Jeremiah

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. The words {a} of Jeremiah.] Piscator rendereth it Acta Ieremiae, The Acts of Jeremiah, as we say, "The Acts of the Apostles," which book also, saith one, might have been called in some sense The Passions of the Apostles, who were for the testimony of Jesus "in deaths often." And the same we may safely say of Jeremiah, who, although he were not omnis criminis per totam vitam expers -which yet great Athanasius {b} affirmeth of him—that is, free from all fault, for he had his outbursts, and himself relateth them, yet he was Iudaeorum integerrimus -as of Phocion it is said that he was Atheniensum integerrimus -a man of singular sanctimony and integrity; good of a little child, a young saint, and an old angel; an admirable preacher, as Keckerman {c} rightly calleth him, and propoundeth him for a pattern to all preachers of the gospel. Nevertheless, this incomparable prophet proved to be a man of many sorrows, πολυπαθεστατος, as Isidor Pelusiot, {d} a most calamitous person, as appeareth by this book, and one that had his share in sufferings from, and fellow sufferings with, his ungrateful countrymen, as much as might be. Nazianzen saith most truly of him, that he was the most compassionate of all the prophets; {e} witness that pathetical wish of his, #Jer 9:1-3, "Oh that my head were waters," &c.; and that holy resolve, #Jer 13:17, "But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive." It was this good man’s unhappiness to be a physician to a dying state—

“ Tunc etenim docta plus valet arte malum.”

Long time he had laboured among this perverse people, but to very small purpose, as himself complaineth, {#Jer 27:13,14} after Isaiah, {#Isa 49:4} whom he succeeded in his office as a prophet, some scores of years between, {f} but with little good success. For as in a dying man his eyes wax dim, and all his senses decay, till at length they are utterly lost, so fareth it with commonwealths, quando suis fatis urgentur, when once they are ripe for ruin; the nearer they draw to destruction, the more they are overgrown with blindness, madness, security, obstinace, such as despiseth all remedies, and leaveth no place at all for wholesome advice and admonition. Lo, this was the case of those improbi et reprobi -"reprobate silver shall men call them" {#Jer 6:30} -with whom our prophet had to do. Moses had not more to do with the Israelites in the wilderness than Jeremiah had with these "stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears," {#Ac 7:51} as good at "resisting the Holy Ghost" as ever their fathers were. The times were not unlike those described by Tacitus, concerning which Casaubon saith, Quibus nulla unquam aut virtutum steriliora, aut virtutibus inimiciora, that no times were ever more barren of virtues, or greater enemies to virtues. And to say sooth, how could they be much better, when the book of the law was wanting for over sixty years, and the whole land overspread with the deeds of darkness? Josiah indeed, that good young king—by the advice of this prophet Jeremiah, who was younger than himself, but both full of zeal {g} -did what he could to reform both Church and state, but he, alas! could not do it; the Reformation in his days was forced by him, and their was foul work in secret, as appeareth by Zephaniah, who was our prophet’s contemporary; it met with much opposition both from princes, priests, and people, who all had been woefully habituated and hardened in their idolatry under Manasseh and Ammon. Unto which also, and other abominations not a few they soon relapsed when once Josiah was taken away, and his successors proved to be such as countenanced and complied with the people in all their impieties and excesses. This prophet therefore was stirred up by God to oppose the current of the times and the torrent of vices; to call them to repentance, and to threaten the seventy years’ captivity, which because they believed not, neither returned unto the Lord, came upon them accordingly, as is set forth in the end of this prophecy. Whence Procopius, Isidor and others, have gathered that, besides this prophecy and the Lamentations, Jeremiah wrote the first and second book of Kings. {h} But that is as uncertain as that he was stoned to death by the Jews in Egypt, or that the Egyptians afterwards built him an honourable sepulchre, and resorted much unto it for devotion sake; whenas R. Solomon thinketh, from #Jer 44:28, that Jeremiah together with Baruch, returned out of Egypt unto Judea, and there died.

The son of Hilkiah.] The high priest who found the book of the law, say the Chaldee paraphrast and others; but many think otherwise, and the prophet himself addeth,

Of the priests that were at Anathoth.] "Poor Anathoth," {#Isa 10:30} renowned as much by Jeremiah as little Hippo was afterwards by great Augustine, bishop there. The Targum tells us that Jeremiah was one of the twenty-four chieftains of the temple. {i} A priest he was, and so an ordinary teacher, before he acted as a prophet; but his countrymen of Anathoth evil entreated him.

In the land of Benjamin.] Some three miles from Jerusalem.

{a} Verba sive res.

{b} Serm. 4 contra Arianos.

{c} De Rhet. Eccles., cap. ult.

{d} Lib. i., Epist. 298.

{e} Prophetarum omnium ad commiserationem propensissimus. -Orat 17, ad cives.

{f} Vide Oecolamp.

{g} Iosias a zelo ignis divini nomen habet: Significat autem Ieremias altidudinem Dei, vel exaltatum a Deo.

{h} Isodor, Doroth., Epiphan.

{i} Ex praepositis templi. Innuitur in ipsum rectius potuisse competere propheticum munus, quam in multos alios vel ex aula, vel ex caula vocatos.

Ver. 2. Unto whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah.] Woe be to the world because of the word! The Lord keepeth count what preachers he sendeth, what pains they take, and how long, to how little purpose they preach unto a people. He saith that it was "The word of the Lord," for authority sake, and that none might despise his youth, since he was sent by the "Ancient of days."

In the thirteenth year of his reign.] Eighteen years then he prophesied under good Josiah, who was to blame, doubtless, in not sending to advise with this or some other prophet before he went forth against Pharaohnecho; sometimes both grace and wit are asleep in the holiest and wariest breasts.

Ver. 3. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim.] Called at first Eliakim by his good father Josiah, from whom he degenerated, cutting Jeremiah’s roll with a penknife and burning it, {#Jer 36:23} at which his father’s heart would have melted. {#2Ch 34:27}

Unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah.] Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim are not mentioned, because their reign was so short, hardly half a year. By this computation it appeareth that Jeremiah prophesied forty years at least. And the Holy Ghost setteth a special mark (as a reverend writer {a} hath well observed) upon those forty years of his prophesying, {#Eze 4:6} where, when the Lord summeth up the years that were between the falling away of the ten tribes and the burning of the temple, three hundred and ninety in all, and counteth them by the prophet’s lying so many days upon his left side, he bids him to lie forty days upon his right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, a day for a year. Not to signify that it was forty years above three hundred and ninety between the revolt of the ten tribes and the captivity of Judah (for it was but three hundred and ninety exactly in all), but because he would set and mark out Judah’s singular iniquity by a singular mark; for that they had forty years so pregnant instructions and admonitions by so eminent a prophet, and yet were impenitent to their own destruction.

Unto the carrying away of Jerusalem.] He thought, belike, when he prefixed this title, that he should have prophesied no more, when once Jerusalem was carried captive; but it proved otherwise, for he prophesied after that in Egypt; {#Jer 44:24} yet not forty years also after the captivity, as the Jews have fabled. Nor is it so certain that for that prophecy he was slain by Pharaohophra (whom Herodotus {b} calleth Apryes, and saith he was a very proud prince), as some have reported.

{a} Lightfoot’s Harmony: Chron. of Old Test.

{b} Lib. ii. in fine.

Ver. 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me.] The Lord is said to come to Baalam, Abimelech, Laban, &c.; but he never concredited his word to any but to his holy prophets, of whom it is said, as here, "The word of the Lord came to them."

Ver. 5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, ] viz., With a knowledge not intuitive only, but also approbative. Verba notitiae apud Hebraeos secum trahunt affectum.

I sanctified thee.] Infusing grace into thy heart—as afterwards also into the Baptist’s {#Lu 1:15} -and setting thee apart in my secret purpose to this sacred office of a prophet, as afterwards also God did Paul to the apostleship. {#Ga 1:15}

And I ordained thee a prophet.] Magna semper fecerunt qui Deo vocante docuerunt, saith Luther. They have always done great things, whom God hath called to teach his people; quod est contra eos qui Ecclesiam ruituram putant nisi et ipsi doceant, saith Oecolampadius. This text maketh against such as think that the Church must needs suffer, unless they (though uncalled) turn teachers.

Unto the nations, ] i.e., First, To the Jews, qui fere in Gentiles evaserant, who were little better than Gentiles; so papagans are called pagans. {#Re 11:2} Secondly, To foreigners, of and to whom he prophesied. {#Jer 44:30 46:1 47:1 48:1 49:1 50:1} Thirdly, To people of all times, who may and must be instructed by this book; which is such as was highly set by, and cited in the Old Testament by Daniel, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, Ezra, Obadiah (who taketh most of his prophecy out of him); as in the New by our Saviour, {#Mt 21:5,9,13,16,33,42 Mr 11:9,10,17} Matthew the Evangelist, {#Mt 2:6,18} Paul; {#2Co 6:2,16-18 10:17 Heb 8:5,8-12 10:5-10,16,17,30,37,38} John the divine. {#Re 2:6-8 15:3,4}

Ver. 6. Then said I, Ah, Lord God!] Verbum angustiae. The old Latin hath it A, A, A, whereby is noted, say some, a threefold defect—scil., of age, of knowledge, and of eloquence; but that is more subtle than solid. True worth is ever modest; and the more fit any man is for whatsoever vocation, the less he thinketh hinlself; forwardness argueth insufficiency.

Behold, I cannot speak.] Heb., I know not to speak, i.e., aright, and as I ought. Tanto negotio tam instructum oratorem me non agnosco. Jeremiah was an excellent speaker, as well appeareth by these ensuing homilies of his, which show that he was suaviter gravis, et graviter suavis (as one saith of Basil), a grave and sweet preacher, one that could deliver his mind fitly, and dared to do it freely. Hence some of the Jews judged our Saviour to have been Jeremiah propter dicendi agendique gravitatem et parrhesian, for his gravity and freedom of speech. Nevertheless Jeremiah, in his own opinion, "cannot speak"; that is, was no way fit to speak. So Moses is at it with his "Who am I?," {#Ex 3:11} whereas none in all Egypt was comparably fit for such an embassy. It was a usual saying of Luther, Etsi iam senex, et in concionando exercitus sum, &c. Although I am now an old man, and an experienced preacher, yet I tremble as oft as I go up into the pulpit.

For I am a child.] Epiphanius saith that Jeremiah was not even over fourteen or fifteen when he began to prophesy. Samuel also, and Daniel, began very young. So did Timothy, Origen, Cornelius Mus, a famous preacher, say his fellow Jesuites, at eleven years of age. Archbishop Ussher was converted at ten years old, preached early, and so continued to do for sixty years, or nearly so. {a} Mr Beza was likewise converted at sixteen years old (for the which, as for a special mercy, he giveth God thanks in his last will and testament), and lived a preacher in Geneva to a very great age.

{a} His Life and Death, by Dr Bern.

Ver. 7. Say not, I am a child.] Plead no excuses, cast no perils; never dispute, but despatch; never reason, but run, {a} depending for direction and success upon God alone, in whom are all our fresh springs, and from whom is all our sufficiency, &c. Paul was a most unlikely piece of wood to make what he was afterwards called, a Mercury, {#Ac 14:12} yet God made use of him. {#Ac 9:13-15}

For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee.] Whether kings or captives, lords or losels. He preached before Jehoiakim concerning the office of a king, and threatened him with the burial of an ass; {#Jer 22:18,19 36:30} he dealt plainly with the princes who beat him, and with the priests who stocked him with all sorts, to his great cost; he was a heroic and unexpugnable spirit; so are not many in these times, Verbi Dei truncatores et emasculatores, men pleasing preachers.

{a} God loveth not quarists, but currists, said Luther.

Ver. 8. Be not afraid of their faces.] Look they never so big, as did Henry VIII upon Latimer and upon Lambert, who yet told him his own; as did Stephen Gardiner upon Dr Taylor, martyr, but had as good as he brought. {a} The majesty of a man, as also his wrath, showeth itself in his countenance; and young men especially are apt to be baffled and dashed with fierce looks.

For I am with thee to deliver thee.] On one sort or another; thy crown, be sure, no man shall take from thee; thy perpetual triumph thou shalt not lose.

{a} Acts and Mon.

Ver. 9. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth.] This was a very great favour and a sweet settlement to the hesitating prophet. The like visible sign for confirmation was given to Isaiah; {#Isa 6:7} to Ezekiel; {#Eze 2:8 3:2,3} and to John the divine; {#Re 10:10} how much are we bound to God for his word and sacraments?

Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.] And in thy mind also, together with good courage for the better uttering of them. Fear not, therefore, though thou be, as thou objectest, infantissimus et infirmissimus; but "go in this my might," and preach lustily.

Ver. 10. See, I have this day set thee over nations, ] scil., With authority to use the same liberty in reproving their sins that they take in committing them. Fear not the highest (for I have set thee over them), but look upon them as so many mice; for what are they more in comparison of me and of thee, who hast from me thy mission and commission? zeal in well doing showeth a man to be right, like as such are living fish as swim against the stream.

To root out, and to pull down, ] i.e., To denounce destruction to evildoers, and then I will effect it. Elisha hath his sword, as well as Hazael or Jehu, {#1Ki 19:17} and vengeance for the disobedient is every whit as ready in God’s hands as in his minister’s mouth. {#2Co 10:6} See #Ho 6:5. {See Trapp on "Ho 6:5"} #Joh 20:23. But what a mercy of God to the Church was it that the same day that Pelagius, that arch-heretic, was born in Britain, Augustine, the great confuter of that heretic, should be born in Africa—Providence so disposing that the poison and the antidote should come into world together. {a}

To build, and to plant.] As a co-worker with God for the good of souls, by preaching Christ unto them, as this prophet doth notably in a most divine and stately strain, setting him forth in his coming, covenant, offices, benefits, &c., as the only foundation and lively root of hope.

{a} Dempster, Hist. Scot.

Ver. 11. Jeremiah, what seest thou?] It was great kindness and familiarity thus to parley with him, and to call him by his name.

And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.] Which hath its name in Hebrew from watching, because it watcheth, as it were, to bud and bear before other trees, even in the deep of winter, and when it is at coldest. Hereby the prophet is animated, though but young, and assured that he shall have the fruit of his so early labours. God careth not for those arbores autumnales {#Jude 12} trees which bud not till the latter end of harvest. The truth of all his predictions is designed, though little believed by the most; the speediness also of their performance, {#Jer 1:12 Eze 7:10,11} a good comment upon this text. The sins of God’s people, saith one, are sooner ripe than of the heathens, because they have the constant light and heat of his Word to hasten their maturity. This was typified by the basket of summer fruits, and by the almond tree in this text. As the almond tree, saith another, hath a bitter rind, but a sweet kernel, so hath affliction sanctified; and again, as the almond tree is made more fruitful by driving nails into it, letting out a noxious gum that hindereth the fruitfulness thereof, so is a good man made better by afflictions. {a}

{a} Jerome, Theod., Just. Mart.

Ver. 12. Thou hast well seen.] Heb., Thou hast done well to see, i.e., so to see.

For I will hasten my word.] Heb., Amigdalaturns sum, I am watching upon the evil, to bring in the Chaldeans, as I have threatened. See the like elegant allusion, #Am 8:1,2. Nemesis a tergo; punishment is at the heels of sin.

Ver. 13. What seest thou?] By these questions his attention is stirred up, that he may the better observe the matter of his preaching, which is here represented by a second vision.

I see a seething pot.] Heb., Ollam ebullitam, A pot blown up. This boiling pot is Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans, and we are the flesh, say those deriders of this prophecy of Jeremiah; {#Eze 11:3} but they found it to be just so shortly after. And then their profane hearers might well have bespoke them, as the heart of Apollodorus the tyrant seemed to say to him, who dreamed one night that he was flayed by the Scythians and boiled in a caldron; and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle, Εγω σοι τουτων αιτια, It is I that have drawn thee to all this.

And the face thereof, ] i.e., That part of the pot that is next the fire, and heated therewith.

Ver. 14. Out of the north an evil shall break forth, ] i.e., From Chaldea, which is north from Judea. Gregory moraliseth the text thus: Man’s mind is this pot; that which from the north sets it on fire is the devil, by inflaming it with evil lusts, and then he sets up his throne therein. {a} As,

{a} Aquilo est sedes diabolo. -Aug.

Ver. 15. And set every one his throne.] Judging such as in those very gates had unjustly judged others. See this performed, #2Ki 24:4 25:6 Jer 52:9

Ver. 16. And I will utter my judgments against them, ] sc., By those northern princes. But first by thee, and Zephaniah, and Huldah, &c., if haply they will repent, that I may repent of the evil. God therefore threateneth that he may not punish.

Who have forsaken me, and burnt incense.] These sins differ in degrees, and are all found among the Papists.

Ver. 17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, ] q.d., Thou hast, I must needs say, a hard task of it. But hard or not hard, it must be done, {a} or thou art undone. About it therefore and play the man, plucking up thy best heart, as we say, and acting vigorously. Stir up the gifts of God that are in thee, and exercise thy talents committed unto thee. Verbi minister es: hoc age.

Be not dismayed at their faces, lest.] Ne conteritor, ne te conteram. {b} Be net afraid of them, lest I fright thee worse, to thy ruth and utter ruin. Excellently Bernard, If I deal not faithfully with you, you will be damnified, but I shall be damned. Let me suffer anything rather than be guilty of a sinful silence, said that heroic Luther. But Melanchthon, his colleague, was so timorous, that Luther was fain to chide him many times. And Calvin, in an epistle of his to John Sleidan, prayeth God to furnish him with a more noble spirit, ne gravem ex eius timiditate iacturam sentiat posteritas, lest posterity should rue for his timidity. Calvin himself, in his last speech to his fellow ministers on his death bed, speaketh thus: When I first came to this city (Geneva), the gospel indeed was here preached, but things were very far out of order, as if Christianity consisted wholly in the casting down of images, &c. There were also not a few wicked fellows who put me hard to, setting themselves against me to their utmost. But the Lord our good God did so steel me and strengthen me, who am naturally fearful and dastardly, that I stoutly withstood them, and went on with the work of reformation; to his glory alone be it spoken. {c} Melanchthon also admired that courage in Luther that he could not find in himself; for besides many passages of his in his epistles that way tending, one time when he saw Luther’s picture, he uttered this verse immediately,

“ Fulminia erant linguae singulae verba tuae.”

{a} Perquam difficile est, sed ita lex iubet.

{b} Antanaclasis.

{c} Melc. Ad. in Vit. Calvin, p. 106.

Ver. 18. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, ] i.e., Impregnable, inexpugnable, the bulwark of truth, {a} as one said of Basil, such as could not be battered. And of Ambrose Stilico the earl said, that he was the walls of Italy. Peter and John are called pillars; {#Ga 2:9} Athanasius the Church’s champion,

“ Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistis.’’—Virg.

Against the kings of Judah, against the princes, &c.] There was a general defection of all sorts; and Jeremiah was to declaim against them all, and proclaim their utter destruction in case they repented not. Well might Luther say, for he had the sad experience of it, Praedicare nihil aliud est quam totius mundi furorem in se derivare, To preach is nothing else but to derive upon a man’s self the rage of all the world. He met with some even at Wittenberg, where he lived, who were so wicked and uncounsellable, that the four elements could not endure them. {b} So did good Jeremiah, &c.

{a} της αληθειας προβολον.

{b} Ut iam quatuor elementa ferre nequeant.

Ver. 19. They shall not prevail against me.] They shall not take thy crown from thee, no, nor thy precious life; for thou shalt survive them. So Luther died in his bed, defying the malice of Rome and of hell.

For I am with thee.] And what can all the wicked do against one minister armed with God’s presence and power?

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying.] The prophet being thus called and confirmed, {as #Jer 1} sets forthwith upon the work. Est autem hoc caput plenum querelae, et quasi continuum pathos. In this chapter the Lord heavily complaineth of Jerusalem’s unworthy usage of him, convincing them thereof by sixteen different arguments, as A Lapide hath observed; and all little enough; for they put him to his proofs, as is to be seen. {#Jer 2:35}

Ver. 2. Go thou and cry.] For if I myself should do it immediately from heaven, my stillest rhetoric would be too loud for them. {#De 5:27,28}

I remember thee.] Who hast forgot thy first love and loyalty to me. Or, "I remember," that is, I put thee in mind of the kindness that hath been between us. Augustus might have some such meaning in those last words of his to his wife when he lay a dying, ‘O Livia, remember our marriage, and adieu.’ It is thought she had a hand in setting him going, and that she was too familiar with Eudemus the physician. Qui specie artis frequens secretis, saith Tacitus. Peccatum est deicidium.

The kindness of thy youth.] When thou camest out of Egypt after me, and wast espoused unto me at the giving of the law. We use highly to prize nettle buds when they first put forth, so doth God our young services. Others render it thus: I record the mercy showed to thee in thy youth, and the love of thy espousals—sc., whenas I loved thee because I loved thee, and for no other reason. {#De 7:7,8}

When thou wentest after me in the wilderness.] God takes it kindly when men will choose him, and his ways in affliction, as did Moses. {#Heb 11:25} "Who is this that cometh from the wilderness"—from troubles and afflictions—"leaning on her beloved?" {#So 8:5}

Ver. 3. Israel was holiness unto the Lord.] A people consecrated and set apart for his peculiar; {#Ex 19:5 Ps 114:2} holy with a federal holiness at least.

And the firstfruits of his increase.] Yea, his "firstborn," and therefore, "higher than the kings of the earth." {#Ps 89:27} All God’s people are so. {#Heb 12:23 Jas 1:18}

All that devour them shall offend.] Rather thus: All that devoured them trespassed—evil befell them; witness the four latter books of Moses.

Ver. 4. Hear ye the word of the Lord.] This is often inculcated in both Testaments, to procure attention. "I received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you." {#1Co 11:23} "This we say unto you by the word of the Lord." {#1Th 4:15} Thus to preach, is to preach cum privilegio, with authority.

Ver. 5. What iniquity have your fathers found in me?] How unreasonable was their apostasy! and how senseless is your pleading from their example! Nothing is more irrational than irreligion.

That they are gone far from me.] Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? said Themistocles to his ungrateful countrymen.

And have walked after vanity.] An idol is nothing at all, but only in the vain opinion of the idolater.

