and pasture land,
both common and enclosed, it shall be laid waste
(v. 27);
the conquerors will have occasion for it all. Secondly, Not the
men, for
(v. 29)
the whole city shall flee, all the inhabitants of the town shall
quit their habitations by consent, for fear of the horsemen and
bowmen. Rather than lie exposed to their fury, they shall go
into the thickets, where they are in danger of being torn by
briers, nay, to be torn in pieces by wild beasts; and they shall
climb up upon the rocks, where their lodging will be hard and
cold, and the precipice dangerous. Let us not be over-fond of our
houses and cities; for the time may come when rocks and thickets may be
preferable, and chosen rather. This shall be the common case, for
every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall be left
that dares dwell therein. Both government and trade shall be at
an end, and all civil societies and incorporations dissolved. It is a
very dismal idea which this gives of the approaching desolation; but in
the midst of all these threatenings comes in one comfortable word
(v. 27):
Yet will not I make a full end–not a total consumption, for God
will reserve a remnant to himself, that shall be hidden in the day of
the Lord’s anger–not a final consumption, for Jerusalem shall again be
built and the land inhabited. This comes in here, in the midst of the
threatenings, for the comfort of those that trembled at God’s
word; and it intimates to us the changeableness of God’s
providence; as it breaks down, so it raises up again; every end of our
comforts is not a full end, however we may be ready to think it so. It
also intimates the unchangeableness of God’s covenant, which stands so
firmly, that, though he may correct his people severely, yet he will
not cast them off,
ch. xxx. 11.
(4.) Their case was helpless and without remedy.
[1.] God would not help them; so he tells them plainly,
And, if the Lord do not help them, who can? This is that which makes
their case deplorable. “For this the earth mourns and the heavens
above are black (there are no prospects but what are very dismal),
because I have spoken it; I have given the word which shall not
be called back; I have purposed it (it is a consumption decreed,
determined) and I will not repent, not change this way, but
proceed in it, and will not turn back from it.” They would not
repent and turn back from the way of their sins
(ch. ii. 25),
and therefore God will not repent and turn back from the way of his
judgments.
[2.] They could not help themselves,
When the thing appeared at a distance they flattered themselves with
hopes that, though God should not appear for them as he had done for
Hezekiah against the Assyrian army, yet they should find some means or
other to secure themselves and give check to the forces of the enemy.
But the prophet tells them that, when it comes to the setting to, they
will be quite at a loss: “When thou art spoiled, what wilt thou
do? What course wilt thou take? Sit down now, and consider this in
time.” He assures them that, whatever were now their contrivances and
confidences, First, They will then be despised by their allies
whom they depended upon for assistance. He had often compared the sin
of Jerusalem to whoredom, not only her idolatry, but her trust in
creatures, in the neighbouring powers. Now here he compares her to a
harlot abandoned by all the lewd ones that used to make court to her.
She is supposed to do all she can to keep up her interest in their
affections. She does what she can to make herself appear considerable
among the nations, and a valuable ally. She compliments them by her
ambassadors to the highest degree, to engage them to stand by her now
in her distress. She clothes herself with crimson, as if she
were rich, and decks herself with ornaments of gold, as if her
treasuries were still as full as ever they had been. She rents her
face with painting, puts the best colours she can upon her present
distresses and does her utmost to palliate and extenuate her losses,
sets a good face upon them. But this painting, though it beautifies the
face for the present, really rends it; the frequent use of paint spoils
the skin, cracks it, and makes it rough; so the case which by false
colours has been made to appear better than really it was, when truth
comes to light, will look so much the worse. “And, after all, in
vain shalt thou make thyself fair; all thy neighbours are sensible
how low thou art brought; the Chaldeans will strip thee of thy crimson
and ornaments, and then thy confederates will not only slight thee and
refuse to give thee any succour, but they will join with those that
seek thy life, that they may come in for a share in the prey of
so rich a country.” Here seems to be an allusion to the story of
Jezebel, who thought, by making herself look fair and fine, to outface
her doom, but in vain,
See what creatures prove when we confide in them, how treacherous they
are; instead of saving the life, they seek the life; they often change,
so that they will sooner do us an ill turn than any service. And see to
how little purpose it is for those that have by sin deformed themselves
in God’s eyes to think by any arts they can use to beautify themselves
in the eye of the world. Secondly, They will then be themselves
in despair; they will find their troubles to be like the pains of a
woman in travail, which she cannot escape: I have heard the voice of
the daughter of Zion, her groans echoing to the triumphal shouts of
the Chaldean army, which he heard,
It is like the voice of a woman in travail, whose pain is
exquisite, and the fruit of sin and the curse too
(Gen. iii. 16),
and exhorts lamentable outcries, especially of a woman in travail of
her first child, who, having never known before what that pain is,
is the more terrified by it. Troubles are most grievous to those that
have not been used to them. Zion, in this distress, since her
neighbours refuse to pity her, bewails herself, fetching deep
sighs (so the word signifies), and she spreads her hands,
either wringing them for grief or reaching them forth for succour. All
the cry is, Woe is me now! (now that the decree has gone forth
against her and is past recall), for my soul is wearied because of
murderers. The Chaldean soldiers put all to the sword that gave
them any opposition, so that the land was full of murders. Zion was
weary of hearing tragical stories from all parts of the country, and
cried out, Woe is me! It was well if their sufferings put them
in mind of their sins, the murders committed upon them of the murders
committed by them; for God was now making inquisition for the
innocent blood shed in Jerusalem, which the Lord would not
pardon,
2 Kings xxiv. 4.
Note, As sin will find out the sinner, so sorrow will, sooner or later,
find out the secure.
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