And are become vain, ] scil., " In their imaginations"; {#Ro 1:21} as vain as their very idols. {#Ps 115:8}

Ver. 6. Neither said they.] In their minds, or with their mouths. That signal deliverance was obliterated, and even lost upon them. Plerique omnes sumus ingrati. {a}

Through a land of deserts and of pits.] Per terrain campestrem et sepulchralem, where we talked of making our graves; neither was it any otherwise likely, but that God gave us pluviam escatilem et petram aquatilem, { b} all manner of necessaries.

{a} Cicero.

{b} Tertul.

Ver. 7. And I brought you into a plentiful country.] You lived in my good land, but not by my good laws; you had aequissima iura, sed iniquissima ingenia, most just laws but most foul nature, as was said of the Athenians; as if I had hired you to be wicked, so have you abused my mercies to my greatest dishonour.

Ver. 8. The priests said not, {a} Where is the Lord?] Ignorant they were, and idle. They would not be at the pains of a serious inquisition after God and his will; though he be a "rewarder of all that diligently seek him." {#Heb 11:6}

And they that handled the law.] That expounded and applied it. A metaphor from such as are trained in the war, who are said tractate bellum, to handle their arms.

The pastors also transgressed against me.] What marvel, therefore, that the people did so too? For, as in a fish, the corruption of it beginneth at the head; so here.

And the prophets prophesied by Baal.] And taught others to worship idols. We see then, it is nothing new that stars fall from heaven, that church chieftains should fall from God, and draw others after them. It went for a proverb, a little before Luther stirred, Qui theologum seholasticum videt, videt septem peccata mortalia, He that seeth a divine, seeth the seven deadly sins.

{a} Dixerunt, Ubi victimae, ubi nummi? triobolarium Deum faciunt subque hastam mittunt. -Oecol.

Ver. 9. I will yet plead with you, ] i.e., Debate the case with you, and set you down by sound reason. So he did to our first parents when they had sinned; but doomed the serpent without any more ado.

Ver. 10. For pass over the isles of Chittim.] The western parts of the world—Greece, Italy, Cyprus, &c.

And send unto Kedar.] The eastern parts, where dwell Kedarens, Arabians, Saracens, &c.

Ver. 11. Hath a nation changed their gods?] No; they are too pertinacious in their superstitions. Xenophon saith it was an oracle of Apollo, that those gods are rightly worshipped which were delivered them by their ancestors; and this he greatly applaudeth. Cicero also saith, that no reason shall ever prevail with him to relinquish the religion of his forefathers. That monarch of Morocco told an English ambassador, that he had lately read St Paul, and that he disliked nothing in him but this, that he had changed his religion. {a}

Which yet are no gods.] Sed hominum figmenta et ludibria daemonum. But are the invention of men and mockery of demons. When Hercules came into a temple, and found the image or statue of Adonis in it, he pulled it down with this expression, Certe nil sacri es, Sure thou art no god; the like may be said of all idols.

But my people have changed their glory, ] i.e., Their God, of whom they might glory, saying, {as #De 32:31} "Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges."

{a} Heyl., Cosmography.

Ver. 12. Be astonished, O heavens!] A poetic and pathetic expression. Compare #De 32:1 Isa 1:2.

Be horribly afraid.] Horripilamini portento malitiae, quod iam dicturus sum; be aghast at such a prodigious wickedness.

Be very desolate.] As the sun seemed to be, when at the death of Christ he hid his head in a mantle of black, which made, they say, {a} the heathen astrologer break out into these words, Either the God of nature suffereth, or else the world is at an end.

{a} Dionys.

Ver. 13. For my people have committed two evils.] Contrary to those two good things that I have commanded them, viz., "Depart from evil, and do good." {#Ps 34:14} Lust doth first εξελκειν, draw a man from God, and then it doth δελεαζειν, deceive him with a bait of the creature. {#Jas 1:14}

They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water.] The all-sufficient, ever-flowing, over-flowing well spring of all welfare. {#Jas 1:17} Trismegist, a heathen, could say, {a} Respicite O mortales, et resipiscite, et ad fontem vitae recurrite, Look back, O mortals, and repent, and run back again to the fountain of life. Seneca also saith, that sin is so foul a thing, that he would not commit it, though he could hide it from men, and get pardon of it of God; for that were to turn his back upon God, the chief good, &c. How well might Bullinger {b} say, that Seneca alone had left to posterity more sincere divinity than all the books of almost all the schoolmen.

And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns.] Such, and no better, are all idols, human helps, creature comforts, friends, means, merits, &c.; what are they all but cisterns, that hold but muddy rainwater at best? but then, being broken cisterns, riven vessels, what hold they else but limum et lapides, mud and gravel? Such cisterns, therefore, to hew out, what is it better than industrious folly, laborious loss of time? to say no worse of it. Now

“ Turpe est difficiles habere nugas:

Et stultus labor est ineptiarum.”

{a} Dialog. 7.

{b} Comment. in #Ro 1:19. So little reason was there that Alex. Hales should be called first Fons vitae, font of life, and then Doctor Irrefragabilis, irresistible teacher.

Ver. 14. Is Israel a servant?] sc., Bought with money. {a}

Is he a homeborn slave?] Verna, a slave by birth; q.d., if he be either of the two, he may thank himself. He was my son, nay, my spouse, if he could have kept him so; but he hath sold himself to commit wickedness, and I have therefore sold him into the hands of the Chaldeans. Lo! this is the product of his forsaking me, the fountain of living waters, &c.

{a} Servus empticius, purchased slave.

Ver. 15. The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, ] i.e., The King of Babylon and his forces, more fierce and fell than young lions. Would any take the Church’s picture? saith Luther; {a} then let him paint a silly, poor maid, sitting in a wood or wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears; for this is her condition in the world.

And they made his land waste, ] i.e., They shall shortly so make it.

{a} Loc. com. tit. de persecut. verae Ecclesia.

Ver. 16. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes.] Two chief cities of Egypt, the inhabitants whereof were said to be most effeminate and servile fellows; {a} even these shall overtop thee, knock thee down, as an ox by a blow on the brain pan, and make havoc of those things that thou holdest the chiefest and most desirable.

{a} Herodot., lib. ii.

Ver. 17. Hast thou not procured this to thyself?] The same may the Lord say to every sufferer: and further add, "Did not I warn you, saying, Sin not against the child?" {#Ge 42:22} Oh, do not this abominable thing! your iniquities will undoubtedly be your ruin, &c.

When he led thee by the way.] The way that is called holy, the highway to heaven; fitly here opposed to those byways of carnal wisdom, mentioned in the following verses.

Ver. 18. And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt?] Why trusteth thou to carnal combinations, which thou hast formerly found to lack in success? wilt thou never be warned of these broken cisterns? or hast thou a mind to be ground to powder between those two millstones of Egypt and Assyria, after whom thou hankerest? #Ps 146:3, David having entered a caveat against creature confidence, persuades people to trust in God alone. See also #Ps 62:8-10.

To drink the waters of Sihor, ] i.e., Of Nile, called Sihor, of its blackness or muddiness; {a} and in Greek, Μελας, black. To drink the waters of it here is to draw the Egyptian forces to thine assistance, and, as some think, to partake with them in their superstitions.

To drink of the water of the river, ] i.e., Of Euphrates, that river by an eminence.

{a} Limosus est Nilus et oblimat Aegyptum.

Ver. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee.] Erudiat te malitia tua; let thine own wickedness, with the sad consequents thereof, teach thee better things. {as #Jer 6:8} Let it for shame, let it παθων δε τε νηποις εγνω, let smart make wit. {#Isa 28:19 Pr 29:15}

Know therefore, and see.] Learn at least by sad experience, for thou hast paid for thy learning. Piscator ictus sapiet.

That it is an evil thing and bitter.] So all sin will prove in the issue, and when the bottom of the bag is turned upward. There will be "bitterness in the end," as Abner said to Joab. {#2Sa 2:26} Laban will show himself at parting howsoever. Tamar will be more hated than ever she was loved: Amor, amarior; plus aloes quam mellis habet.

“ Laeta venire Venus, tristis abire solet.”

Drunkenness is sweet, but wormwood is bitter. These inhabitants of Jerusalem were made drunk, but with wormwood; {#La 3:15} they found that sin was a Dulc-acldum, { a} a bitter sweet—sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the maw, {stomach} as that book in the Revelation; like Adam’s apple, or Esau’s pottage, or Jonathan’s honey, or Judas’s thirty pieces, whereof he would fain have been rid, but could not; they burned like a spark of hell fire in his hand, but especially in his conscience. The devil, with the panther, hideth his deformed head till the sweet scent have drawn other beasts into his danger, and then he devoureth them. Did we but consider what sin will cost us at last, we dare not but be innocent.

{a} γλυκυπικρον.—Philo.

Ver. 20. For of old time I have broken thy yoke.] Or, For when of old I broke thy yoke, &c.—sc., in Egypt; {#Ps 81:5,6,10} while the deliverance was fresh, thou hadst very good resolutions.

And thou saidst, I will not transgress.] Or, I will not serve, sc., other gods. Good words, hadst thou been as good as thy word. But what followeth?

When upon every high hill, and under every green tree, &c.] No sooner did her old heart and her old temptations meet, but they presently fell into mutual embraces. When men have made good vows, let them be as careful to make good their vows unto the Lord. {#Ps 76:11}

Thou wanderest, playing the harlot.] Thou runnest to madding and gadding after idols, ειδωλομανης.

Ver 21. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine.] Heb., A sorek, or with slips of sorek. {#Jud 16:4} See #Isa 5:3, a parallel text; #Ex 15:17 Ps 44:3 80:9.

Wholly a right seed.] That should have yielded a right crop, but it proveth otherwise. Nec votis respondet avari agricolae.

How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant?] How is it that slips of sorek prove slips of Sodom? {#De 32:32} See on #Isa 5:4,7.

Ver. 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre.] Much used of old by fullers and neat laundresses, say Isidore and Athanasius, {a} now not known in these parts; apothecaries use saltpetre instead of it. Sin leaveth behind it a deep stain, so ingrained that it will hardly ever be gotten out, not at all by blanching, extenuating, excusing, &c., or by any legal purifications, hypocritical lotions. All which notwithstanding,

Thine iniquity is marked before me.] Nitet iniquitas tua, splendet instar auri, { b} It glisters like gold before me, whose eyes thou canst not blind or blear with any of thy colourable pretexts and pretences.

{a} Lib. xvi. Etym.; Lib. de Virg.— Nitrum sordes erodit et expurgat. -Plin.

{b} Piscat.

Ver. 23. How canst thou say, I am not polluted?] q.d., With what face? but that sin hath woaded an impudence in thy face.

I have not gone after Baalim.] The whole crew of heathen deities—lords or masters, the word signifieth—which Cicero {a} saith were but men; their temples were their sepulchres, and their religion superstition. He further wisheth that he could as easily discern the true religion as discover the false.

See thy way in the valley.] Of Ben-Hinnom, where thou hast sacrificed thy children to Moloch, thy chief Baal—that is, say some, to the sun, as to the universal cause, strongly concurring to the generation of their children so sacrificed. {b}

Thou art a swift dromedary.] That runneth amadding after her mate; so dost thou after idols. Compare #1Co 12:2.

{a} De Nat. Deor.

{b} Sol et homo generant hominem.

Ver. 24. A wild ass used to the wilderness.] Untameable and untractable, {#Job 39:8} especially when proud and in the heat of lust, as these were after their idols.

That snuffeth up the wind.] When she windeth the male; so this people when acted by a spirit of fornications.

In her month they shall find her, ] i.e., In her last month, when she is so big with young that she cannot wield herself. So sinners, be they never so stubborn, so stiff and high in the instep, that there is no dealing with them, yet when they are in straits and distresses it will be otherwise. God, said Mr Marbury, is fain to deal with wicked men, as men do with frisking jades in a pasture, that cannot be taken up till gotten to a gate; so till he seize upon them by some judgment or summons to die, &c.

Ver. 25. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, &c.] Cease thy vain vagaries to the wearing out of thy shoes, and exposing thyself to extreme thirst; or rather take a timely course to prevent captivity, and the miseries that attend it. {#Isa 20:2,4 47:2}

But thou saidst, There is no hope, ] viz., Of reclaiming us; we are resolved on our course, and will take our swing in sin whatsoever come of it. {#Isa 28:14,15 57:10} Some grow desperately sinful, saith a reverend modern writer, {a} like those Italian senators that, despairing of their lives, when upon submission they had been promised their lives, yet being conscious of their villany made a curious banquet, and at the end thereof, every man drank up his glass of poison and killed himself; so men, feeling such horrible hard hearts, and privy to such notorious sins, they cast away souls and all for lust, and so perish woefully, because they lived desperately and so securely.

{a} Mr Shepherd’s Sincere Convert, 222.

Ver. 26. As the thief is ashamed when he is found.] As usually he is at length, notwithstanding all his sleights and wiles. That was a cunning thief indeed of whom Dio writeth in the life of Severus. Bulas he calleth him, an Italian, who having gotten together six hundred such as himself, robbed many in Italy under the emperor’s nose for two years together; and although he was diligently sought for by the emperor and his armies, yet he could not be caught. Visis enim non videbatur, non inveniebatur inventus, deprehensus non capiebatur, saith the historian; he was too hard for them all.

So is the house of Israel ashamed.] They are, or ought to be so; but

“ Nihil est audacius illis

Deprensis: vires animosque a crimine sumunt.”

Ver. 27. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father, ] i.e., My God. {#Isa 44:17} We are not the children of fornication, said those boasting Jews; {#Joh 8:41} that is, we are not idolaters, who say, as here, to a stock, Thou art my father. The Samaritans they called bastards.

But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.] Thus in their month they will be found. {#Jer 2:24} When they had run themselves barefoot in following their lovers, {#Jer 2:25} who answered their expectation with nothing but fear, and sent them away with shame instead of glory, then God was thought upon and sought unto. Let us make God our choice, and not our necessity, and labour to maintain such constant cause with him, that he may know our souls in adversity, and not turn us off, as he doth these, with,

Ver. 28. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee?] Thou hast sure no need of my help. Quasi tu huius indigeas patris. See the like, #Jud 10:14. {See Trapp on "Jud 10:14"}

For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods.] Enough of them thou hast, and near enough. The Papists also have their tutelar saints, to whom they seek more than to God himself. And when the Ave Mary bell rings, which is at sunrise, noon, and sunset, all men, in whatever place, house, field, street, or market, do presently kneel down and send up their united devotions to heaven by an Ave Maria. {a}

{a} Spec. Europ.

Ver. 29. Wherefore will ye plead with me?] Putting me to my proofs. Is not the case clear enough? Will ye not yield to reason? See on #Jer 2:19.

Ye all have transgressed against me.] And yet ye have the face to ask, as in #Jer 16:10, "What is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord?" And to say, as in #Ho 12:8, "In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me: that were sin." See there.

Ver. 30. In vain have I smitten your children.] My hammers have but beaten cold iron; ye are incorrigible, irreformable. See #Isa 1:5. {See Trapp on "Isa 1:5"}

Your own sword hath devoured your prophets.] As it did in the days of Ahaz, Joash, Manasseh, of whom Josephus {a} saith, that he slew some prophet of God every day.

Like a destroying lion.] Cum saevitia summa, exuta omni humanitate. Ye have pulled them limb meal, and caused them to die piece meal.

{a} Lib. x. cap. 4.

Ver. 31. O generation, see ye the word of the Lord, ] q.d., O generation, rather leonine than human! as #Jer 2:30. "See ye the word"; I say not to you, Hear; no more than I would to a savage beast; for ye have no ears to hear reason; but see with your eyes, for so even beasts can do. See now, and say sooth.

Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?] Such as is described before. {#Jer 2:6} Or, Have I not rather been a paradise unto you, and a storehouse of all accommodations and comforts? It well appeareth that they have wanted nothing but thankful hearts, by this, that fulness hath bred forgetfulness; for so stout they are grown by reason of their great wealth, that they will not come at me, nor acknowledge my sovereignty over them, but will needs be petty gods within themselves. We are lords, say they, and will not now take it as we have done. The ancient Greek rendereth it, We will not be ruled.

Ver. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments?] Not lightly or easily, as minding them many times more than is meet, and then their ornaments are but the nest of pride; and while they think to gain more credit by their garments than by their graces, they are much mistaken.

Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number, ] i.e., Time out of mind, whenas God should be remembered at every breath we draw, since from him we have ζωην και πνοην, "life and breath," as the apostle saith elegantly. {#Ac 17:25} But into such a dead lethargy hath sin cast most people, that God is forgotten by them, and his service neglected.

Ver. 33. Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?] Cur bonificas? so Calvin rendereth it why dost thou make good thy way? that is, set a good gloss upon it, even the best side outwards. The same word is used of Jezebel’s dressing her head. {#2Ki 9:30} What need this whorish trick and trimming, if all were right with thee?

“ Iactas vaenales, quas vis obtrudere, merces.”

Therefore also hast thou taught the wicked ones thy way.] Heb., The wicked women—for the word is feminine—those she-sinners may learn immodesty of thee, who are meretricissimae. And for this it is that thou art pointed at with the finger as it were. {#Jer 2:34,35}

Ver. 34. Also in thy skirts.] In the skirts of thy garments. Heb., In thy wings—an allusion, say some, to birds of prey, which stain their wings with the blood of lesser fowls.

Is the blood of the souls.] The life blood of innocent poor ones, of prophets especially. {#Jer 2:30}

I have not found it by secret search.] Non in suffosione, as Calvin rendereth it, as an allusion to #Ex 22:2.

But upon all these.] That is, In propatulo, in public view. Or, Super haec omnia, because they told thee of thy faults.

Ver. 35. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent.] Antiquum obtines; thou standest still upon thy justification. This doubleth thy fault. Homo agnoscit, Deus ignoseit. The best way is to plead guilty: confess, and go free.

Ver. 36. Why gaddest thou {a} about so much to change thy way?] Or, Changing thy way; as hoping some way to mend thyself. Keep home, and trust God; go further, and fare worse. Creatures were never true to those that trusted them.

{a} Cur cursitas?

Ver. 37. Yea, thou shalt go from him.] Or, From hence, into captivity.

With thine hands.] Lamenting, as did Tamar. {#2Sa 13:19}

For the Lord hath rejected thy confidence.] Where the beginning is carnal confidence, the end is shame, of any business, even of this life.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. They say.] Vulgo dicitur, saith the Vulgate; Dicendo dicitur, say others. They say, and they say well, for they have good law for it. {#De 24:4} But I am above law, saith God, and will deal with thee, not according to mine ordinary rule, but according to my prerogative. Thou shalt be a paradox to the Bible; for I will do that in favour of thee, which I have inhibited others in like case to do, and that scarce any man would do, though there were no law to inhibit it, as one here paraphraseth.

Shall not the land be greatly polluted?] Great sins do greatly pollute, that of adultery especially, for this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. {#Job 31:11}

But thou hast played the harlot; yet return to me.] Haec est Dei clementia insuperabilis; God’s mercy is matchless. No man, no god, would show mercy as he doth. {#Mic 7:18 Mal 3:7 Zec 1:3} He followeth after those that run from him, as the sunbeams do the passenger that goeth from them; and as it is sweetly set forth by our Saviour in those three parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. {#Lu 15:3-32} Paul alloweth of Mark, {#2Ti 4:11} though before he had refused him, {#Ac 15:38} and willeth others to entertain him. {#Col 4:10,11} Let none despair that hath but a mind to return to God, from whom he hath deeply revolted. There is a natural Novatianism in the timorous conscience of convinced sinners, to doubt and question pardon for sins of apostasy and falling after repentance. But this need not be, we see here. Pernicious was Ahithophel’s counsel to Absalom, "Go in to thy father’s concubines"; this he judged such an injury as David would never put up; yet "return again to me, saith the Lord," and all shall be well between us.

Ver. 2. And see where thou hast not been lien with.] Pouring out thy spiritual whoredoms, as Papists now do with their crosses, chapels, pictures, set up in all places.

In the ways thou hast sat for them.] For thy customers and copse mates, like a common strumpet. See #Ge 38:19 Eze 16:24,25,31.

As the Arabian in the wilderness.] As highway robbers wait for and waylay passengers, making it thy trade.

Ver. 3. Therefore the showers have been withholden.] Drought and dearth have ensued upon thy sin. By showers here understand the former rain, called also the seeds’ rain. {#Isa 30:23}

And there hath been no latter rain.] That commonly came a little before harvest, and was much desired.

And thou hadst a whore’s forehead.] Quam pudet non esse impudentem; { a} that can blush no more than a sackbut. We have heard, saith a reverend writer, of virgins, which at first seemed modest, blushing at the motions of an honest love, who, being once corrupt and debauched, have grown flexible to easy entreaties to unchastity, and from thence boldly lascivious, so as to solicit others, so as to prostitute themselves to all comers, yea, as the casuists complain of some Spanish brothels, {b} to an unnatural filthiness. The modest beginnings of sin will make way for immodest proceedings. Let men take heed of that αδιατρεψια, i.e., inverecundia, shamelessness, that Caligula liked so well in himself, and that the heretics, called Effrontes, professed. It is a hard thing to have a brazen face and a broken heart.

{a} Augustine.

{b} Dr Hall’s Remedy of Profan., p. 179.

Ver. 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me?] And is not this extreme impudence? Hast thou a face thus to collogue? Hypocritis nihil impudentius; hypocrites are impudent flatterers; they would, if they could, cheat God of his heaven.

Thou art the guide of my youth, ] i.e., My dear husband. {#Pr 2:17} Fair words are light cheap, and may make fools fain; but God is not to be so courted and complimented.

Ver. 5. Will he reserve his anyer for ever?] Will he not? {#Na 1:2} and is there not good reason he should do so, so long as you speak and do evil things as you can, obstinately persisting in thy sinful practices? He that repenteth with a contradiction, saith Tertullian, God will pardon him with a contradiction. Thou repentest, and yet continuest in thy sins. God will pardon thee, and yet send thee to hell: there is a pardon with a contradiction.

As thou couldst, ] i.e., To thine utmost. Nolunt solita peccare, saith Seneca of some; they strive to outsin themselves and others.

Ver. 6. The Lord also said unto me in the days of Josiah.] This is the beginning of a new sermon, as most hold. Josiah was a religious prince, and a zealous reformer; and hypocrisy reigned exceedingly in his days, as we see here: and as holy Bradford in his letters complaineth that it did likewise in King Edward VI’s days, who was our English Josiah, among the great ones especially, who were very corrupt.

She is gone up upon every high mountain, ] sc., Ever since Solomon’s mind began to be corrupted, {#1Ki 11:4} and now she smarteth for it; yet is not Judah warned by her example.

Ver. 7. And I said after she had done.] Or, Yet I said; but I lost my sweet words upon her.

Ver. 8. And I saw.] That which others could not so easily discern—viz., their hypocrisy and hollow heartedness, their incorrigibleness also, and refusing to be warned by what had befallen their brethren. God looked that Israel’s corrections should have been Jerusalem’s instructions, and that by their lashes she should have been lessoned, which because she was not he is highly displeased, and speaks of it here in a very angry dialect.

Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not.] But slighted the kindness of such a caution, and despised the counsel that was written to her in her sister’s blood.

But went and played the harlot also.] Being therefore the worse, because she should have been the better of the two.

Ver. 9. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom.] Or, better, Through the vocalness of it; the loudness of her lewdness. Heb., the voice or noise of her whoredom, the fame and bruit of it, for it is spoken of far and near.

And committed adultery with stones and with stocks.] Haec fere omnia in caecum, erroneum, meretriciumque Papatum apte hodie torqueri possunt. Do not idolatrous Papists even the same?

Ver. 10. Hath not turned unto me with her whole heart.] Josiah did, but the people did not, as soon appeared, when in the next king’s reign they fell off as fast as leaves do in autumn. And so they did here, when Queen Mary set up Popery.

Ver. 11. The backsliding Israel hath justified herself.] That is, she is less guilty and faulty of the two; because Judah sinned against more means and mercies, and because she received not instruction by her sister’s destruction; therefore shall she feel what she feared not at a distance; therefore shall she taste of Israel’s rod because she would not hear it; she that would not tremble at her sister’s divorce, must herself be divorced, and be judged as "women that break wedlock," {#Eze 16:38} "bearing her own shame for her sins that she had committed, more abominable than theirs." {#Eze 16:52}

Ver. 12. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, ] i.e., Toward Assyria and Media, into which countries the ten tribes had been carried captive. And although they cannot hear thee, yet in time this prophecy may be brought to their hearing; and the men of Judah, meanwhile, may be wrought upon thereby.

And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you.] Heb., I will not make my face to fall: I will not further frown upon you, or deal hardly with you.

I will not keep anger for ever.] Heb., I will not keep for ever. There is nothing that a man is more ready to keep than his wrath. Therefore the Hebrews put keep, for keep wrath. {#Ps 103:9 Le 19:18 Jer 3:5}

Ver. 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity.] Thus favour is promised to the ten captivated tribes, sed per modulum unius paenitentiae, but upon condition of their true repentance, one part whereof is confession of sin. {#Pr 28:13 Ps 32:4} When thy sins and God’s wrath meeting in thy conscience, saith one, make thee deadly sick, then pour forth thy soul in confession; and as it will ease thee, as vomiting useth to do, so also it will move God to pity, and to give thee cordials and comforts to restore thee again. {a}

{a} Facit peccator confitendo propitium, quem non facit negando nescium. -August.

Ver. 14. Turn, O backsliding children.] See on #Zec 1:3.

For I am married unto you.] And, as "I hate putting away," {#Mal 2:16} so I can receive to favour a wife that hath been disloyal, {#Jer 3:1} and after a divorce.

And I will take you one of a city, ] i.e., Though but a few, {#Isa 10:11,12 17:6 24:3} all the rest hardening their hearts by unbelief. This hath been principally fulfilled in the days of the gospel.

Ver. 15. And I will give you pastors according to my heart.] God gives faithful pastors oft for the sake of but a few that are there to be converted: Et vilissimus pagus est palatium eburneum, in quo est pastor et credentes aliqui, saith Luther, {a} The poorest village is an ivory palace, if there be but in it a pastor and some few believers. Such pastors as God here promiseth (and more largely describeth, #Jer 23 Eze 34), are special gifts of God: "I will give you pastors." David, after he had discomfited the Amalekites, sent gifts to his friends in Judah. {#1Sa 30:26} Great Alexander, when he had prevailed at the river Granicus, and was now ascended into the upper parts of Asia, sent back many gifts to assure them of his love in Macedonia. The like doth God to his Church by sending them pastors, with such two adjuncts as are here—(1.) Adherent, his own approbation; (2.) Inherent, skill to teach the people. See #Eph 4:8. {See Trapp on "Eph 4:8"}

{a} Luth., tom. iii. p. 81.

Ver. 16. They shall say no more, The ark, &c.] When the gospel shall be preached, the ancient ceremonies shall be abolished. {a} This was not so easily believed, and is therefore here again and again assured.

{a} Paulus ea vocat stercora et rudera.

Ver. 17. They shall call Jerusalem, ] i.e., The Church Christian.

The throne of the Lord.] The throne of glory; {#Jer 4:2} so #Ex 17:16, because the hand upon the throne of the Lord—that is, say some, Amalek’s hand upon the Church, which is elsewhere also called the temple of God.

Neither shall they walk any more, &c., ] i.e., Not at random, but by rule. {#Eph 5:15} Heb., Not any more after the sight of their heart—i.e., as themselves thought good, but as God directeth them.

Ver. 18. In that day shall the house of Judah walk with the house of Israel.] All the elect shall be reunited in Christ; unless we shall understand it of the last reduction of the nation into one. {#Isa 11:13 Eze 37:16,22 Ho 1:11}

And they shall come together out of the land of the north, ] i.e., Out of the place of their captivity, whereby was figured our spiritual captivity, &c.

Ver. 19. But I said, How shall I put thee among the children?] How, but by my free grace alone, since thou hast so little deserved it? For the causes of our adoption, see #Eph 1:5,6.

And give thee a pleasant land.] The heavenly Canaan, which is here fitly called "a land of desire" or "delight," a heritage or possession of godliness, a land of the hosts or desires of the nations.

And I said, Thou shall call me, My Father.] And My Father, affectionately uttered, is an effectual prayer. Ah! Pater brevissima quidem vox est, sed omnia complectitur, saith Luther—i.e., Ah! Father is but a little word, but very comprehensive; it is such a piece of eloquence as far exceedeth the rollings of Demosthenes, Cicero, or whatsoever most excellent orator.

Ver. 20. Surely as a treacherous wife, &c.] This ye have done, but that is your present grief, and now you look upon your former disloyalties with a lively hatred of them, holding that the time past of your life may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, &c. {#1Pe 4:3}

Ver. 21. A voice was heard upon the high places.] Where they were wont to worship idols, now they weep for their sins, and pray for pardon.

For they have perverted their ways.] This is it that now draweth from them prayers and tears. See #Jer 31:18 La 5:14. Oi nalanu, chi chattanu. Woe worth us that ever we thus sinned. Some understand those words, "A voice is heard," as showing God’s readiness to hear penitent sinners as soon as they begin to turn to him, even before they speak, as the father of the prodigal met him, &c.

Ver. 22. Return, ye backsliding children.] Give the whole turn, and not the half turn only. So #Ac 2:38, Peter said to them that were already pricked at heart, "Repent ye," even to a transmentation; and #Jer 3:19, "Repent ye, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Repent not only for sin, but from sin too; be thorough in your repentance; let it be such as shall never be repented of. {#2Co 7:10} It is not a slight sorrow that will serve apostates’ turn; it must be deep and downright.

And I will heal your backslidings.] Pardon your sins, and heal your natures. "I will love you freely," and cause your broken bones to rejoice. {#Ho 14:4 Isa 19:22} Oh sweetest promise! What wonder, then, that their hard hearts were forthwith melted by it into such a gracious compliance as followeth.

Behold, we come to thee.] See #Zec 13:9. {See Trapp on "Zec 13:9"}

Ver. 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills.] Heb., Truly in vain from the hills, the multitude, the mountains: it is like to that in #Ho 14:3, "Asshur shall not save us; neither will we say any more to the works of our hands, Ye are our gods." {See Trapp on "Ho 14:3"}

Truly in the Lord our God.] They trust not God at all that trust not God alone.

Ver. 24. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers.] That shameful thing, Baal hath done it; {#Jer 11:13 Ho 9:10} he hath even eaten up our cattle and our children, of whom, if any be left, yet there is nothing left for them. And this we now see, long and last, paenitentia ducti, et nostro male edocti, having bought our wit, and paid dear for our learning. And may not many ill husbands among us say as much of their drunkenness and wantonness? See #Pr 5:9-12. {See Trapp on "Pr 5:9"} {See Trapp on "Pr 5:10"} {See Trapp on "Pr 5:11"} {See Trapp on "Pr 5:12"}

Ver. 25. We lie down in our shame.] We that once had a whore’s forehead, {#Jer 3:3} and seemed past grace, are now sore ashamed of former miscarriages, yea, our confusion covereth us, {as #Ps 44:15} because "we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of our God." Lo, here a dainty form and pattern of penitent confession, such as is sure to find mercy. Haec sane omni tempore Christiana est satisfactio, non meritoria aliqua Papistica atque nugivendula. {a} Only we must not acknowledge sin with dry eyes, but point every sin with a tear, &c.

{a} Zegedin.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. If thou wilt return, O Israel.] As thou seemest willing to do, and for very good reason. {#Jer 2:22-24} Thou art but a beaten rebel, and to stand it out with me is to no purpose; thou must either turn or burn. Neither will it help thee to return fainly, for I love truth in the inward parts, and hate hypocrisy, halting, and tepidity. If therefore thou wilt return,

Return unto me.] Return as far as to me; not from one evil course to another, {#Jer 2:36} for that is but to be tossed as a ball from one of the devil’s hands to the other, but "to me with thy whole heart," seriously, sincerely, and zealously; for Non amat, qui non zelat. To a tyrant thou shalt not turn, but to one that will both assist thee, {#Pr 1:23} and accept thee. {#Zec 1:2}

And if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, ] i.e., Thine idols out of thine house and out of thine heart. {#Eze 14:3,4}

Then shalt thou not remove.] But still dwell in the land and do good; feeding on faith, as Tremellius rendereth that #Ps 37:3.

Ver. 2. And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth.] Not by Baal shalt thou swear, or other idols, but by the living God, or by the life of God. The Egyptians once sware by the life of Pharaoh, as the proud Spaniards now do by the life of their king. But, to speak properly, none liveth but the Lord, and none should be sworn by but he alone, an oath being a proof of the divine power, which one worshippeth. The Pythagoreans used to swear by πεπρακτην, Quaternity, which they called παγαν αενναου φυσεως, the fountain of eternal being; and this doubtless was the same with τετραγραμματον, Jehovah.

In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.] Vere, rite, et iuste: {a} (1.) In truth, {#Ro 9:1} that is, to that which is true, lest we fall into perjury. {#Le 19:12} And (2.) Truly, agreeable both to the intentions of our mind, not deceitfully, {#Ps 24:2} and agreeable also to the intentions of him that ministereth the oath, and not with mental reservations, as Romish priests oft swear.

In judgment.] Or, Considerately, duly weighing the conditions and circumstances, not rashly and unadvisedly, {#Le 5:4 1Sa 14:39} as those that swear in heat and choler, swear when they should fear. {#De 10:20 28:58} The Romans used that most considerate word arbitror, when the jurors said those things which they knew most certainly. {b} The Grecians, when they would swear by their Jupiter, out of the mere dread and reverence of his name, forbore to mention him. And the Egyptians bore such respect to Mercurius Trismegistus, that they held it not lawful to pronounce his name lightly and rashly. This is check to many swearing pseudo-Christians. Such also as swear in jest, will, without repentance, go to hell in earnest. The ancient form of taking and imposing an oath was, Give glory to God. {#Jos 7:19 Joh 9:24}

And in righteousness.] (1.) Promising by oath lawful and possible things only, not making an oath a bond of iniquity. {#1Sa 25:21,22 28:10} (2.) Careful to perform what we have sworn, though to our own hindrance. {#Ps 15:4}

And the nations shall bless themselves in him.] Or, Shall be blessed in him—that is, in that God to whom thou returnest, and by whom thou thus swearest. They shall turn to God by thine example, and hold themselves happy in such a good turn.

{a} Tremel.

{b} Suidas.

Ver. 3. Break up your fallow ground.] Novellate vobis novale. Tertullian rendereth it, Renovate vobis novamen novuum, put off the old man, and put on the new. See #Ho 10:11. {See Trapp on "Ho 10:11"} By the practice of repentance, runcate, extirpate, root up and rid your hearts and lives of all vile lusts and vicious practices. The breaking up of sinful hearts may prevent the breaking down of a sinful nation.

Sow not among thorns, ] i.e., Cares and lusts of life, fitly called thorns, because (1.) They prick and gore the soul; (2.) Harbour the old serpent; (3.) Choke the word. There is no looking for a harvest in a hedge: stock them, and stub them up therefore; {#1Pe 2:1 Jas 1:21} do not plough here, and make a trench there, &c.

Ver. 4. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord.] There is a twofold circumcision, corporis et cordis, outward and inward: that without this availeth nothing. {#Ga 6:15} See the inward described #Col 2:11. It is the putting off the old Adam with his actions. It is purgatio animae et aliectio vitiorum, saith Origen; the cleansing of the soul, and the casting away of sin, that filthy foreskin, that "superfluity of naughtiness." {#Jas 1:21} It is a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit wrought by the Word upon the saints at their first conversion, whereby corruption of nature is wounded, beloved sins cast away with sorrow, and the sinner received into an everlasting communion with God and his saints. Those that are not thus circumcised are not Israelites, but Ishmaelites; whereas Jether, though by nature an Ishmaelite, {#1Ch 2:17} yet, being thus inwardly circumcised, he was, for his faith and religion, called and counted an Israelite. {#2Sa 17:25} See #Php 3:3-5.

And take away the foreskin of your heart.] Not of the flesh only, {see #1Pe 3:21} as the carnal Israelite, who rests in the work done, glorious in outward privileges, neglects the practice of religion and power of godliness, pursueth him that is born after the Spirit, the Israelite indeed, &c., and is therefore disprivileged, hated, and defied by God, as Goliath, that uncircumcised Philistine, was by David, "dead in sins and the uncircumeision of the flesh," {#Col 2:13} subject to utter excision, {#Ge 17:14} as having no portion in Christ nor in Canaan. Take away therefore the foreskin of the heart; stick not in the bark, pare not off the foreskin of the flesh only, off with the whole "body of sin"; {#Col 2:11} begin at Adam’s sin, bewail that; then set upon the beloved sin, out with that eye, off with that hand, "cast away all your transgressions" with as great indignation as angry Zipporah did her child’s foreskin. Take unto you for this end the sword of the Spirit, the Word, sharper than those stones that she made use of; {#Ex 4:25} consider the threats—these will work faith, and that will work fear—apply the promises, {#De 30:6 Eze 36:26,28} doubt not God’s power, but pray him to thrust his holy hand into your bosoms, and to fetch off the filthy foreskin that is there. Lo, this is the way, walk in it.

And burn that none can quench it.] When once it hath caught your thorns. {#Jer 4:3}

Ver. 5. Declare ye in Judah.] As if the prophet should say, I do but lose my labour in calling upon you to mortify your corruptions and to cast away all your transgressions. Uncircumcised ye are in heart and ears, and so will be. Now therefore stand upon your guard against the approaching enemy, and defend yourselves, if at least you are able, from the evil that is coming upon you. Moat up yourselves against God’s fire. {#Jer 4:4}

Ver. 6. Set up the standard towards Zion.] All this seemeth to be ironically spoken. {as #Jer 4:5}

For I will bring evil from the north, ] i.e., From Babylon. Ab aquilone nihil boni. There is also another Babylon spoken of in the Revelation, which to the true Church hath of long time been lerna malorum; and so the poor persecuted Protestants in Poland feel at this day. Roma radix omnium malorum.

Ver. 7. The lion is come up from his thicket, ] i.e., Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon, where he lieth safe, sicut leo in vepreto, and will shortly show himself for a mischief to many people, who shall feel his force and fierceness.

Ver. 8. For this, gird you with sackcloth.] Repent, if at least it be not too late, as the next words hint that now it was.

For the fierce wrath of the Lord is not turned back from us.] Or, Because the fierce wrath of the Lord will not turn from us; it will have its full forth. See #Zep 2:2. {See Trapp on "Zec 2:2"}

Ver. 9. The heart of the king shall perish.] His courage shall be quailed, and he shall be strangely crestfallen. This was fulfilled in Zedekiah, who sought to save himself by flight, but could not.

Ver. 10. Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people, ] sc., By those false prophets. {#Jer 4:9} Compare #1Ki 18:22-29 Eze 14:9. This God doth as a just judge, punishing sin with sin. The words may be rendered as a question, "Hast thou indeed thus deceived this people?" Is it possible that thou shouldst have an active, or so much as a permissive, hand in such a business?

Whenas the sword reacheth unto the soul, ] i.e., To the heart, it goes as far as it can. Capulo tenus abdidit ensem. See #Ps 69:11.

Ver. 11. A dry wind of the high places.] Ventus urens et exsiccans, as the north wind is. Understand hereby the King of Babylon, {as #Jer 4:6} blasting and wasting all before him.

Not to fan, nor to cleanse.] But to dissipate and destroy.

Ver. 12. Even a full wind from those places.] An impetuous and stiff wind, such as shall carry away chaff, and grain, and all.

Now also will I give sentence against them.] Heb., Utter judgments with them—i.e., I will speak no more by my prophets, but by my judgments.

Ver. 13. Behold, he shall come up as clouds.] Swiftly and numerously.

His horses are swifter than eagles.] Which, though the biggest of all fowls, yet fly with greatest speed.

Woe unto us, for we are spoiled.] This he premiseth fitly to his exhortation to repentance; {#Jer 4:14} q.d., We are utterly undone, if repentance prevent not.

“ Currat ergo paenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia.”

Ver. 14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness.] Which defileth it worse than any leprosy, {a} or jakes, doth the body. {#Mr 7:19,20,23} Thy hands thou often washest, and other outward parts, placing therein no small religion, thou canst not wash them in innocence; wash them therefore in tears, and when thou hast so done, cry to God with Augustine, Lava lachrymas meas Domine: ipsae enim lachrymae sunt lachrymabiles; Wash my very tears, Lord, for they are lamentable ones. Beg of him to bathe thy soul in the blood of his Son, to wash thee thoroughly from thine iniquity, and to cleanse thee from thy sin. {#Ps 51:2}

That thou mayest be saved, ] i.e., Have safety here, and salvation hereafter.

How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?] {b} Heb., In the midst of thee, in the very heart of thee. Creep in they will, but why should they lodge there? why should the devil be at inn with us? be any man’s bedfellow, as he is the angry man’s? {#Eph 4:26} David oft "communed with his own heart, and his spirit made diligent search" for such vagrants. {#Ps 77:6} Scopabam spiritum meum, { c} so some render it, I swept out my spirit. Carnal hearts are stews of unclean thoughts, slaughter houses of cruel and bloody thoughts, exchanges and shops of vain and vile thoughts, a very forge and mint of false political undermining thoughts, yea, oft a little hell of confused and black imaginations. They had need therefore to be carefully cleansed, and kept with all custody. Grace beginneth at the centre, and from thence goeth to the circumference. God and nature begin at the heart; art begins with the face and outward lineaments; so doth hypocrisy at outward paintings and expressions; it cleanseth the outside of the cup and platter, when the inside is full of ravening and wickedness. {#Lu 11:39}

{a} Frustra sunt lavamenta, ubi nulla est innocentia. -Oecol.

{b} Hic mora cogitationis redarguitur et eius adlubescentia. -Oecol.

{c} Vulgate.

Ver. 15. For a voice declareth from Dan.] Which was first called Laish, then Dan, and after that, in honour of Tiberius Caesar, Caesarea Philippi. {a} It was the utmost bound of Israel northward; and therehence came a rumour of the enemy entering and making his first impression into the land, and so, by Mount Ephraim, to the Jews of Jerusalem. This Jeremiah, by a spirit of prophecy, foretelleth long before, against their vain confidence of better.

And publisheth affliction.] The same Hebrew word signifieth vanity or iniquity in the verse aforegoing. Sin is the mother of misery and molestation.

{a} Joseph. Antiq., lib. xviii.

Ver. 16. Make ye mention to the nations, ] i.e., To the Jews, who haply are called the nations, because once better accounted of than all nations. Thus the saints are called "All things," {#Col 1:18} and the Rabbis have a saying, that those seventy souls which came down to Egypt with Jacob, were more worth than all the seventy nations of the world besides.

That watchers are come.] Nebuchadnezzar’s body guard, say some. Heb., Notserim—i.e., Nebuchadnezzarenes. {a} Others give a better reason of the word from the next verse.

And give out their voice against the cities of Judah.] While they invade them cum barritu militari, with a horrid and horrible noise, such as the Turks use today also when they set upon any city to storm it.

{a} Sicut a Caesare Caesariani, a Praetore Praetoriani.

Ver. 17. As keepers of a field, are they against her.] They have straitly besieged her, so that there is no escaping their hands.

Ver. 18. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee.] This is like as we use to say to our children when they have taken cold or got any harm, This is your gadding and dabbling in the dirt, your going in the snow, your eating of fruit, &c.

This is thy wickedness, ] i.e., Merces malitlae; the wages of thy wickedness, the fruit of thy folly.

Because it is bitter.] Thou hast given God a bitter pill, as it were, that went to his heart; and now he hath given thee as bitter a potion, that reacheth unto thine heart.

Ver. 19. My bowels, my bowels!] So, "My head, my head"; {#2Ki 4:19} "My leanness, my leanness." {#Isa 24:16} Thus the prophet here, to express his inexpressible grief for the calamities of his people.

I am pained.] As a woman in travail; Doleo instar parturientis.

At the very heart.] Heb., At the walls of my heart; scil., to see, in spirit, the city walls surprised.

My heart maketh a noise in me.] Saltitat et palpitat, ut in pavidis et perculsis fieri solet, leaps and throbs.

I cannot hold my peace.] Heb., I will not.

Because thou hast heard, ] i.e., I have heard in the spirit, and am affected with it, as if already come.

Ver. 20. Destruction upon destruction.] Fluctus fluctum trudit; one mischief upon another, the sword after famine, captivity after a siege.

For the whole land is spoiled.] Or, Plundered; which word we first heard of in the Swedish wars.

Ver. 21. How long shall I see the standard?] Sad sights and doleful ditties are common in times of war.

And hear the sound of the trumpet.] Tubam turbamque hostiurn.

Ver. 22. For my people is foolish, they have not known me.] To know and to worship God aright, is the only true wisdom, saith Lactantius. {a}

They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.] In terrenis lyncei, in caelestibus talpae. Wise the wicked are in their generation, subtle and sly; but so is the serpent, or the fox. The swine that wandereth can make better shift to get home than the sheep can to the fold. They have received "the spirit of this world"; {#1Co 2:12} the devil also worketh effectually in them, as a smith in his forge. {#Eph 2:2} Hence they are "wise to do evil." Elymas was a sorcerer, subtle fellow, but the devil’s child, and so the more dangerous. {#Ac 13:10} Magnum ingenium et magna tentatio, saith Vincentius Lirinensis, concerning Origen, who had a great wit, but proved a great scandal to the Church. The devil covets to be adorned by thee, said Augustine to one that was wittily wicked. Surely as jet gathereth dross and refuse things to itself, but lets go gold and precious things; so do the world’s wizards.

{a} Lib. iii. cap. 30.

Ver. 23. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void.] Tohu vabohit {as #Ge 1:2} sightless and shapeless. Sermo est hyperbolicus, all was in a confusion. What shall it, then, be at the last day?

Ver. 24. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled.] War is a woe that no words, how wide soever, can sufficiently utter.

And all the hills moved lightly.] As being lightened of their burden, saith a Rabbi, trees and houses.

Ver. 25. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man.] But all killed, captived, or fled. Judaea lay utterly waste for seventy years; insomuch that after the slaughter of Gedaliah, when all, men, women, and children, fled into Egypt, there was not a Jew left in the country.

And all the birds of the heavens were fled.] Birds were given men for food, medicine, and delight, as companions of his life; therefore it is reckoned, both here and #Jer 9:10, as a judgment to lose them.

Ver. 26. At the presence of the Lord, &c.] Who was the chief agent; as Titus the Roman emperor also acknowledged after be had destroyed Jerusalem: Non se id fecisse dixit, sed Deo iram suam declaranti manus suas accommodasse; { a} he said it was not he that had done it, but that he had only lent his hands to God, justly displeased at that nation.

{a} Suidas.

Ver. 27. Yet I will not make a full end.] God kept the room empty all those seventy years, till the return of the natives.

Ver. 28. Because I have spoken it, &c.] Quod scrips; scrips, said Pilate, I will not alter it. See the like, #Eze 24:13,14.

Ver. 29. Every city shall be forsaken.] See #Jer 4:25.

Ver. 30. Though thou rendest thy face with paint.] Jezebel-like, {#2Ki 9:30 Eze 23:40}

In vain shalt thou make thyself fair, ] i.e., Seek to ingratiate with the Chaldees, by submitting to them, and worshipping their idols.

Thy lovers will despise thee.] As an old withered strumpet, and now out of date. See #Eze 16:36 23:22.

Ver. 31. As of her that bringeth forth her first child.] Primiparae: such have greatest pains, and least patience oft.

For my soul is wearied because of murderers.] Once her paramours, her sweethearts. There is nothing got by comporting with idolaters. The Duke of Medina’s sword knew no difference between Papists and Protestants in 1588, and that they should have found had the Spaniard then prevailed.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. Run to and fro.] Spatiamini, scrutamini. Go as many of you as ye please; the verbs are plural.

In the streets of Jerusalem.] Where it was strange there should be such a rarity of righteous ones. But "the faithful city was now become a harlot." {#Isa 1:21} Like as Rome is at this day.

“ Tota est iam Roma lupanar.”

“Now all Rome isa brothel.”

She had a Mancinel, a Savonarola, and some few other Jeremiahs, to tell her her own; but she soon took an order with them. The primitive Christians called heathens pagans; because country people, living in pagis -that is, in hamlets and villages—were heathenish for most part, after that cities were converted, and had many good people in them; but Jerusalem here afforded not any one hardly.

If you can find a man, ] i.e., A godly, a zealous man. For homines permulti, viri perpauci, saith Herodotus: {a} there is a great paucity of good people. Diogenes is said to have sought for a good man in Athens with a lantern and candle at noonday. And once, when he had made an O yes in the market place, crying out, ‘Ακουσατε ανδρες, Hear, O ye men; and thereupon company came about him to hear what the matter was, he rated them away again with this speech, Ανδρας εκαλεσα, ου καθαρματα, I called for men, and not for varlets. Job was a man, every inch of him. {See Trapp on "Job 1:1"} So was Moses, that "man of God"; Daniel, that "man of desires"; John Baptist, "than whom there arose not a greater among all that were born of woman"; Paul, that little man but who did great exploits; Athanasius and Luther who stood out against all the world, and prevailed. {b} But "not many" such; blessed be God that any such. Cicero observeth that scarce in an age was born a good poet. And Seneca saith, such as Clodius was, we have enough: but such as Cato are hard to be found. The host of Nola being bid to summon the good men of the town to appear before the Roman censor, got him to the churchyard, and there called at the graves of the dead: for he knew not where to call for a good man alive. {c} God himself sought for a man that might stand up in the gap, but met not with any such one. {#Eze 22:30}

And I will pardon it.] Sodom’s sins cried loud to God for vengeance; so did now Jerusalem’s. But had there been but a voice or two more of righteous and religious persons there, their prayers had outcried them. A few birds of song are shriller than many crocitating birds of prey.

{a} In Polyh.

{b} Calvinus erat vir admirabilis. Ipsa a quo posset virtutem discere virtus.

{c} Guevara.

Ver. 2. And though they say, The Lord liveth, ] i.e., Albeit they talk religiously, as those pretenders also did, {#Isa 66:5} and make a great flaunt, as if some great matter, with Simon Magus, {#Ac 8:9} yet they are arrant hypocrites, and therefore odious to me who desire "truth in the inward parts." {#Ps 51:6} These neither "say the truth," nor "do" it. {#1Jo 3:10}

Ver. 3. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth?] And can these painted hypocrites hope ever to please thee? how much are they mistaken?

Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved.] As being "past feeling," of a dead and dedolent disposition; like naughty boys, which are the worse for a whipping; or Solomon’s drunkard, who is beaten, but never the better. {#Pr 23:35} There is no surer sign of a carnal Israelite, of a profligate professor, than to be senseless or incorrigible under public judgments.

Ver. 4. Therefore I said, ] i.e., I thought with myself.

Surely these, ] scil., That swear falsely, and refuse to be reformed, &c.

Are poor.] Of the rascality, under law, base and beggarly, who neither know God’s will, nor hold themselves much bound to do it. Of the poorer sort in Swethland it is reported, that they do always break the Sabbath, saying that it is for gentlemen only to keep that day.

Ver. 5. I will get me unto the great men.] Who have been better bred, and abound with leisure, and other helps to holy living.

But these have altogether broken the yoke.] Of God, of the law, and of discipline. These are lawless and awless, and think they may lay the reins in the neck, and run riot.

Ver. 6. Therefore a lion of the forest shall slay them.] So Nebuchadnezzar is called for his cruelty, a wolf for his voracity, and a leopard for his slyness and swiftness. All the malignities of other creatures meet in the Church’s enemies.

Ver. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this?] How with the safety of mine honour and justice? Swearing then by creatures (us by our Lady, by St Anne, by this light, &c.), or by idols, (as by the mass, by the rood, &c.), or by qualities (as by faith, troth, &c.), is not so small a sin as many deem it, since God maketh here a great question how he can pardon it. For why? it is a forsaking of him, a giving away his honour to another, a disgrace done to a man’s self—since we always "swear by the greater," {#Heb 6:16} and a means to procure his utter ruin, without God’s greater mercy. {#Am 6:14 Zep 1:3-5} Men sport themselves with oaths, as the Philistines did with Samson, which will at last pull the house about their ears. {#Zec 5:4}

When I fed them to the full, they then committed adultery.] Fulness in good men oft breeds forgetfulness, and in bad men, filthiness. Gula vestibulum luxuriae; gluttony is the gallery that incontinence walketh through. The Israelites ate and drank, and rose up to play—scil., with their Midianitish mistresses—to the provoking of God’s fierce wrath. Fulness of bread made way to Sodom’s sin. Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant. Ceres and Bacchus are great friends to Venus, &c. Watch therefore, and feed with fear.

And assembled themselves by troops.] Heb., They trooped themselves; such was their impudence.

Ver. 8. They were as fed horses, ]{ a} As stallions and stone horses, that are ιππομανεις, mare mad, as the Septuagint have it.

{a} Libido effrons et plus quam pecuina.

Ver. 9. Shall I not visit for these things?] i.e., Shall I not take cognizance of them, and punish them surely and severely?

Ver. 10. Get ye up upon her battlements, and destroy.] Ascendite et exscindite; up and lay about you lustily. A commission granted out to the enemy, to execute divine vengeance; God can never want a weapon to beat his rebels with.

But make not a full end.] See #Jer 4:27.

For they are not the Lord’s.] He disowneth them, and giveth them primo occupaturo, to him that shall first seize them; as the Pope took upon him to do this kingdom of England, in the days of Henry VIII, whom he had excommunicated and deprived.

Ver. 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah.] Both Aholah and Aholibah are stark naught; I renounce them therefore, and shall take no further charge of them. And for what reason?

Ver. 12. They have belied the Lord.] Or, They give the Lord the lie—as Montfort, Earl of Leicester, gave his sovereign, Henry III, {a} the lie. Every unbeliever doth as much, upon the matter; {#1Jo 5:10} see the note there, Nam etiamsi non semper ore obloquitur, factis tamen obluctatur, { b}

And said, It is not he, ] scil., That speaketh, but the prophets speak their own dreams and fancies. Or, as some render the text, He is not; there is no God to reward us if we do well, or to punish us if we do worse. See my Commonplace of Atheism.

{a} Daniel’s Hist., 172.

{b} Oecolamp.

Ver. 13. And the prophets shall become wind.] All their threats and bugbear terms (devised on purpose to frighten silly people, who are no wiser than to believe them) shall come to nothing; they are but bullatae nugae, bruta fulmina, { a} bubbles of words, brute lightbolts; both they and their menaces shall vanish together, they shall blow over.

Thus shall it be done unto them.] The evils that they foretell shall befall themselves, not us; et nos male mulctabimus ipsos, and we will see them soundly punished for false prophets. Poor Jeremiah was ill-handled among them many times, as we shall see in sundry chapters following. Hoc fuit οιδακτρον, &c.

{a} δνεμωλια βαζεις—Hom.

Ver. 14. Because ye speak this word.] Ungodly men shall one day answer, with all the world on fire about their ears, for all their hard and haughty speeches. {#Jude 15} They shall find that neither their own words are wind, but such as they shall give a sad account of; nor the prophet’s words wind, unless it be to blow them into the bottomless lake, and to torment their consciences, haply in the meanwhile more than wind doth men’s bodies, when gotten once into the veins or bowels.

Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire.] That is somewhat worse than wind. Oh fear this fire! vengeance is in readiness for the disobedient; {#2Co 10:5} every whit as ready in God’s hand as in the minister’s mouth. See #Zec 1:6. {See Trapp on "Zec 1:6"}

Ver. 15. It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation.] As ancient as Nimrod, the first founder of that first of the four monarchies. {#Ge 10:8} Hence Babylon is called "the land of Nimrod," {#Mic 5:6} whom the poets call Saturn, and his son and successor, Jupiter, Belus.

A nation whose language thou knowest not.] For the Babylonians spake Syriac, {#Da 2:4} as did also the Jews afterwards—viz., after the captivity in Babylon, where they learned of it, and lost their own language.

Ver. 16. Their quiver is an open sepulchre.] As holding arrows that wound deadly, and that shall despatch many, being drenched in their gall.

Ver. 17. And they shall eat up thy harvest.] Partita gladio, partita gala. Consider the calamity of war, and take course to prevent it.

Ver. 18. I will not make a full end with thee.] In the midst of judgment, God remembereth mercy. See #Jer 4:27 5:10. Howbeit, from this text some gather, that now in this last captivity of theirs, God hath made a full end with the Jews, and that "wrath is come upon them to the utmost," or to the end εις τελος, as the Greek hath it. {#1Th 2:16}

Ver. 19. Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us?] Why? Could not they yet tell? And had they not been oft enough (if anything were enough) told wherefore? But they were never willing to hear on that ear. Some of our hearers turn the deaf ear, and say, What tell you us of these terrible things, &c. Many sit before us as senseless as the seats they sit on, the pillars they lean to, the dead bodies they tread upon.

So shall ye serve strangers.] God loves to retaliate.

Ver. 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob, &c.] Cease not to ring it in their ears, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for it is a rebellious people, and of the number of those who wink willingly, that they may not see when some unsavoury potion is ministered to them, {a} as Justin Martyr expresseth it.

{a} καταπινοντες το πακρον.

Ver. 21. Hear now this, O foolish people.] They were strangely stupefied, and were therefore thus rippled up. Those that are in a lethargy must have a double quantity of physic to what others have.

And without understanding.] Heb., Without a heart. Cor sapit et pulmo loguitur, &c: The heart is the symbol and seat of wisdom. See #Ho 7:11. {See Trapp on "Ho 7:11"}

Which have eyes, and see not, &c.] See #Isa 6:9 42:20. Which have not senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil. {#Heb 5:14}

Ver. 22. Fear ye not me? saith the Lord.] What! not me, whom the sea itself, that tumultuous and unruly creature, feareth and obeyeth? See #Ps 65:7 93:4.

Who have placed the sand for a bound to the sea.] A weak bound for so furious an element. Vis maris infirmissimo sabuli pulvere cohibetur. But so I will have it; and then who or what can gainstand it? Now, who can but be moved at such miracles? Know you not that I can soon make your arable, satiable? and that I can shake the earth as oft as there is a tempest in the ocean, since the earth is founded not upon solid rocks but fluid waters? See #2Pe 3:5.

By a perpetual decree.] Heb., By an ordinance of antiquity or of perpetuity, clapping it up close prisoner.

Ver. 23. But this people have a revolting and rebellious heart.] {a} Cor recedens et amaricans; gone they are, and return they will not. Apostates are dangerous creatures, and mischievous above others; witness Julian, once a forward professor; Lucian, once a preacher at Antioch; Staphylus and Latomus, once great Lutherans, afterwards eager Popelings. Harding was the target of Popery in England, saith Peter Moulin, against which he had once been a thundering preacher in this land, wishing he could cry out against it as loud as the bells of Oseney. The Lady Jane Grey, whose chaplain he had sometimes been, gave him excellent counsel in a letter; but he was revolted and gone past call. {b}

{a} καρδια ανηκοος και απειθης.—Sept.

{b} Acts and Mon., fol. 1291.

Ver. 24. Neither say they in their hearts.] God understands heart language, and expects a tribute there.

Let us now fear the Lord.] Fear him for his goodness, as well as for his greatness. {#Jer 5:22} See #Ho 3:5. {See Trapp on "Ho 3:5"}

That giveth rain.] Which God decreeth, {#Job 28:26} prepareth, {#Ps 147:8} withholdeth; {#Am 4:7} bestoweth {#De 28:12 Mt 5:41} for a witness {#Ac 14:17} of his general goodness {#Mt 5:45} and special providence, as a good householder. {#Ac 14:17}

He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of harvest.] Which, if he should deny us but one year only, how easily might he starve us all! See his love, and fear his name.

Ver. 25. Your iniquities have turned.] See on #Isa 59:2 1:2.

Ver. 26. For among my people are found wicked men.] This was as bad as to find a nettle in a garden, unchastity in a virgin, or the devil in paradise. All the Lord’s people are or ought to be holy.

They lie in wait.] Or, Watch; or, Prey. See on #Mic 7:2.

They set a trap, they catch men.] To spoil them or slay them. Such a one was Otto, the Pope’s Muscipulator (as the story styleth him), i.e., micecatcher, sent hither by Gregory IX to rake and take away our money. Tetzelius, sent by Leo X into Germany, was another.

Ver. 27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, ] i.e., Of ill-gotten goods, which will prove no such catch in the close, as they count upon.

Ver. 28. They are waxen fat, they shine.] Pingues, nitidi sunt; cutem curant ut Epicuri de grege porci; fat they are, and fair-liking, slick, and smooth.

Yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked.] They outsin others. Or, as some sense it, they escape better than others. {#Ps 73:5}

Ver. 29. Shall I not visit?] See #Jer 5:9.

Ver. 30. A wonderful and horrible thing.] Res stupenda et horrenda; an abhorred filth, such as may well draw from us a Heu, heu, Domine Deus

Is committed in the land.] Heb., In this land, where men are therefore the worse, because they should be better.

Ver. 31. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule.] The chief priests bearing rule in the causes and consciences of the people, had suborned their abettor’s ambitious prophets, who applauded their greatness for preferment, teaching the people to doat on the titles of Moses’ chair, high priests, the temple of the Lord, &c., as if there were not many a goodly box in the apothecary’s shop without one drachm of any drug therein. Such false prophets were those Pharisees, factors for the priests with their corban; {#Mt 15:5} and such also for the Pope are the Jesuits and seculars, which differ only as hot and cold poison, both destructive to the state.

What will ye do?] Alas! what will become of you at last? {a}

{a} Aposiopesis de extremo tam deploratae politiae exterminio.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. O ye children of Benjamin.] These were the prophet’s countrymen, for Anathoth was in that tribe; so was also part of Jerusalem itself. He forwarneth them of the enemy’s approach, and bids them begone. The Benjamites were noted for valiant, but vicious. {#Jud 19:16,22-25 Ho 9:9 10:9}

And blow the trumpet in Tekoah.] A place that had its name from trumpeting; so there is an elegance in the original. See the like, #Mic 1:10,14. It was twelve miles from Jerusalem, and six from Bethhaccerem. Here dwelt that wise woman brided by Joab. {#2Sa 14:2}

Set up a sign of fire.] A beacon, or such as the cross of fire is in Scotland, where (for a signal to the people when the enemy is at hand) two firebrands set across, and pitched upon a spear, are carried about the country. {a}

{a} Life of Edward VI, by Sir F. Heywood.

Ver. 2. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.] Certatim amatae bucolicae puellae; some fair shepherdess, to whom the kings with their armies make love (but for no love), that they may destroy and spoil her.

Ver. 3. The shepherds.] See on #Jer 6:2.

Ver. 4. Prepare ye war against her.] Say those Chaldean sweethearts. This is their wooing language, like that of the English at Musselburgh.

Let us go up at noon.] Let us lose no time; why burn we daylight by needless delays?

Ver. 5. Let us destroy her palaces.] Where we shall find all precious substance; we shall fill our hands with spoil. {as #Pr 1:13}

Ver. 6. For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, ] q.d., It is he who setteth these Chaldean warriors to work, and giveth them these words of command. So Totilas, Gensericus, and others, were the scourge in God’s hand, as now also the Turks are.

She is wholly oppression.] She was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in her; but now nothing less.

“ Nomen Alexandri ne te fortasse moretur,

Hospes, abi: iacet hic et scelus et vitium.” {a}

{a} De Alex. VI, Papa. Pasquil.

Ver. 7. As a fountain casteth out her waters.] Incessantly and abundantly. In Ieremia est continua quasi declamatio contra peccatum, &c.

Before me continually.] This showeth their impudence.

Ver. 8. Be thou instructed.] Affliction is a schoolmaster, {a} or rather an usher to the law, which the apostle calleth a schoolmaster to Christ. Affliction bringeth men to the law, and the law to Christ. Affliction is a preacher, saith one; "Blow the trumpet in Tekoah"; what saith the trumpet? "Be instructed, O Jerusalem."

Lest my soul depart from thee.] Heb., Be loosed or disjointed; lest I loathe thee more than ever I loved thee, and so thy ruin come rushing in, as by a sluice.

{a} Maturant aspera mentem.

Ver. 9. They shall thoroughly glean the remnant.] They shall make clean work of them. {as #Jud 20:45}

Ver. 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning?] Heb., Protest—q.d., I know not where to meet with one teachable hearer in all Jerusalem.

Behold, their ear is uncircumcised.] Obstructed and stopped with the "superfluity of naughtiness," worse than any ear wax, or thick film overgrowing the organ of hearing. Tanquam monstra marina, surda aure Dei verba praetereunt.

The word of the Lord is unto them a reproach.] They take reproofs for reproaches. {as #Lu 11:45}

Ver. 11. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord, ] i.e., Of curses and menaces against this obstinate people. {as #Jer 4:19}

I am weary with holding in.] As hitherto I have done, and could still in compassion, but that of necessity I must obey God’s will, and be the messenger of his wrath. It is a folly to think that God’s ministers delight to fling daggers at men’s breasts, or handfuls of hell fire in their faces. Non nisi coactus, said he.

I will pour it forth.] I will denounce it, and then God will soon effect it. See on #Jer 1:10.

Ver. 12. With their fields and wives together.] These are mentioned as most dear to them; who could haply say as he did—

“ Haec alii capiant; liceat mihi paupere cultu

Secure chara coniuge posse frui.”

Ver. 13. Every one is given to covetousness.] Avet avaritia, eager for greed, is coveting covetise or excessively; crieth still, Give, give, with the horse leech; of which creature Pliny {a} observeth, and experience showeth, that it hath no through passage, but taketh much in, and letting nothing out, breaks and kills itself with sucking. So doth the covetous man.

Every one dealeth falsely.] Heb., Each one is doing falsehood, as if that were their common trade.

{a} Lib. xi. cap. 34.

Ver. 14. They have healed also the hurt of…slightly.] Heb., Upon a slight or slighted thing. Secundum curationem mali leviculi; { a} as men use to cure the slight hurts of their children by blowing on them only, or stroking them over. Thus these deceitful workers dealt by God’s people, dallying with their deep and dangerous wounds, which they search not, neither cauterise, according to necessary severity.

Saying, Peace, peace.] Making all fair weather before them, whenas the storm of God’s wrath was even breaking out upon them, such a storm as should never blow over.

{a} Secundum leviculum. -Jun.

Ver. 15. Were they at all ashamed] Their shamelessness was no small aggravation of their sin. Ita licet multas abominationes commiserunt Papistae sine verecundia, verecundari tamen non possunt, saith Dr John Raynolds. {a} Papists are frontless and shameless. Dr Story, for instance:—I see nothing, said he, before the parliament in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth, to be ashamed of, so less I see to be sorry for; but rather because I have done no more, &c.; wherein he said there was no default in him, but in the higher powers, who much against his mind had laboured only about the young and little sprigs and twigs, whiles they should have struck at the root and rooted it out, meaning thereby the Lady Elizabeth, whom also he afterwards daily cursed in his grace before his meal. And concerning his persecuting and burning the Protestants, he denied not but that he was once at the burning of an earwig (for so he termed it) at Uxbridge (Mr Denley, martyr), where he tossed a faggot at his face as he was singing psalms, and set a spiny evergreen bush of thorns under his feet, a little to prick him, &c. {b}

{a} De Idolat. Rom., p. 85.

{b} Acts and Mon., fol. 1925.

Ver. 16. Stand ye in the ways and see.] Duly deliberate and take time to consider whether you are in the right or not.

Ask for the old paths.] Chalked out in the Word, and walked in by the patriarchs. Think not, as some do today, by running through all religions to find out the right; for this is viam per aria quaerere, as Junius phraseth it; to seek a way where none is to be found. How many religions are there now among us! So many men, so many minds. Non est sciens hodie qui novitates non invenit, as one complained of old. He is nobody that cannot invent a new way; but as old wine is better, so is the old way; hold to it therefore. Quod primum verum, { a} That which was first is true; but beware of new truths that cannot be proven to be old. {as #1Jo 2:7}

“ Qui veteres linquit, calles sequiturque novatos

Saepius in fraudes incidet ille suns.”

But they said, We will not walk therein.] So #Jer 6:17, "But they said, We will not hearken." See the like resolute answers, #Jer 22:21 44:16, savouring of a self-willed obstinace. It is easier to deal with twenty men’s reasons than with one man’s will. A wilful man stands as a stake in the midst of a stream, lets all pass by him, but he stands where he was. Luther saith of some of his Wittembergians, that so great was their obstinace, so headstrong and headlong they were, that the four elements could not bear it. Jeremiah seems here to say as much of his Jerusalemites. See #Jer 6:18,19.

{a} Alnar. Pelagius.

Ver. 17. Also I set watchmen over you, ] i.e., Priests and prophets to watch for your welfare.

Hearken to the sound of the trumpet.] See on #Jer 6:8.

We will not hearken.] See on #Jer 6:16.

Ver. 18. Therefore hear, O ye nations.] For this people will not hear me, though I speak never so good reason. Scaliger {a} telleth us that the nature of some kind of amber is such that it will draw to itself all kind of stalks of any herb, except basilisk, a herb called capitalis, because it makes men heady, filling their brains with black exhalations. Thus those who by the fumes of their own corrupt wills are grown headstrong, will not be drawn by that which draweth others who are not so prejudicated.

What is among them?] What their sins are; or, Quid in eos -sc., constituerim; what I have resolved to bring upon them; {b} or, Quae in eis, know, O congregation (of the saints) which art among them.

{a} Exercit. 140, Num. xii.

{b} Malitiam eorum, their malice.—Piscat.

Ver. 19. Hear, O earth.] In case none else will hear.

Even the fruit of their thoughts.] Why, then, should any man think that "thought is free?" Free they are from men’s courts and consistories, but not from God’s eye, law, or hand.

Ver. 20. To what purpose cometh there to me incense?] Cui bono, so long as it smelleth of the foul hand that offereth it, so long as you think to bribe me with it? See #Isa 1:14.

From Sheba.] Whence the Greeks seem to have their word σεβειν, to worship; and the Arabians call God—the adequate object of divine worship—Sabim, and a mystery, Saba.

And the sweet cane.] Heb., Cane the good. The Septuagint render it cinnamon; and the Vulgate, calamus; of which see Pliny, lib. xii. cap. 22.

From a far country.] From India, saith Jerome. Haec omnia bene in nostros Papistas quadrabunt.

Ver. 21. Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks.] {a} Heb., Stumblements—i.e., occasions, preparations, and means to work their ruth and ruin; what these are, see #Jer 6:22.

{a} Strages -sc., et clades in quas incident et corruent. , Slaugher and defeat in which they fell and were riuned.

Ver. 22. Thus saith the Lord.] It is not in vain that this is so oft prefaced to the ensuing prophecies. Dictum Iehovae The word the Lord is very emphatic and authoritative.

Behold, a people cometh from the north.] This the prophet had oft foretold for forty years together; sed surdis fabulam, but he could not be believed.

Ver. 23. They shall lay hold on bow and spear.] To destroy et eminus et comminus, both afar off and at hand.

Their voice roareth like the sea.] Which is so dreadful, that the horrible shriekings of the devils are set out by it {#Jas 2:19). {a} They who would not hear the prophet’s sweet words, shall hear the enemies roaring in the midst of their congregations. {#Ps 74:4}

{a} φρισσουσι.

Ver. 24. Our hands wax feeble.] He modestly reckoneth himself among the rest, though the "arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob," {#Ge 49:24} and his "heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord." {#Ps 112:7}

Ver. 25. Go not out into the field.] Since there is "no peace to him that goeth out, nor to him that cometh in"; {#2Ch 15:5} but

“ Luctus ubique, pavor, et plurima mortis imago.”

“Everywhere grief, panic and the images of the most dead.”

Ver. 26. Gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes.] The very heathens do so when in danger of a merciless enemy: Veniam irarum coelestium poscentes, saith Livy, {a} seeking the pardon of their sins and the favour of their gods.

{a} Lib iii.

Ver. 27. I have set thee for a tower and a fortress.] Or, A fortified watch tower have I made thee among my people—i.e., to spy out and discover their dispositions and affections.

Ver. 28. They are all grievous revolters.] Heb., Revolters of revolters. Chald., Princes of revolters, archrebels. Jeremiah, God’s champion, such as was wont to be set forth completely armed at the coronation of a king in this nation, findeth and reporteth them such here, and proveth it.

Walking with slanders.] Trotting up and down as pedlars, dropping a tale here and another there, contrary to #Le 19:16.

They are brass and iron.] Base and drossy, false and feculent metals. Silver and gold they would seem to be, a sincere and holy people; but they are malae monetae, base coinage, a degenerate and hypocritical generation. Adulterini sunt, nihil habentes probi, as Theodoret hath it here; naught, and good for nought; not unlike those stones brought home in great quantity by Captain Frobisher in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He thought them to be minerals and of good worth; but when there could be drawn from them neither gold nor silver, nor any other metal, they were cast forth to repair the highways. {a}

They are all corrupters.] Of themselves and of others.

{a} Camden’s Elisabeth, 189.

Ver. 29. The bellows are burnt.] The prophet’s lungs are spent; all their pains spilt upon a perverse people. See #Eze 24:6,12,13. Jeremiah had blowed hard, as a smith or metallary doth with his bellows; he had suffered, as it were, by the heat of a most ardent fire in trying and melting his ore; he had used his best art also by casting in lead, as today they do quicksilver, to melt it the more easily, and with less loss and waste; but all to no purpose at all. Let us, to the wearing of our tongues to the stumps, preach never so much, men will on in sin, said Bradford. {a}

The lead is consumed.] All the melting judgments which, as lead is cast into the furnace to make it the hotter, God added to the ministry of the prophets to make the Word more operative, they will do no good.

The founder melteth in vain.] Whether God, the master founder, or the prophets, God’s co-founders or fellow workmen, as the apostle calleth them. {#1Co 6:1}

The wicked are not plucked away.] Or, Their wickednesses; they will not part with their dross, or be divorced from their dilecta delicta, beloved sins. The vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord. {#Isa 32:6}

{a} Mr Case’s Treatise of Afflictions.

Ver. 30. Reprobate {a} silver shall men call them.] Dross and refuse, rather than pure metal; "silver" they would seem to be, but their hypocrisy shall be made known to all men, who shall count them and call them "reprobate," because impurgabiles and inexpiabiles, uncounsellable and incorrigible; {b} a sure sign of reprobation, as Aquinas noteth from #Heb 6:7,8.

For the Lord hath rejected them.] As refuse and counterfeit, such as will not pass in payment. {c} Hence they are to be cast into Babylon’s iron furnace ( quasi antro Aetnaeo et Cyclopico adhuc decoquendi), a type of that eternal fire of hell prepared of old for the devil and reprobates.

{a} Αδοκιμος, unapproved.

{b} Jerome, Lyra.

{c} Deus est sapiens nummularius, God is a wise banker.

Chapter 7

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah.] A new sermon, but to the same purpose as the former. See on #Jer 1:2. Toto libro idem argumentum sursum deorsum versat. {a}

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 2. Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house.] The east gate, which was the most famous and most frequented of the people, and therefore fittest for the purpose.

And proclaim there this word.] Stand there with this word (as once the angel with a terrible sword did at the porch of paradise) to excommunicate, as it were, this hypocritical people; and do it verbis non tantum disertis sed et exertis, plainly and boldly.

Ver. 3. Amend your ways and your doings.] Heb., Make good your ways, sc., by repentance for and from your sins, and by believing the Gospel. Defaecantur enim mores, ubi medullitus excipitur evangelium. Amendment of life is an upright, earnest, and constant endeavour to do all that God commandeth, and to forbear what he forbiddeth.

Ver. 4. Trust ye not in lying words.] Or, Matters, sc., that will deceive you. The ships Triumph or Good Speed may be ventorum ludibrium, mocked by the wind and miscarry upon the hard rocks or soft sands; so fair shows and bare titles help not. Vatinius, that wicked Roman, professed himself a Pythagorean: {a} and vicious Antipater wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence. This was virtutis stragulum pudefacere, said Diogenes wittily, to put honesty to an open shame.

The temple of the Lord, the temple—are these, ] i.e., These buildings, or these three parts of the temple, viz., the most holy place, the sanctuary, and the outer court. To these are made the promises of God’s perpetual residence; {#Ps 132:14} therefore we are safe from all danger while here we take sanctuary. See #Mic 3:11. The Romish crew, in like manner, have nothing in their mouths so much as the Church, the Church, the Catholic Church; {b} and therein, like oyster wives, they outcry us. Many also among ourselves cry, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," who do yet nothing care for the Lord of the temple. They glory in external privileges, and secure themselves therein, as the Jews fable that Og, King of Bashan, escaped in the flood by riding astride upon the ark without. But what profiteth it

“ Respicere ad phaleras, et nomina vana Catonum?”

Esse Christianum grande est, non videri, saith Jerome. It is a great privilege to be a Christian, but not to seem only to be so; an empty title yieldeth but an empty comfort at last.

{a} Cic. in Vatinium.

{b} Ecclesiam ad ravim usque crepant catholicam.

Ver. 5. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways.] If ye thoroughly execute judgment; if ye be serious in the one, and sedulous in the other. See #Jer 7:2.

Ver. 6. If ye oppress not the stranger, &c.] Turtures amat Deus, non vultures. See on #Isa 1:23.

Ver. 7. Then will I cause you to dwell in this place.] Not else. God’s promises are with a condition, which is as an oar in a boat or stern of a ship, and turns the promise another way.

Ver. 8. Behold, ye trust, &c.] See on #Jer 7:4.

Ver. 9. Will ye steal, murder, &c.] Heb., Will ye stealing steal, murdering murder, &c.—i.e., drive a trade with the devil by these foul practices allowed and wallowed in, quasi examen malorum facinorum nihil obsit, modo domum Dei ingrederemini, as if you could set off with me, and make amends by your good deeds for your bad.

Ver. 10. And come and stand before me in this house.] This was worse than to do as the Circassiaus, a kind of mongrel Christians of the Greek Church of this day, who, as they baptize not their children till the eighth year, so they enter not into the Church, the gentlemen especially, till the sixtieth year, but hear divine service standing without the temple—that is to say, till through age they grow unable to continue their rapines and robberies, to which sin that nation is exceedingly addicted. {a}

And say, We are delivered, ] i.e., Licensed. Hoc idem dicunt qui cogitationes inter peccata non numerant, saith Oecolampadius.

{a} Breerwood’s Enquiry.

Ver. 11. Is this house, which is called by my name.] Is it become impiae gentis arcanum? as Florus afterwards spitefully called it; or a professed sanctuary of roguery? as the Papists maliciously say of Geneva; or a receptacle of all abominations? {a} as Pompey’s theatre in Rome was once said to be.

Become a den of robbers?] To such it should have been said by the porters, Gressus removete profani. In the mystical sacrifices of Ceres, no profane person was to be admitted, for the priest going before uttered these words, εκας εκας οστις αλιτρος—that is, be packing every wicked person. So the Roman priests had their procul, O procul este, profani.

{a} Arx omnium turpitudinum.

Ver. 12. But go ye now.] Non passibus sed sensibus. Summon the sobriety of your senses before your own judgments, and consider what I did of old to Shiloh, a place no less privileged than yours, and wherefore I did it, and be warned by their woes. Alterius perditio, tua sit cautio; seest thou another shipwrecked, look well to thy tackling. Reason should persuade, and therefore lodgeth in the brain; but when reason cannot persuade, example should, and mostly will.

Ver. 13. And now, because ye have done.] Worthily are they made examples to others, that will not take example by others; that will not aliena frui insania, make benefit of other men’s miseries.

Rising early.] As good husbands use to do; and as Plutarch reporteth of the Persian kings, that they had an officer to call them up betimes, and to mind them of their business.

Ver. 14. Therefore will I do unto this house.] Which ye fondly think that I am bound to hold and uphold. The disciples also seem to have had a conceit that the temple and the world must needs end together; hence that mixed discourse of our Saviour—now of one, and now of another. {#Mt 24:2 Jer 7:3} {See Trapp on "Jer 7:3"}

Ver. 15. And I will cast you out of my sight.] Heb., From against, or over against my face.

As I have cast out your brethren.] For your instance and admonition I hanged them up in gibbets, as it were at your very doors but nothing would warn you.

Ver. 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people.] For I am unchangeably resolved upon their ruin, and I would not have thy prayers, those honeydrops, spilt upon them. Their day of grace is past, their sins are full, the decree is now gone forth, and it is irreversible, therefore pray not for this deplored people; there is a sin unto death, and who knows but their sin was such? Sure it is the prophet was silenced here, and that was a sad symptom.

Neither lift up cry.] Verbum aptum precibus est; lift up is a very fit expression, and the word rendered cry comes from a root {a} that signifieth clamare voce contenta et efficaci, to set up the note to some tune, as we say.

Neither make intercession to me.] Interdicit ei ne intercedat. Here and elsewhere God flatly forbids the prophet to pray. See #Jer 14:7,11; and yet he is at it again. {#Jer 7:19-22} So #Ex 32:11-13, Let me alone, saith God. The Chaldee there hath it, Cease thy prayer; but Moses would not. These were men of prayer, and could truly say of themselves, as David once did, {#Ps 109:4} But I gave myself to prayer. Where the Hebrew hath it, But I, prayer; as if he had been made up of it, and had minded little else. The Lord also, they knew, was a prayer hearing God. "Oh thou that art hearing prayers"—so the Hebrew hath it {#Ps 65:2} -always hearing some, and ready to hear the rest. Our God is not like Jupiter of Crete, that had no ears; nor as those other heathen deities of whom Cicero sadly complaineth to his brother Quintus in these words: I would pray to the gods for those things, but that they have given over to hear my prayers. Jeremiah could upon better ground pray, than ever he in Plato did,

“Ζευ βασιλευ τα μεν εσθλα,” {b} &c.

In English thus:

"Great God, the good thou hast to give,

Whether we ask’t or no,

Let’s still receive: no mischief thrive

To work our overthrow."

{a} Ranan; unde ranae, ut aliqui volunt.

{b} Plat. in Alcibiad.

Ver. 17. Seest thou not what they do?] {a} And hast thou yet a heart to pray for them? and should I yet have a heart to pity them? There is only this hope left sometimes, that something God will yield to the prayers of his people, even when he is most bitterly bent against them.

“ Flectitur iratus, voce rogante, Deus.”

{a} Ratio additur quasi digito ad Ieremiam extenso.

Ver 18. The children gather wood.] {a} All sorts, sizes, and sexes are as busy as bees:

“ Sed turpis labor est ineptiarum.”

Oh that we were so intent, with united forces, to the worship of the true God of heaven! Vae torpori nostro. Oh take heed of industrious folly! dispirit not yourselves in the pursuit of trifles, &c.

To make cakes.] Popana, { b} cakes stamped with stars.

To the queen of heaven, ] i.e., To the heavenly bodies, and, as some will have it, to the moon in special. The Hebrews have a saying, that God is to be praised in the least gnat, to be magnified in the elephant, but to be admired in the sun, moon, and stars. And if the Jews in the text had stayed here, who could have blamed them? but to deify these creatures was gross idolatry, and an inexpiable sin. Epiphanius {c} telleth us of certain heretics called Collyridians, that they baked cakes and offered them to the Virgin Mary, whom they called the queen of heaven. And do not the Papists to this day the very same, saying that hyperdulia {d} is due unto her? not to speak of Bonaventure’s blasphemous Lady psalter; Bernard Baubusius, the Jesuit, hath set forth a book in praise of the Virgin Mary, by changing this one verse—

“ Tot tibi sunt dotes, Virgo, quot sidera caelo, ”

a thousand twenty and two ways, according to the number of the known stars. The Jesuits commonly write at the end of their books, Laus Deo et beatae Virgini, Praise be given to God and to the blessed Virgin; but this is the badge of the beast. Let us say, Soli Deo gloria; Glory only to God, and yet not in the sense of that Persian ambassador, who, whensoever his business lay with Christians, was wont to have Soli Deo gloria very much in his mouth; but by soli he meant the sun, whom he honoured for his god. Why the women here, and #Jer 44:19, should be so busy in kneading cakes to the moon, these reasons are given:—(1.) Because the moon was a queen; (2.) Because the women at their labour were most beholden to the moon, who by her great moisture mollifies the pregnant, and makes the passage easy for their delivery. This custom of offering cakes to the moon, saith one, {e} our ancestors may seem not to have been ignorant of; to this day our women make cakes at such times, yea, the child is no sooner born but called cake bread. Add, that the Saxons did adore the moon, to whom they set a day apart, which to this day we call Monday. The same author {f} telleth us, that he who not long since conquered the Indies, persuaded the natives that he had complained of them to their moon, and that such a day the goddess should frown upon them; which was nothing else but an eclipse, which he had found out in the almanac.

{a} Distribuunt inter se munera.

{b} Scilicet et tenui popano corruptus Osiris. -Juven., Sat. vi.

{c} Haeres., 79.

{d} The superior dulia or veneration paid by Roman Catholics to the Virgin Mary.

{e} Greg. Posth., 202.

{f} Ibid., 132.

Ver. 19. Do they provoke me to anger?] i.e., Hurt they me by their provocations? or hope they to get the better of me, and to cause me to lay down the bucklers first? Surely, as Ulysses’s companions said to him, when he would needs provoke Polydamas, may we better say to such as provoke the Almighty,

“Σχετλιε, τιπτ δθελεις εριθεζεμεν αγριον ανδρα.”

Or as the wise man, "Contend not with him that is mightier than thou"; meddle with thy matchman.

Ver. 20. Mine anger and mine fury.] A very dreadful doom, denounced against these daring monsters. Those that provoke God to anger shall soon have enough of it. It is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God {#Heb 10:31} Oh keep out of them!

Ver. 21. Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.] Congerite, ingerite, digerite, egerite. Take away all your sacrifices, wherewith ye fondly think to expiate your sins, and feast your carcases with them; for I wot well that you offer them to me, ventris potius gratia quam internae pietatis, rather of gourmandise than good devotion. You have therefore my good leave to make your best of them; for I account them no other than ordinary and profane food, such flesh as is bought and sold in the shambles. So their meat offering {#Le 2:5} is in scorn called "their bread for their soul," or life; {#Ho 9:4} that is, for their natural sustenance. And no better are the elements in the Lord’s Supper to the unworthy receiver, whatever he may promise himself by them.

Ver. 22. For I spake not unto your fathers.] Videlicet solum aut simpliciter. Only clearly and candidly I gave them not those holy rites as the substance of my service, or that ye should thus hold them up against my threats for your rebellions, as a buckler of defence. Sacrifices without obedience nec placent nec placant Deum. neither may they please nor placate God.

Ver. 23. But this thing I commanded them, ] i.e., I principally commanded them, giving them therefore first the decalogue, and then afterwards the ceremonial law, which was, or should have been, their gospel.

Ver. 24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined.] So cross grained they were, and thwart from the very first.

In the imagination of their evil hearts.] In sententia animi sui pessimi. {a} Heb., Aspectu cordis -so #De 19:9.

They went backward, and not forward.] As crab fish do; as vile apostates, in peius proficiunt, grow every day worse than other, being not only averse but adverse to any good, they daily "grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived," seipsis indies facti deteriores. Islebius first became an Antinomian, and the father of that sect, and then a Papist, and lastly an atheist and epicure, as Osiander testifieth. While he was an Antinomian only, he many times promised amendment, being convinced of his error, but performed it not. After that he condemned his error, and recanted it in a public auditory, and printed his recantation; yet when Luther was dead, he not only licked up his former vomit, but fell to worse, as aforesaid. {b}

{a} Trem.

{b} Cent. xvi. p. 802.

Ver. 25. Since the day.] The Church hath never wanted preachers of the truth. See my True Treasure, pp. 7, 8. Woe to the world because of this!

Daily rising up early.] See on #Jer 7:13.

Ver. 26. Yet they hearkened not unto me.] This God speaketh to the prophet, as weary of talking to them any longer, since it was to no better purpose.

Ver. 27. But they will not hearken unto thee.] Howbeit speak—"whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear"—for a testimony against them.

Ver. 28. This is a nation.] A heathenish nation, such as they use to reproach with this name, Goi, and Mamzer Gojim, that is, bastardly heathens.

Nor receiveth correction.] Or, Instruction.

Ver. 29. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem.] In token of greatest sorrow and servitude. {#Job 1:20 Isa 15:2 Eze 27:31} Tu, dum servus es, comam nutris? said he in Aristophanes. The word here rendered "hair" is nezir, which signifieth a crown, and there hence the Nazarites had their name, {#Nu 6:2,5} intimating thereby haply that their votaries should be as little accepted as were their sacrifices. {#Jer 7:21}

And forsaken the generation of his wrath.] Who are elsewhere called "the people of his curse," and "vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction."

Ver. 30. They have set their abominations in the house.] So do those now that broach heresies in the Church.

Ver. 31. To burn their sons and their daughters.] Haply in a sinful imitation of Abraham or Jephthah; or else after the example of the Canaanites {#De 12:31} and other heathens, who thus sacrificed to the devil, commanding them so to do by his oracles, though Hercules taught the Italians to offer unto him rather men made of wax. {a}

{a} Macrob. Saturn., lib. vii.

Ver. 32. It shall no more be called Tophet.] Unless it be quasi Mophet, i.e., Portentum.

Nor the valley of the son of Hinnom.] As it had been called from Joshua’s days. {#Jos 15:8}

But the valley of slaughter.] Or, Gehaharegah; for the great slaughter that the Chaldees shall make there. Ecce congrua poena peccato, saith Oecolampadius.

For they shall bury in Tophet.] It shall become a polyandrion, or common burial place, till there be no place or room left.

Ver. 33. And the carcases of this people, ]{ a} Their murrain carcases, as the Vulgate rendereth it.

Shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven.] Whereby we may also understand the devils of hell, saith Oecolampadius.

{a} Et erit morticinum populi.

Ver. 34. Then will I cause to cease.] Laetitia in luctum convertetur, plausus in planctum, &c. Their singing shall be turned into sighing, their hollowing into howling, &c.

The voice of the bridegroom.] No catches or canzonets shall be sung at weddings; no Epithalamia.

Chapter 8

Ver. 1. At that time they shall bring out the bones.] They shall not suffer the dead to rest in their graves, maxime propter ornamenta in sepulchris condita, chiefly for the treasure the Chaldees shall there look for. See #2Ch 36:19 Ne 2:3; Joseph. Antiq., lib. xiii. c. 15. #/Apc Bar 2:24. For extremity of despite also, dead men’s bones have been digged up. Pope Formosus was so dealt with by his successor, Stephanus VI, {a} and many of the holy martyrs by their barbarous persecutors. Cardinal Pool had a purpose to have taken up King Henry VIII’s body at Windsor, and to have burned it, but was prevented by death. {b} Charles V would not violate Luther’s grave, though he were solicited so to do when he had conquered Saxony. But if he had, it had been never the worse with Luther; who, being asked where he would rest, answered, Sub coelo: coelo tegitur qui caret urna. Under the sky: the sky is the covering for those who lose their funeral urn. Of all fowl, we most hate and detest the crows; and of all beasts the jackals, a kind of foxes in Barbary; because the one digs up the graves and devours the flesh, the other picketh out the eyes of the dead.

{a} A.D. 897.

{b} Acts and Mon., 1905. Ibid., 1784.

Ver. 2. And they shall spread them before the sun.] Whom these idolaters had worshipped while they were alive, and thought they could never do enough for, as is hinted by those many expressions in the text.

Whom they have loved, and whom they have served, &c.] Innuitur poena talionis, saith Piscator. Their dead bodies shall lie unburied in the sight of these their deities, who could do them no good either alive or dead.

Ver. 3. And death shall be chosen rather than life.] Vae victis. Alas O survivers, they being captives, and sorely oppressed, shall sing that doleful ditty,

“ O terque quaterque beati

Queis ante ora patrum, Solymae sub moenibus altis

Contigit oppetere.”

Oh how happy were they that perished during the siege, or in the surprisal of the city! Life indeed is sweet, as we say; and man is a life loving creature, said that heathen; but it may happen that life shall be a burden and a bitterness. How oft doth Job unwish it, and how fain would Elijah have been rid of it! So little cause is there that any good man should be either fond of life, or afraid of death.

Ver. 4. Shall they fall, and not arise?] Or, When men fall, will they not arise? Or, Will not one that hath turned aside return? To fall may befall any man; but shall he lie there, and not essay to get up again? To lose his way may be incident to the wisest; but who but a fool would not make haste to get into the right way again Errare humanum est: perseverare, diabolicum. To error is human, to continue erring is devilish. And yet these stubborn Jews refuse to rise or return.

Ver. 5. Why then is this people of Jerusalem? &c.] Why else but because they are void of all true reason, and quite beside themselves in point of salvation? Their pertinace, or rather pervicacy, in sinning is altogether insuperable. Monoceros interimi potest, capri non potest. The unicorn is able to be killed, the billy goat can not.

They hold fast deceit.] They hold close to their false prophets, or rather a false heart of their own hath deceived them. {as #Jer 8:11} A deceived heart hath turned them aside. {as #Isa 44:20; see there}

Ver. 7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times.] These souls, though wanting reason, know well when to change quarters, whether against summer, as the stork, turtle, and swallow, or against winter, as the crane.

But my people know not the judgment of the Lord.] Whether his summer of grace offered, or his winter of punishment threatened; to embrace the one or to prevent the other. See a like dissimilitude and opposition, #Isa 1:3.

Ver. 8. How do ye say, We are wise?] If ye were so, ye would never say so. "Surely I am more brutish than any man," said holy Agur. {#Pr 30:2} This only I know, that I know nothing, said Socrates. Neither know I so much as this, that I know just nothing, said a third. How could these in the text say, "We are wise," when the fowls of the air outwitted them? Compare #Job 35:11.

The law of the Lord is with us.] Vox est Pharisaeorum. The voice is of the Pharisees. So the Jesuits to this day (as of old the Gnostics) will needs be held the only knowing men. The empire of learning belongeth to the Jesuits, say they; a Jesuit cannot be a heretic. Iungantur in unum, dies cum nocte, lux cum tenebris, { a} &c., May they join into one, day with night, light with darkness &c, i.e., Let day and night be jumbled together, light and darkness, heat and cold, health and sickness, life and death; so may there be some likelihood that a Jesuit may be a heretic, saith one of them. The Church is the soul of the world, the clergy of the Church, and we of the clergy, saith another.

Lo, certainly in vain made he it, ] i.e., The law, for any good use that this people or their leaders put it to. See #Ho 8:12 Ro 2:17-25.

{a} Casaub. ex Apologista.

Ver. 9. The wise men are ashamed.] They have cause to be ashamed of their gross ignorance and folly, {#Jer 8:7,8} and greater cause than ever humble Augustine had to say, Scientia mea me damnat, My knowledge undoeth me.

Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord.] As to any holy practice, their knowledge is only apprehensive and notional, not affective and practical.

And what wisdom is in them?] q.d., None worth speaking of; they lose their civil praises, because not wise to salvation.

Ver. 10. Therefore will I give their wives.] For a punishment of their rejecting my Word, which ought to be received with all reverence and good affection. {a} The Turks do so highly respect the Koran (which is their Bible), that if a Christian do but sit upon it, though unwittingly, they presently put him to death.

For every one, &c.] See #Jer 6:13.

{a} Dilher. Elect., lib. i. cap. 2.

Ver. 11. For they have healed.] See #Jer 6:14.

Ver. 12. Were they ashamed?] See #Jer 6:15.

Ver. 13. I will surely consume them, saith the Lord.] Texitur hic quasi tragoediae scena. Constructed here just as a theatre tragedy. Here followeth a kind of tragedy, saith an expositor; God is brought in threatening, the prophet bewailing, the people despairing, and yet bethinking themselves of some shelter and safeguard, if they knew where to find it, &c.

There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs.] But instead thereof I will "give them waters of gall to drink." {#Jer 8:14} Tremeliius and Piscator read it thus: There are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, yea, the leaves are fallen; that is, say they, there is no power of godliness found among them, no, not so much as any profession, neither fruit nor leaf.

And the things that I have given them shall pass away.] I will "curse their blessings," {#Mal 2:2} and destroy them after that I have done them good. {#Jos 24:2-13}

Ver. 14. Why do we sit still?] Here the people speak (see on #Jer 8:13), being grievously frightened upon the coming of the Chaldees, and thereupon consulting what course to take; but all would not do. {#Jer 8:16}

Let us be silent.] Sic silent pavidi mures coram fele. So they were as a panic struck mouse in the eyes of a cat.

For the Lord our God hath put us to silence.] Hath expelled our courage and stopped our mouths.

And hath given us water of gall to drink.] Succum cicutae, juice of hemlock, our bane, our death’s draught; so that now we know, by woeful experience, what an evil and bitter thing sin is; for a drop of honey we have now a sea of gall.

Ver. 15. We looked for peace, but no good came.] Our false prophets have merely deluded us. So poor souls, when stung by the friars’ sermons, were set to penances and good deeds, which stilled them for a while, but could not yield them any lasting comfort. The soul is still ready to shift and shark in every bycorner for ease; but that will not be till it comes to Christ.

Ver. 16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan.] See #Jer 4:15. This caused in the Jews’ hearts a motion of trepidation. {cf. #Job 39:20} It is the privilege of believers in nothing to be terrified by their adversaries, {#Php 1:28} but with the horse spoken of, {#Job 39:22} to mock at fear, and not to turn back from the dint of the sword.

Ver. 17. Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, ] i.e., Chaldees, no less virulent than serpents, as violent as horses. Serpentum tot sunt venena quot genera, tot pernicies quot species, tot dolores quot colores, saith an ancient. {a} Serpents are of several sorts, but all poisonous and pernicious. The basilisk or cockatrice here instanced (the worst sort of serpents, say the Septuagint here) goeth not upon the belly, as other serpents, but erect from the middle part, and doth so infect the air, that by the pestilent breath coming therefrom fruits are killed, and men being but looked upon by it, and birds flying over it; stones also are broken thereby, and all other serpents put to flight.

And they shall bite you.] There is an elegance in the original. {b}

{a} Isidor., lib. xii. cap. 2.

{b} Diod., Piscator.

Ver. 18. When I would comfort myself, &c.] Or, as some render it, O my comfort against sorrow, i.e., O my God; others, My recreation is joined with sorrow.

Ver. 19. Behold, the voice of the cry.] This was it that broke the good prophet’s heart, the shrieks of his people.

Is not the Lord in Zion?] {a} Thus in their distress they leaned upon the Lord, {as #Mic 3:11} and inquired after him, whom in their prosperity they made little reckoning of.

Why have they provoked me to anger?] q.d., The fault is merely in themselves, who have driven me out from among them by their idolatries.

{a} Haec est querela hypocritarum. This is the complain of the hypocrites—Oecol.

Ver. 20. The harvest is past, the summer is ended.] They had set God a time, and looked for help that summer at farthest; but the Lord, as he never faileth in his own time, so he seldom comes at ours. Let us think we hear our poor brethren in Piedmont, Poland, Pomerania, complaining to us in this sort, and be excited to help them by our prayers and reliefs, &c.

Ver. 21. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt, I am black.] Or, I go in black, mourner like; for I am denigrated and contemned for bewailing my people’s misery, who neither feel nor fear hurt.

Ver. 22. Is there no balm in Gilead?] Yes, surely, there or nowhere; in Gilead grew a balsam, good to make salves for all sores, they say. This balsam grew there only in two large gardens, which belonged to the king. The nature of the tree could not abide iron, but presently died if cut never so small a depth; they used, therefore, glass, bone knives, sharp stones, to get the gum out of the tree.

Is there no physician there?] Or, No surgeon there, where this medicinal simple so aboundeth but this people’s sorrow is immedicable, their disease desperate— docta plus valet arte malum. The learned is more strong by the knowledge of evil. The balm of the soul is prayer, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; is repentance, saith Jerome; is Christ applied by faith, say we. Sanguis medici est curatio phrenetici. The blood of the doctor is the cure of the mad. To this almighty Physician no disease can be incurable.

Chapter 9

Ver. 1. Oh that mine head were waters.] Mira sermonis transfiguratione utitur propheta, A wonderful wish of this weeping prophet, and to be taken up by God’s faithful ministers, considering the woeful condition of their perishing people, posting to perdition. Pia est illa tristitia, et si dici potest, beata miseria, Appease this sadness and if able to be said, bless this woe, saith Augustine; {a} this is a sweet sorrow, a blessed misery. Such waters will be turned into wine, at the wedding day of the Lamb; for which purpose also they are kept safe in God’s bottle. {#Ps 56:8}

And mine eyes a fountain of tears.] That there might be a perennity of them. The same word in Hebrew signifieth both an eye and a fountain; both because the eye is of a watery constitution, and for that our eye should trickle down and not cease for our own and other men’s sins and miseries. {#La 3:49} Athanasius by his tears, as by the bleeding of a chaste vine, is said to have cured the leprosy of that tainted age. {b}

{a} Epist. 545.

{b} Proborum virorum lachrymae sunt peccatorum diluvium, et mundi piamentum -Nazianzen, Orat. 3.

Ver. 2. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place.] Some sorry shed, such as those worthies had who dwelt in dens and caves of the earth, {#Heb 11:38} such as Athanasius had, who lived, say some, six years in a well without the light of the sun, forsaken of friends, and everywhere hunted by enemies; such as the ancient hermits and monks had, who, because they lived in caves and subterranean holes, they were named Mandrites {a} and Troglodites. A godly man desireth to converse as much as may be with God, and as little as may be with men, unless they were better. Lot had little joy of Sodom; {#2Pe 2:7,8} Aaron of the Israelites: "Thou knowest," saith he to Moses, "that this people is wholly set upon wickedness"; {#Ex 32:22} and indeed so is the whole world. {#Job 5:19 2:10} Hence good men are oft put upon David’s wish, "Oh that I had the wings of a dove." {#Ps 55:6} Or if that "Oh" will not set them at liberty, they take up that "Woe" of his to express their misery, "Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech." {#Ps 120:5} Who will give me a traveller’s lodge in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, whose wicked courses are a continual eyesore and heartbreak unto me?

For they are all adulterers.] Both corporal and spiritual.

An assembly of treacherous.] A pack of perfidious wretches; a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven. {#Isa 1:4}

{a} Mandrae signifieth caves or holes.

Ver. 3. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies.] To the impeaching of others in their name, state, and life. I read that in Italy, at this day, they have a pocketstone bow, which, held under a cloak, shoots needles with violence to pierce a man’s body, yet leaveth a wound scarce discernible. {a} Lo, such is an evil tongue, and such mischief it may do a man.

But they are not valiant for the truth.] Truth is no part of their profession; and courage in a good cause they have none. Of the most we may say, as of harts and stags, they have great horns, but to little purpose; or as Themistocles said of the Eretrians, {b} that they were like the swordfish, which hath a sword indeed, but not a heart to make use of it.

And they know not me, saith the Lord.] The low apprehensions men have of God, make their hearts work so poorly after him. {#Ps 9:10}

{a} Il Mercurio Italico.

{b} Plutarch.

Ver. 4. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour.] Since there is scarce any to be trusted. The poets tell us, that when Pallas had taught people to build a house, Momus found this fault with it, that it was fixed to a place and not set upon wheels; to the end that if men liked not their neighbourhood, they might remove at pleasure. A good neighbour is a rare bird. {a}

And trust ye not in any brother.] See #Mic 7:5,6, with the notes.

For every brother will utterly supplant.] {b} Singula verba hic habent pondus et pathos ingens. Here each word hath its weight, each syllable its substance.

{a} Non hospes ab hospite tutus. No guest is entertained by a host.—Ovid.

{b} Fratrum quoque gratia rata est. -Ovid.

Ver. 5. They have taught their tongues to speak lies.] They are artists at it, and can tack one lie to another very handsomely. {#Ps 119:69} {See Trapp on "Ps 119:69"}

Ver. 6. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit, ] i.e., Of deceitful persons, who have honey in their tongues, but gall in their hearts; Aliud in labris, aliud in fibris. Another in the vat, another in the glass.

They refuse to know me.] Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant; they are wilfully ignorant, {#2Pe 3:3,5} so wedded and wedged they are to their fraudulent practices.

Ver. 7. Behold, I will melt them and try them.] I will cast them into the fiery crucible of sharp affliction. A metaphor from metallaries. See #Jer 6:29.

For how should I do for the daughter of my people?] i.e., How should I do otherwise? What can I do less to them though they are my people, since they are so shamelessly, so lawlessly wicked? An unruly patient maketh a cruel physician; a desperate disease must have a desperate remedy.

Ver. 8. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out.] It is both a bow {#Jer 9:3} and a shaft, and that a slaughtering shaft, as some copies have it here; Culter iugulans, a murdering knife, some render it. {a} So #Ps 42:10. As with a murdering weapon in my bones, mine enemies reproach me. Reckon thou, saith one, Sennacherib and Rabshakeh among the first and chiefest kill Christs, because ever an honest mind is more afflicted with words than with blows.

It speaketh deceit.] See #Ps 52:2. {See Trapp on "Ps 52:5"}

He speaketh peaceably, but in his heart he layeth his wait.] Such a one was the tyrant Tiberius and our Richard III, who would use most compliments and show greatest signs of love and courtesy, to him in the morning, whose throat he had taken order to be cut that evening. {b}

{a} Junius, Piscator.

{b} Dan. Hist., 249.

Ver. 9. Shall I not visit them?] See on #Jer 5:9.

Ver. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping.] Accingit se Tropheta ad luctum. Jeremiah was better at weeping than Heraclitus, and from a better principle. Lachrymas angustiae exprimit Crux: lachrymas poenitentiae peccatum: lachrymas sympathiae, affectus humanitatis, vel Christianitatis: lachrymas nequitiae, vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas. Jeremiah’s tears were of the best sort.

Because they are burnt up.] The Rabbis tell us, that after the people were carried captive to Babylon, the land of Jewry was burnt up with sulphur and salt. But this may well pass for a Jewish fable.

Both the fowl of the heaven.] See #Jer 4:25.

Ver. 11. And I will make Jerusalem heaps.] So small a distance is there, saith Seneca, between a great city and none. The world is as full of mutation as of motion.

And a den of dragons.] Because she made mine house a den of thieves. {#Jer 7:11}

Ver. 12. Who is the wise man, that he may understand this?] This who and who, denoteth a great paucity of such wise ones, as consider common calamities in the true causes of them, propter quid pereat haec terra, for what the land perisheth, and that great sins produce grievous judgments. The most are apt to say, with those Philistines, It is a chance; to attribute their sufferings to fate or fortune, to accuse God of injustice, rather than to accept of the punishment of their iniquity.

And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken?] q.d., Is there never a one of your prophets that will set you right herein? but the dust of covetousness hath put out their eyes, and they can better sing Placentia than Lachrymae, &c.

Ver. 13. And the Lord saith.] Or, Therefore the Lord saith, q.d., Because neither yourselves know, nor have any else to tell you, the true cause of your calamities; hear it from God’s own mouth.

Ver. 14. But have walked after the imagination of their own heart.] Than the which they could not have chosen a worse guide, since it is evil, "only evil," and "continually" so. {#Ge 6:5} {See Trapp on "Ge 6:5"}

Which their fathers taught them.] See #Jer 7:18.

Ver. 15. Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, ] i.e., With bitter afflictions. Et haec poena inobedientiae fidei respondet. And this penalty answers to disobiedent faith. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways; {#Pr 14:14} he shall have his belly full of them, as we use to say. See #Jer 8:14.

Ver. 16. And I will scatter them also among the heathen.] As had been forethreatened. {#De 28:15-68 Le 26:14-39} But men will not believe till they feel. They read the threats of God’s law, as they do the old stories of foreign wars, and as if they lived out of the reach of God’s rod.

Ver. 17. Consider ye.] Intelligentes estote. Is not your hard heartedness such as that ye need such a help to do that wherein you should be forward and free hearted? The Hollanders and French fast, saith one, {a} but, without exprobration be it spoken, they had need to send for mourning women, that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn.

And call for the mourning women.] In planetum et omne pathos faciles, { b} such as could make exquisite lamentation, and cunningly act the part of mourners at funerals, so as to wring tears from the beholders. These the Latins called Praeficas, quia luctui praeficiebantur, because they had the chief hand in funeral mournings; for the better carrying on whereof they both sang doleful ditties, {see #2Ch 35:25} and played on certain heavily sounding instruments, {#Mt 9:23} whence the poet—

“ Cantabit maestis tibia funeribus.’’—Ovid.

“He will play with the pipe by a gloomy funeral.”

{a} Spec. Bel. Sac., 209.

{b} Ut flerent oculos erudiere suos. -Ovid.

Ver. 18. And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us.] Of this vanity or affectation God approveth not, as neither he did of the Olympic games, of usury, of that custom at Corinth, {#1Co 15:29} which yet he maketh his use of.

Ver. 19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled!] {a} Quis tragoediam aptius et magis graphice depingeret? What tragedy was ever set forth, and in more lively expressions?

{a} Ponit formulam threnodiae.

Ver. 20. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women.] For souls have no sexes, and ye are likely to have your share as deep as any in the common calamity. You also are mostly more apt to weep than men, and may sooner work your men to godly sorrow than those lamentations.

Ver. 21. For death is come up into our windows, ] i.e., The killing Chaldees break in upon us at any place of entrance, doors or windows. {#Joe 2:9 Joh 10:1} The ancients give us warning here to see to our senses—those windows of wickedness—that sin get not into the soul thereby, and death by sin.

Ver. 22. Speak, Thus saith the Lord.] Heb., Speak, it is the Lord’s saying; and therefore thou mayest be bold to speak it. So #1Th 4:15, "For I say unto you in (or, by) the word of the Lord."

And as the handful after the harvestman.] Death shall cut them up by handfuls, and lay them heaps upon heaps.

Ver. 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, ] q.d., You bear yourselves bold upon your wisdom, wealth, strength, and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations, as if these could save you from the evils threatened. But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth—delightful, but deceitful; as will well appear at the hour of death. Charles V, whom, of all men, the world judged most happy, cursed his honours, a little before his death, his victories, trophies, and riches, saying, Abite hinc, abite longe; get you far enough, for any good ye can now do me. Abi, perdita bestia, quae me totum perdidisti; begone, thou wretched creature, that hast utterly undone me, said Cornelius Agrippa, the magician, to his familiar spirit, when he lay dying. So may many say of their worldly wisdom, wealth, &c.

Let not the wise man glory.] Let not those of great parts be headstrong, or top heavy; let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts.

Let not the mighty man glory.] Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio, et in humilitate confessio. {a}

Nor the rich man glory in his riches.] Since they avail not in the day of wrath. {#Zep 1:18} {See Trapp on "Zep 1:18"}

{a} Augustine.

Ver. 24. But let him that glorieth, glory in this.] And yet not in this either, unless he can do it with self-denial and lowly mindedness. "Let him glory only in the Lord," saith Paul. The pride of virginity is as foul a sin as impurity, saith Augustine; so here.

Ver. 25. That I will punish all them, &c.] Promiscuously and impartially.

That are circumcised.] Some read it, The circumcised in uncircumcision. Unregenerate Israel, notwithstanding their circumcision, are to God as Ethiopians. {#Am 9:7}

Ver. 26. That are in the utmost corners.] Heb., Praecisos in lateribus, polled by the corner; {a} which was the Arabian fashion, saith Herodotus. See #Jer 49:32.

For all these nations are uncircumcised, ] scil., In heart, though circumcised in the flesh, as now also the Turks are.

{a} Tempora circumradunt.

Chapter 10

Ver. 1. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh.] Exordium simplicissimum, saith Junius. A very plain preface calling for attention; (1.) From the authority of the speaker; (2.) From the duty of the hearers.

O house of Israel.] The ten tribes, long since captivated, and now directed what to do, say some; the Jews, say others: and in this former part of the chapter, those of them that had been carried away to Babylon with Jeconiah.

Ver. 2. Learn not the way of the heathen.] Their sinful customs and irregular religions—mere irreligious. {a}

And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.] Which the blind heathens feared and deified; and none did more than the Syrians, the Jews’ next neighbours. Of the vanity of judicial astrology, see on #Isa 47:13. He who feareth God needs not fear the stars; for "all things are yours," saith the apostle. {#1Co 3:21} Mulcasses, King of Tunis, a great star gazer, foreseeing by them, as he said, the loss of his kingdom and life together, left Africa that he might shun that mischief; but thereby he hastened it, A.D. 1544. God suffereth sometimes such fond predictions to fall out right upon men for a just punishment of their curiosity.

For the heathen are dismayed at them.] Therefore God’s people should not, if it were for no other reason but that only. See #Mt 6:32. Let Papists observe this.

{a} See Selden. De Diis Syris.

Ver. 3. For the customs of the people {a} are vain.] Their rites confirmed by custom; their imagery, for instance, a very magnum nihil, whether ye look to the efficient matter, form, or end of those idols.

For one cutteth a tree out of the forest.] See #Isa 40:2 44:12-17, which last place Jeremiah here seemeth to have imitated.

{a} Caeremoniae populorum,

Ver. 4. They deck it with silver and with gold.] Gild it over to make it sightly; goodly gods there while. See #Isa 4:4.

That it move not.] Ut non amittat, saith Tremellius: that it lose not the cost bestowed upon it.

Ver. 5. They are upright as the palm tree.] Which is straight, tall, smooth, and in summo profert fructus, and beareth fruits at the very top of it.

Ver. 6. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee.] None of all these dii minutuli, these dunghill deities, are worthy to be named in the same day with thee.

Thou art great.] God is great; {#Ps 77:13} greater; {#Job 33:12} greatest; {#Ps 95:3} greatness itself. {#Ps 145:3} He is a degree above the superlative. Think the same of other his names and attributes, many of which we have here mentioned in this and the following verses; which are therefore highly to be prized, and oft to be perused. Leonard Lessius, a little before his death, finished his book concerning the fifty names of almighty God; often affirming, that in that little book he had found more light and spiritual support under those grievous fits of the stone which he suffered, than in all his voluminous commentaries upon Aquinas’s sums, which he had well nigh fitted for the press. {a}

{a} Ex Vita Lessii.

Ver. 7. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?] Tremble at thy transcendent greatness, thy matchless majesty, power, and prowess? See #Mal 1:14 Re 15:4 Ps 103:19. {See Trapp on "Mal 1:14"} {See Trapp on "Re 15:4"} {See Trapp on "Ps 103:19"}

Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations.] Who used to deify their wise men and their kings.

Ver. 8. But they are altogether brutish and foolish.] The wise men are, for that, when they knew there was but one only true God—as did Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Seneca, &c.—they "detained the truth in unrighteousness," and taught the people to worship stocks and stones. {#Ro 1:21-23} The nations are, because they yield to be taught devotion by images under what pretext soever. Considerentur hic subterfugia Papistarum. Let them regard this strategm of Popery. Pope Gregory first taught that images in churches were laymen’s books, a doctrine of devils.

Ver. 9. Silver spread into plates.] See #Isa 40:19.

Is brought from Tarshish.] From Tarsus or Tartessus; {#Eze 27:12} from Africa, saith the Chaldee. Idolaters spare for no cost.

And gold from Uphaz.] The same with Phaz; {#Job 28:17} or with Ophir, as some; Aurum Obzyrum.

They are all the work of cunning men.] Quaerunt suos Phidias et Praxiteles: but how could those give that deity which themselves had not?

Ver. 10. But the Lord is the true God.] Heb., Jehovah is God in truth, not in conceit only, or counterfeit.

He is the living God, and an everlasting king.] See on #Jer 10:6.

At his wrath the earth shall tremble.] The earth, that greatest of all lifeless creatures.

And the nations shall not be able.] Less able to stand before him than a glass bottle before a cannon shot.

Ver. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them.] Confession with the mouth is necessary to salvation. This verse (written therefore in the Syriac tongue, which was spoken at Babylon) is a formulary given to God’s people, to be made use of by them in detestation of the idolatries of that city.

The gods that made not the heaven and the earth.] The vanity of idols and heathenish gods is set forth (1.) By their impotence; (2.) Frailty. Quid ad haec respondebunt Papistae? aut qualem contradictoriae reconciliationem afferent?

Ver. 12. He hath made the earth by his power.] Here we have the true philosophy and right origin of things: Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. Almighty God made the earth, the main bulk and body of it. {#Ge 1:1} He alone is the powerful Creator, the provident Disposer, the prudent Preserver of all things both in heaven and in earth; therefore the only true God.

Ver. 13. When he uttereth his voice.] Again, when he thundereth, {#Ps 29:3} it raineth amain, lightneth in the midst of the rain (which is a great miracle), and bloweth for life, as we say, no man knowing whence or whither. {#Joh 3:8} All which wondrous works of God may well serve for a theological alphabet, and cannot be attributed to any god but our God.

And he causeth the vapours to ascend.] See #Ps 135:7. {See Trapp on "Ps 135:7"}

Ver. 14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge.] Or, Every man is become more brutish than to know. That was therefore a hyperbolical praise given by Philostratus to Apollonius, Non doctus sed natus sapiens, that he was not taught, but born a wise man. See #Job 11:12 Ro 1:22. {See Trapp on "Job 11:12"} {See Trapp on "Ro 1:22"} Every man is become brutish for want of knowledge (so the words may be rendered), the heathen idol makers especially; Brutescit homo prae scientia, so Vatablus. Every man is brutish, in comparison of knowledge, viz., of God’s knowledge, while he goeth about to search into the causes of rain, lightning, wind, &c., which God only understandeth.

Ver. 15. They are vanity.] Vanity, in its largest extent, is properly predicated of them.

And the work of errors.] Mere mockeries, making men to embrace vanity for verity.

In the time of their visitation.] See on #Isa 46:1.

Ver. 16. The Portion of Jacob is not like them.] God is his people’s "portion"; they are his "possession." Oh their dignity and security! This the cock on the dunghill understands not.

Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land.] Make up thy pack, and prevent a plundering. Reculas tuas et sarcinas compone.

Ver. 18. BehoId, I will sling out the inhabitants of this land.] I will easily and speedily sling them, and sling them into Babylon; so God will one day hurl into hell all the wicked of the earth. {#Ps 9:17}

And will distress them, that they may find it so.] Just so as they were foretold it would be, but they could never be drawn to believe it.

Ver. 19. Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous.] This is the moan that people make when in distress, and they find it so. But what after a while of paining?

Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it, ] i.e., Bear it off, as well as I may, by head and shoulders, or bear up under it, and rub through it, wearing it out as well as I can; when things are at worst, they mend again. Crosses, as they had a time to come in, so they must have a time to go out, &c. This is not patience, but pertinace, the "strength of stones and flesh of brass"; {#Job 6:12} it draweth on more weight of plagues and punishments. God liketh not this indolence, this stupidity, this despising of his corrections, as he calleth it; {#Heb 12:5} such shall be made to cry, when God bindeth them, {#Job 36:11} as here.

Ver. 20. My tabernacle is spoiled.] I am irreparably ruined; like as when a camp is quite broken up, not any part of a tent or hut is left standing.

Ver. 21. For the pastors are become brutish.] The corrupt prophets and priests, who seduced the people from the truth, were persons that made no conscience of prayer; hence all went to wrack and ruin.

Ver. 22. Behold, the noise of the bruit is come.] This doleful peal he oft rung in their ears, but they little regarded it. See #Jer 9:11.

Ver. 23. O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.] He is not master of his own way, but is directed and overruled by the powerful providence; even this cruel Chaldean also, that marcheth against us.

It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.] We know not what to do, or which way to turn ourselves, only our eyes are toward thee. Behold, we submit to thy justice, and implore thy mercy. This text doth mainly make against freewill, saith Oecolampadius; and yet the Pelagians would hence gather that man can, by his own strength, walk in the way to heaven; but he must be helped, say they, by God’s grace, that he may be perfect.

Ver. 24. O Lord, correct me; but with judgment, ]{ a} i.e., In mercy and in measure. Correction is not simply to be deprecated; the prophet here cries, Correct me; David saith, It was good for me. Job calleth God’s afflicting of us his magnifying of us. {#Jer 7:17} Feri Domine, feri clementer; ipse paratus sum, saith Luther, -Smite, Lord, smite me, but gently, and I am ready to bear it patiently. King Alfred prayed God to send him always some sickness, whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed and affectioned to Godward. Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus, who, sick of a palsy, so that his life was a lingering death, said ordinarily, God be thanked.

{a} Cum ratione seu modo. Leniter et discrete. -A Lap.

Ver. 25. Pour out, &c.] This is not more votum, than vaticinium; a prayer, than a prophecy.

And upon the families.] Neglect of family prayer uncovers the roof, as it were, for God’s curse to be rained down upon men’s tables, meals, enterprises, &c.

Chapter 11

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] To him it came, but to be imparted to other prophets, say some; priests of Anathoth, say others, {#Jer 11:2} which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him, and sought his life, {#Jer 11:18,19} as the Popish priests did Mancinel’s, Savonarola’s, and other faithful preachers’, for exciting them to do their duties.

Ver. 2. Hear ye the words—and speak ye.] Ye priests, whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob God’s judgments, and Israel his law. {#De 33:10}

Ver. 3. And say thou unto them.] Thou, Jeremiah, whether the rest will join with thee or not.

Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant.] It is probable that Jeremiah, when he said thus, held the book in his hand, viz., the book of Deuteronomy, which the Rabbis call Sepher Tochechoth, because of the many increpations and curses therein contained.

Ver. 4. From the iron furnace.] Where iron is melted, and a fierce fire required.

Obey my voice.] See #Jer 7:23.

Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey.] With plenty of dainties. The city of Aleppo is so called by the Turks, of alep, milk; for if the via lactea milky way, it would be found there, saith one.

So be it, O Lord.] Amen, fiat, fiat. Oh that there were a heart in this people to obey thy voice! and oh that thou wouldst still continue them in this good land! &c. Our hearts should be stretched out after our amen, and we should be swallowed up in God, say the Rabbis.

Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.] Else ye hear to no purpose; as the salamander liveth in the fire, and is not made hot by the fire; as the Ethiopian goeth black into the bath, and as black he cometh forth.

Ver. 7. Rising early, ] i.e., Endeavouring earnestly. See #Jer 5:8.

Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not.] See #Jer 7:24.

Therefore I will bring.] Heb., And I brought upon them.

Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah.] A combination in sinful courses, this is not unity but conspiracy. See #Eze 22:25 Ho 6:9. Such is the unity of the Antichristian crew. {#Re 17:13} The Turks have as little dissension in their religion as any, yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against Heaven.

Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their forefathers.] Showing themselves herein to be a race of rebels, as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever their fathers were, and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities, which needeth not.

Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape.] To avert, avoid, or abide.

I will not hearken unto them.] See #Pr 1:28 Zec 7:13 {See Trapp on "Pr 1:28"} {See Trapp on "Zec 7:13"}

Ver. 12. Then shall the cities of Judah…go and cry unto the gods.] Or, Let them go and cry unto them—q.d., let them for me. This is one of those bitter answers that God giveth to wicked suitors. {#Eze 14:3-5 Jud 10:14} Or, if he give them better at any time, it is in wrath, and for a mischief to them.

Ver. 13. For according to the number of thy cities.] See #Jer 2:28.

And according to the number of thy streets.] See #Eze 16:31.

Ver. 14. Therefore pray not thou for this people.] See on #Jer 7:16.

When they cry unto me for their trouble.] It is not the cry of the spirit for grace, but of the flesh only for ease; it is but the fruit of sinful self-love. In thee indeed it proceedeth from a better principle, but I am at a point.

Ver. 15. What hath my beloved to do in mine house?] i.e., Mine once beloved people, which had the liberty of mine house, and was welcome thither, but is now discarded and discovenanted, as if a husband should say to his adulterous wife, What maketh this strumpet in my bed, since she hath so many paramours? {a}

And the holy flesh.] The sacrifice sanctified by the altar.

Is passed from thee.] Shall be wholly taken away from you, together with the temple.

When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.] Thou revellest in thine impurities and sensualities, as dreading no danger, but slighting all admonition.

{a} Vatab.

Ver. 16. The Lord called thy name, A green olive tree.] Green all the year long, fair and fruitful; this was thy prosperous and flourishing condition, but now thy best days are over; for,

With the noise of a great tumult.] Barritu militari; the battle cry of soldiers, such as soldiers make when they storm a city.

Ver. 17. For the evil of the house of Israel.] That "evil" by a specialty, that land desolating sin of idolatry.

Ver. 18. And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it, ] i.e., Of the treacherous plot of my countrymen of Anathoth against me, who should never have dreamt of any such danger; Deus pro suis excubat. God keeps watch for his own.

Ver. 19. But I was like a lamb or an ox.] Harmless and blameless, busied in my function, and not in the least suspecting any such evil design against me. "I send you forth as lambs among wolves," saith Christ, {#Mt 10:16} who, himself being the Lamb of God, was slain from the beginning of the world; his servants also are slain all the day long, and counted as sheep to the slaughter. {#Ro 8:36}

Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof.] Let us poison his food, so the Chaldee senseth it, Ponamus tignum taxi in sorbitiunculam. Others, Let us destroy the prophet and his prophecies together: others, Let us make an end of him either by sword or by famine, as the punishment threatened {#Jer 11:22} pointeth us to.

That his name may be no more remembered.] Sic veritas odium peperit. So the Papists have given order that wheresoever Calvin’s name is found, it shall be blotted out; and by a most malicious anagram they have turned Calvin into Lucian. One of them recently took a long journey to Rome only to have his name changed from Calvin to some other, and that out of devilish hatred of that most learned and holy man,

“ Ipsa a quo virtus virtutem discere posset.”

Ver. 20. But, O Lord of hosts.] Thou who art potentissimus et liberrimus, a most powerful and free agent.

That triest the reins and the heart.] And so knowest with what mind I make this complaint and request.

Let me see thy vengeance upon them.] A prophetic imprecation guided by God’s Spirit, and not lightly to be imitated. So the Church prayed against Julian the apostate, whom they knew to be a desperate enemy, and to have committed that sin unto death. So perhaps had these men of Anathoth.

Ver. 21. Of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life.] Where shall a man find worse friends than at home? A prophet is nowhere so little set by as in his own country. {#Mt 13:57} Probatissimuset optimus quisque peregre vivit, saith Ennius, in Cicero. {a}

Saying, Prophesy not in the name of the Lord.] A desperate speech, proceeding from a height of hatred, and coasting upon the unpardonable sin.

{a} Epist. Famil., lib. vii. cap. 6.

Ver. 22. Behold, I will punish them.] Sic tandem bona causa triumphat. The visible vengeance of God followeth close at the heels of the persecutors of his faithful messengers.

Ver. 23. And there shall be no remnant.] Behold the severity of God: their bloody design was to destroy Jeremiah’s stock and fruit, stalk and grain together. {#Jer 11:19} God meteth unto them the self-same measure, leaveth them not a remnant. This is not ordinary justice. {#Jer 4:27 Isa 1:9 10:20-22} A remnant shall be left, saith he; here not so. Let Rome, that shambles of the saints and prophets, especially look to it; God is now coming to make inquisition for blood, &c.

Chapter 12

Ver. 1. Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee.] Or, Though I should contend with thee. This the prophet fitly sets forth the ensuing disceptation, that he might not be mistaken. Thy judgments, saith he, are sometimes secret, always just; this I am well assured of, though I thus argue. {a}

Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments.] Let me take the humble boldness so to do, that I may be further cleared and instructed by thee.

Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?] viz., While better men suffer; as now the wicked Anathothites do, while I go in danger of my life by them. This is that noble question which hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men, both within and without the Church. See #Job 21:7-13 Ps 37:1 73:1-12 Hab 1:4,5; Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Claudian against Ruffin, &c.

Wherefore are all they happy?] Heb., At ease. Not all either; for some wicked have their payment here, their hell aforehand. To this question the Lord, who knoweth our frame, {#Ps 103:14} being content to condescend where he might have judged, calmly maketh answer, {#Jer 12:5} like as Christ in like case did to Peter. {#Joh 21:21,22}

{a} Est elegans , προθεραπεια.

Ver. 2. Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root.] All goes well with them; they have more than heart can wish. {#Ps 73:7} And in lieu of God’s goodness to them, they profess largely, and pretend to great devotion; but that is all.

Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.] That is, From their affections. {#Tit 1:16} Hypocrites are like that heap of heads {#2Ki 10:8} that had never a heart among them; they have vocem in choro, mentem in foro; virtutem non colunt sed colorant. Voices in the choir, minds in the market place, they do not worship in strength but in deception. That Persian ambassador—of whom before—when conversing with Christians, he had so oft in his mouth, Soli Deo gloria, made believe that he gave glory to the only true God, whenas he meant the sun, whom he worshipped as his god. The king of Bohemia, when beaten out of Prague, was encouraged by some great commanders about him that he had many princes his friends and allies that would readily assist him; to which he made no answer, but wrote the word Deus God, in large letters. But some thought he meant Denmark in D, England in E, Hungary in U, and the Swedes in S. God knows what his meaning was; but he will make "all the Churches to know that he searcheth the hearts and reins," and that he will "kill with death" all such as had rather seem to be good, than seek to be so. If Jeremiah had been one of those, he dared never to have said,

Ver. 3. But thou, Lord, knowest me, &c., ] q.d., I can safely appeal unto thee, and take thee for a witness of mine innocence and integrity, that I have thee not in my mouth only, as they, but in my heart also, which is wholly devoted to thy fear, ut sit tecum, hanging toward thee, and hankering after thee continually. {a}

Pull them out as sheep.] Punish some of them presently for an example of thy providence, and reserve others of them till hereafter for an instance of thy patience. See #Jer 11:20.

Prepare them.] Heb., Sanctify them. {as #Isa 13:3 6:7} Fatted ware is but fitted for the shambles.

{a} Tremellius.

Ver. 4. How long shall the land mourn?] For the sake of those wicked wretches aforementioned.

The beasts are consumed, and the birds.] See #Jer 4:25,26.

Because they said, He shall not see our last end.] God shall not, and so they deny his providence and prescience; or the prophet shall not, though now he thunder out our punishment with so great vehemence. Compare #Jer 11:23.

Ver. 5. If thou hast run with the footmen.] Here God returneth an answer to the prophet’s foregoing complaint, saith the Chaldee, partly checking him for his discontentedness, and partly exciting him to a humble submission and a well-knit resolution.

Then how wilt thou contend with horses?] If thy countrymen of Anathoth overmatch and overmaster thee, how wilt thou deal with those of Jerusalem, who are a far deal worse?

And if in a land of peace.] These are proverbial speeches, both to one purpose:

“ Ferre minora velis, ut graviora feras.”

How wouldst thou endure wounds for Christ, that canst not endure words? saith one. And how wilt thou fry a faggot that startlest at a reproach for the truth? While William Cobberly, martyr, was in durance, his wife also, called Alice, being apprehended, was in the keeper’s house the same time detained, where the keeper’s wife had secretly heated a key fire hot, and laid it in the grass on the back side; so speaking to Alice Cobberly to fetch her the key in all haste, she went with speed to bring the key, and taking it up in haste, did piteously burn her hand, whereupon she cried out, Ah, thou drab! Quoth the other, Thou that canst not abide the burning of thy hand, how wilt thou be able to abide the burning of thy whole body? And so she afterwards repented. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon., fol. 1719.

Ver. 6. For even thy brethren.] Let this comfort us in like case. Abel and John Diazius were butchered by their own unnatural brethren. Paul suffered most of all from his own countrymen.

Yea, they have called a multitude after thee.] {a} Or, With full mouth, as those did against Christ who cried, "Crucify him, crucify him"; and those against Paul, "Away with such a fellow from the earth"; and those against the primitive Christians, Christianos ad leones, To the lions with them. In Rhodanum, in Rhodanum, cried many at Geneva against Farellus, their faithful preacher, Into the river with him; but God preserved him from their fury, for the good of many other cities after that converted by him.

Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee.] ‘Fair words make fools fain,’ we say; but be not light of belief, the world’s naught:

“ Mel in ore, verba lactis:

Fel in corde, fraus in factis.”

“Honey in the mouth, with words of milk:

Gall in the heart, fruad in the act.”

{a} Clamant post te pleno gutture.

Ver. 7. I have forsaken my house.] A man’s house is dear to him, dearer his heritage, dearest his well beloved wife. Jerusalem had been all this to God, but now for sin abandoned by him.

I have given the dearly beloved of my soul.] Or, My dearly beloved, my soul—i.e., Myself, my second self. Heb., The love of my soul. Gr. and Vulgate, My beloved soul. "God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth." {#Na 1:2}

Ver. 8. Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest.] Roaring against me, and revelling in the ruin of my messengers. Ubi affectus augetur in antithesi verborum; haereditas mea, et contra me; sheep they were wont to be, now they are become lions.

Ver. 9. Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird.] As an owl, say some, that loveth not the light; as a peacock, say others, proud and inconstant, all in changeable colours, as oft changed as moved. God, that could not endure miscellany seed, nor linsey woolsey, in Israel, can less endure that his people should be as a "speckled bird," here of one colour, and there of another; or as a cake not turned. {#Ho 7:4-10}

Ver. 10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard.] Those who before were called beasts, {#Jer 12:9} are here called pastors—viz., Nebuchadnezzar’s captains. See #Jer 6:3.

Ver. 11. Because no man layeth it to heart.] Heb., There is not a man putting it upon heart, that is, duly and deeply affected with my menaces, so as to take a timely course for prevention, and their own preservation.

Ver. 12. For the sword of the Lord, ] i.e., Of the enemy set on by the Lord; for whencesoever the sword cometh, it is bathed in heaven. {#Isa 34:5} See #Eze 14:17.

Ver. 13. They have sown wheat.] The prophets have, say some, but to no profit.

They shall put themselves to pain.] Or, They are sick, sc., for the affliction of Joseph. {as #Am 6:6} {See Trapp on "Am 6:6"} Others {a} interpret it of the Jews, who sought to help themselves by this means and that, but lost their labours and their hopes together.

Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.] Quo laeso nihil est illaesum, tutum, et fidum hominibus.

{a} Vatab.

Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbours.] These were the Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, &c. God also hath his evil neighbours, and this may be a comfort to us in like case.

Behold, I will pluck them out, &c., and pluck out the house of Judah.] This was a different plucking.

Ver. 15. After that I have plucked them out, ] sc., In both senses. {#Jer 12:14}

I will return.] In the "midst of judgment, I will remember mercy."

And bring again every man to his heritage.] To the Church; for in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness shall be accepted with him, and have a child’s part, even the reward of inheritance.

Ver. 16. If they will diligently learn.] Heb., Learning, learn the ways of my people, chalked out unto them in my Word, and their conformity thereunto; for the lives of God’s people are but the Word exemplified, they walk as patterns of the rule, and are of exemplary holiness. {as #Lu 1:6}

To swear by my name.] In righteousness, in truth, and in judgment. {as #Jer 4:2}

Then shall they be built, ] i.e., Blest.

Ver. 17. But if they will not obey.] The tartness of the threatening maketh us best taste the sweetness of the promise, and a mixture of them serves to keep the heart in the best temper.

I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation.] This is fulfilled to the utmost upon the Jews, especially since the last destruction of Jerusalem.

Chapter 13

Ver. 1. Go, get thee a linen girdle.] Or, Belt, or swath.

And put it not in water.] Or, Lye, to wash it or whiten it; but take it as it is first made, Ut sorditiem magis contrahat, to show, say some, that the Jewish nation, when first chosen, was black by sin and nothing amiable; better skilled and exercised in making mortar and bricks in Egypt than in the worship of God and in good manners.

Or put it not in water, ] i.e., Keep it from being rotted, as a type of God’s care of, and kindness to, that people.

Ver. 2. So I got a girdle.] God is to be obeyed readily, and without questioning.

Ver. 3. And the word of the Lord came to me.] Heb., Was to me. "At sundry times," {a} or piecemeal, God spake to his servants the prophets. {#Heb 1:1}

{a} πολυμερως per gradus et momenta, non simul et semel.

Ver. 4. Arise, go to Euphrates.] A river which ran by Babylon, six hundred and fourscore miles from Jerusalem. The prophet’s journey therefore thither seemeth to have been but visional, as was Isaiah’s going barefoot, Hosea’s marriage with a whore, Ezekiel’s lying on one side three hundred and ninety days together; his journey from Chaldea to Jerusalem. {#Eze 8:3,4}

Ver. 5. So I went and hid it by Euphrates.] In the cliff of a rock, where it might lie dry, never once asking the reason. This was simple and acceptable obedience, far beyond that of the Popish novices, who yet if their padres or superiors send them to China or Peru, without dispute or delay they do presently set forward.

Ver. 6. And it came to pass after many days.] See on #Jer 13:3.

Ver. 7. Then I went to Euphrates.] See on #Jer 13:4. Those that are for an actual journey allege that Jeremiah might do this without danger in the days of Jehoiakim, who was the King of Babylon’s vassal, and paid him tribute.

And, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was profitable for nothing.] This showed that the Jews should in that country lie rotting, as it were, in baseness, and servility, and sin together many years, so that God might justly have left them there still in misery, as a man leaves his rotten girdle to become dung.

Ver. 8. Then the word, &c.] Adaptat simile. fit simile, See #Jer 13:3.

Ver. 9. After this manner will I mar the pride.] Their pomp and power, wherein they pride themselves.

Ver. 10. This evil people.] Populus ille pessimus; these Poneropolitans, who are naught all over, nequitia cooperti.

Walk in the imagination of their heart.] See #Jer 9:13 11:8.

Ver. 11. So have I caused to cleave unto me.] For nearness and dearness; the loins are the seat of strongest desires and affections.

And for a name and for a praise.] That I might be magnified and glorified in them, and for them also, among other nations.

Ver. 12. Therefore.] Or, Moreover.

Thou shalt speak unto them this word.] This other paradigm or parable; an excellent way of teaching, and much used in both Testaments.

Every bottle shall be filled with wine.] Wine they loved well, and a great vintage they now expected. They shall have it, saith God; but of another nature than they look for. Their heads (not altogether unlike bottles for roundness and emptiness of all good) shall be filled with a dry drunkenness, even with errors and terrors, a spirit of giddiness, &c.

Do we not certainly know? &c.] This they seem to speak insolently and jeeringly—q.d., you should tell us some news.

Ver. 13. Behold, I will fill.] Heb., Lo, I am filling; but the liquor is such as whereof you shall have small joy. See #Jer 13:12.

Ver. 14. And I will dash them one against another.] As so many earthen bottles, brittle and soon broken. Si collidimur frangimur, If smashed and broken said those in the fable.

Ver. 15. Hear, and give ear.] Or, Hear and hearken, be not naughty. Here the prophet calleth upon them again to repent, and to that end to listen diligently, and to lay aside the highness of their hearts and the stoutness of their stomachs, since it is the Lord that speaketh. "The lion roareth; who can but fear?" {#Am 3:8} Repentance is the Removens prohibens, as being founded in humility, and wrought by the word preached. {#Jon 3:4-10 Ac 2:37-41}

Ver. 16. Give glory to the Lord your God.] Confess your sins; {#Jos 7:19} one part of repentance put for the whole. Jeremiah was as constant a preacher of repentance, as Paul, and after him Augustine, were of the free grace of God. The impenitent person robbeth God of his right; the penitent man sarcit iniuriam Deo irrogatam, seemeth to make some kind of amends to God, whom he had wronged, by restoring him his glory, which he had run away with, while he putteth himself into the hands of justice, in hope of mercy.

Before he cause darkness, ] scil., Of calamity and captivity. Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia.

Before your feet stumble.] {a} So, before ye fall upon the dark and dangerous crags and precipices of eternal perdition. Which, to prevent, work while the light lasteth; walk while it is yet day.

{a} Modestissima explicatio infaelicitatis.

Ver. 17. My soul shall weep in secret places.] Good men are apt to weep, Et faciles motus mens generosa capit. Good ministers should be full of compassionate tears, weeping in secret for their people’s unprofitableness, and their danger thereby. The breast and right shoulder of the sacrifice belonged to the priest, to show that he should be a breast to love, and a shoulder to support the people in their troubles and burdens.

Ver. 18. Say to the king and to the queen.] Or Madam, the lady or mistress; that is, to the queen regent, even to Necustah, the mother of Jeconiah, say the Jews. When Beza, in the behalf of the reformed churches in France, made a speech at Possiacum before the young king and the queen mother, he spake so effectually, saith Rivet, that a great cardinal who heard it wished that either he had been dumb that day, or that they had all been deaf. This king and queen in the text might be as much convinced, though not thoroughly converted.

Humble yourselves, sit down.] Heb., Humble, sit below.

For your principalities.] Or, Your head attires.

The crown of your glory.] Or, Your crown of glory; that is, your glorious crown, of which you shall have cause enough to say, as Antigonus did of his diadem, O vilis pannus, &c. Or, as another monarch,

“ Nobilis es, fateor, rutilisque onerata lapillis,

Innumeris curis sod comitata venis:

Quod bene si nossent omnes expendere, nemo,

Nemo foret quite tollere vellet humo.”

Ver. 19. The cities of the south shall be shut up, ] i.e., The cities of Egypt, whither ye think to flee, shall be shut up against you, through fear of the Chaldees.

Ver. 20. Lift up your eyes, &c.] Still he bespeaketh the king and the queen.

Where is the flock that was given thee?] Thee, O queen regent (for the pronoun is feminine), or thee, O state; Redde, Vare, legiones, said Augustus, bewailing the loss of so many gallant soldiers in Germany, under the command of Varus, who was there also slain.

Thy beautiful flock.] Heb., Thy flock of goodliness. See #Pr 14:28. {See Trapp on "Pr 14:28"}

Ver. 21. For thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee, ] scil., By thy crouching unto them, and craving their help, thou hast made the Chaldeans masters of all thou hast. So did the British princes Vortiger and Vortimer bring in the Saxons here, and the Greeks the Turks.

Ver. 22. Are thy skirts discovered.] Thou art brought to most miserable shame and servitude, having scarce a rag to thy back, or a shoe for thy foot.

Ver. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin?] Proverbial speeches arguing a very great difficulty, if not an utter impossibility, Aethiopem abluo ut candidum reddam, said Diogenes, when he reproved an ill man to no purpose; I do but wash a blackamore. And the like said Nazianzen concerning Julian the apostate. It is said that the negroes paint the devil white, as being a colour contrary to their own, and which they less well affect. Will the Ethiopian change his skin? so the Hebrew hath it.

Or the leopard his spots.] Sin is in us as the spots of a leopard, not by accident, but by nature, which no art can cure, no water wash off; because they are not in the skin, but in the flesh and bones, in the sinews and in the most inner parts. Where then is man’s freewill to good? &c.

Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.] Custom in sin takes away the sense of it, and becomes a second nature; which, though expelled with a fork, as it were, will yet return again. It looks for continual entertainment where it hath once gotten a haunt, as humours fall toward their old issue. Canis qui semel didicerit edere corium, nunquam desistet, A dog who at times learns to eat flesh, will never stop, saith Lucian; an evil custom is not easy left. Nothing so weak as water; yet let much water (so sin, Satan, and custom) be joined together, and nothing stronger. It was not for nothing, therefore, that the Cretans, when they would curse their enemies with most bitter execrations, they wished that they might take delight in some or other evil custom. Modestoque voti genere efficacissimum ultionis genus reperiunt, saith the historian; {a} by a modest kind of wish they sufficiently avenged themselves.

{a} Val. Max.

Ver. 24. Therefore I will scatter them.] This was no small aggravation of their misery, that they should be thus severed one from another. So the persecutors of the primitive times relegated and confined the poor Christians to isles and mines, where they could not have access one to another for mutual comfort and support, as Cyprian complaineth. {a}

{a} Cyprian. Epist.

Ver. 25. This is thy lot.] Look for no better, since thou, by going after lying vanities, forsakest thine own mercies, being miserable by thine own election.

Because thou hast forgotten me.]

“ Esque oblita mei; vitiorumque oblita caeno.”

Ver. 26. Therefore I will discover thy skirts.] Since thou hast discovered and prostituted thyseff to other lovers, I will shame thee before all men.

Ver. 27. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean?] He closeth with this emphatic and most affectionate contestation, pressing them to hearty and speedy repentance, as he had done oft before, but with little good success. The cock crowed, though Peter still denied his Master. Peter knocked still, though Rhoda opened not to him. He launched out into the deep, though he had laboured all night for nothing. So did good Jeremiah here, in obedience to God, and goodwill to his unworthy countrymen.

Chapter 14

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.] De rebus retentionum -that is, concerning the drought or dearth by restraint of necessary rain and moisture—- unde frugum raritas, annonae caritas, fames, from which the shortage of grain made the year’s produce expensive, resulting in famine; whereupon followed a famine, as there doth also a "famine of the Word," where the divine influences are restrained. Junius rendereth it, Super verbis cohibitionum, concerning the words of cohibitions; that is, saith he, concerning the prayers made by the prophet and other good people for the diverting of God’s judgments, publicly denounced.

Ver. 2. Judah mourneth.] The prophet’s pitiful complaint, bitterly bewailing the common calamity, and labouring thereby to bring them to a sense of the true cause of it, their sins. See #2Sa 21:1. {See Trapp on "2Sa 21:1"}

And the cry of Jerusalem is gone up, ] sc., To heaven, for removal of this judgment. Compare #Jer 36:9 14:12.

Ver. 3. And their nobles.] Who would be sure to have it if it were to be had.

Sent their little ones.] Their boys, as they used to call their menial servants of the younger sort. See #Mt 14:2. {See Trapp on "Mt 14:2"}

To the waters.] Such as were the waters of Siloe, which only fountain, saith Jerome, Jerusalem maketh use of so long as it lasteth.

To the pits, ] Or, Cisterns. {#Jer 2:13}

They covered their heads.] As close mourners do still.

Ver. 4. Because the ground is chapt.] As our hearts also are and will be, when the heaven doth not hear the earth. {as #Ho 2:21} It hath been before observed, that in the use of the ordinances, if we open our shells (our souls), the heaven will drop the fruitful dew of grace to the making of pearls of good works and solid virtue.

Ver. 5. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it.] The loving hind; {#Pr 5:19} Alioqui studiosa sui partus, { a} that is otherwise so exceeding chary and careful of her young.

{a} Plin., lib. viii. cap. 32.

Ver. 6. And the wild asses.] Secretes alias vagae libidinis in silvis, that usually course up and down the woods, and can bear hunger and thirst a long while together. {a}

Snuffed up the wind like dragons.] Quorum est vehementissima spiratio ac sorbitio; who, in defect of water, can continue long by drawing in the air, as Aristotle {b} likewise testifieth of the goats in Cephalonia, that they drink not for various days together, but instead thereof gape and suck in the fresh air.

{a} Plin., lib. x. cap. 72.

{b} Lib. De mirab auscult.

Ver. 7. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us.] Though our guilty consciences bring in large rolls of indictment written against us within and without, and spread before thee.

Do it for thy name’s sake.] Heb., Do. A short but pithy petition. So #Jer 14:9, "Leave us not."

Ver. 8. O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof.] In prayer, to pitch upon such of God’s attributes as wherein we may see an answer, is a high point of heavenly wisdom.

Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land?] As a stranger at home, and as one that is loath to be too busy in aliena republica, in a foreign land where he hath least to do.

That turneth aside.] Into some diversorium -inn.

Ver. 9. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished?] That knows not which way to take: first he goes one way, and by and by he returns again. Tremellius rendereth it ut vir fatiscens, as one that fainteth, hath done his utmost, and can do no more.

Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us; leave us not.] Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam. This was to "stir up himself to take hold of God."

Ver. 10. They have loved to wander.] Therefore now they shall have enough of it; yet not wander so wide as to miss hell; {#Ps 95:10,11} what wonder that God seemed a stranger to them who had so far estranged themselves from him?

Ver. 11. Pray not for this people.] See on #Jer 7:16.

Ver. 12. When they fast I will not hear their cry.] At their fasts they were wont to pray earnestly, and to make their voices to be heard on high. Sed defuit aliquid intas; their hearts cried not.

Ver. 13. Ah, Lord God!] The Vulgate Latin hath it, Ah, ah, ah. Vide diligentissimam intercessionem. He seeketh somewhat to excuse the people by laying the blame upon their false prophets. Like whereunto were those Popish priests in Gerson’s time, who preached publicly to the people, that whosoever would come to hear a mass, he should not be struck blind on that day, neither should he die a sudden death, nor want sufficient sustenance, &c.

But I will give you assured peace.] Heb., Peace of truth. Thus these deluders had learned to speak the language of God’s true prophets. Of the high soaring, pretended spiritual language of Familists and some other sectarians one saith well, That it is a great deal too high for this world, and a great deal too low for the world to come.

Ver. 14. The prophets prophesy falsely in my name, &c.] These are certain signs of impostors in the Church in all ages, against whom, now, if ever, the temple doors had need be well guarded, and the pulpit doors have written on them, Ουδεις εισιτω αναξιος, Let no unworthy creature presume to come here.

Ver. 15. Yet they say.] Heb., They are saying. This is all their song, though the present famine doth in part confute them; but the people were willing enough to be deceived, and were therefore worthily punished. Being infatuated, they were seduced; and being so seduced, they were justly judged, as Augustine somewhere. The blind led the blind, and both fell into the ditch, though it befell the blind guides to lie nethermost.

Ver. 16. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out.] They shall be no more excused by their having been deluded, than he that in his drink committeth adultery or murder is excused by his drunkenness. A drunkard, saith Aristotle, deserveth double punishment: {a} first for his drunkenness, and then for the sin committed in and by his drunkenness; so here. See on #Jer 14:15.

{a} τοις μεθυουσι διπλα τα επιτιμια.—Ethic., lib. iii. cap. 5.

Ver. 17. Let mine eyes run down.] This the prophet did doubtless in good earnest; like as Samuel mourned for the rejection of Saul, and our Saviour wept over Jerusalem.

And let them not cease.] Heb., Be silent; for tears also have a voice, {#Ps 39:12} and do oft prove very effectual orators.

Ver. 18. If I go forth into the field.] The prophet here sets forth the siege as present, though it was many years after, the more to affect the people.

Yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.] Or, Go about the land—sc., begging their bread, or fleeing their miseries—and men know them not, though men of such rank and quality.

Ver. 19. Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?] So as that I may not put up one prayer more for them. I cannot hold, whatever come of it; let not my Lord be angry if I shoot this arrow also after the former.

Ver. 20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness.] We, the better sort of us, do so. And so the saints have ever done in their interdealings with God, falling low at his footstool for pardoning and prevailing mercy.

Ver. 21. Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake.] This was to "continue instant in prayer." {#Ro 12:12} This was to pray on, and not to faint. {#Lu 18:1} If thy suit be not honest, never begin it; and if it be, never leave it.

Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory.] The temple, and the ark in it. The Romans held the extinction of the Vestal fire a sign of the destruction of their city, be the cause thereof what it will. {a} We may well think the same of the loss of God’s ordinances, which therefore we must deprecate, as here, with all our might; for as Bodin said well of obtaining, so likewise for retaining, religion, Non disputationibus sed rogationibus, &c., the business will be the better ejected by requests than disputes. Pray therefore for the peace of Jerusalem, yea, take no nay. Deus ipse qui nullis contra se viribus superari potest, precibus vincitur. {b} The invincible God is overcome by the power of prayer. There is a kind of omnipotence in it, saith Luther.

Remember, break not thy covenant with us.] Lo, this is to be God’s faithful remembrancer, {#Isa 62:6,7} suggesting unto him seasonable items.

{a} εφ ης ποτε αν αιτιας γενηται.—Dion. Halicar., lib. ii.

{b} Jerome.

Ver. 22. Are there among the vanities of the Gentiles, ] i.e., The heathen idols wickedly worshipped by the Jews.

That can cause rain?] Pluit, ningit: supple Deus. These impersonals imply that the ancient Romans looked upon rain, snow, &c., as God’s work. Sure it is that they come by a divine decree. {#Job 28:26} Not Jupiter, ομβριος—whatever the poets fable—nor the heavens themselves, without the divine concurrence, can give rain; but it is God Almighty who both prepareth it {#Ps 147:8} and withholdeth it at his pleasure. {#Am 4:7} The second causes do but serve the divine providence in these common occurrences.

Therefore we will wait upon thee.] For seasonable showers in this our great necessity. We will wait, or, if thou see fit, want of our will, so that thy will may be done; for that is best.

For thou hast made all these things.] Both the constellations, and rain or drought caused thereby.

Chapter 15

Ver. 1. Then said the Lord unto me.] In answer to my prayer he replied, Thou hast well prayed, sed stat sententia, I am set, I am inexorable.

Though Moses.] That chancellor of heaven, as one calleth him; who not only "ruled with God," but overruled. {#Ex 32:11-14, Nu 14:19,20}

And Samuel.] A mighty man likewise in prayer. See #1Sa 7:9, called therefore Pethuel, as some think, {#Joe 1:1} that is, a God persuader. These two were famous in their generations for hearty love to, and prayers for, that rebellious people, and did much for them. But, so the case now stood, if these favourites were alive, and should intercede their utmost for them, it should avail nothing. See #Eze 14:14.

Yet my mind could not be to this people.] This is spoken after the manner of men—q.d., I am implacably enraged, I am unchangeably resolved against them.

Cast them out of my sight.] Tell them that I have utterly rejected them, and I will ratify and realise thy speeches. See on #Jer 1:10.

And let them go forth.] Or, Let them be gone—q.d., I am the worse to look upon them.

Ver. 2. If they say unto thee.] As they will be apt enough to do in a jeer.

Such as are for death, ] i.e., For the pestilence commonly called mortality, because it is so deadly a disease. Those at Genoa have lately found it so. And yet it is here reckoned first, as the least and tightest of all the four threatened judgments, which must needs be bad enough when the pest is the best of them all. The Turks shun not the company of those that have the plague, but pointing upon their foreheads, say it was written there at their birth when they should die, and of what disease. These in the text could as little avoid the deaths they were assigned to, as Aeschylus the tragedian could his being knocked on the head. For whenas he was foretold that he should die with a stroke coming from above, he shunned houses, and was wont to remain in the open air, but he was killed by a tortoise falling from the mouth of an eagle upon his bald head, mistaken for a stone. {a}

{a} Aelian, l. 1. c. 5. s. 19. 1:225,227; Valerius Maximus, l. 9. ext. c. 12. 1:375

Ver. 3. And I will appoint over them four kinds.] Heb., Families, or kindreds—i.e., quatuor cognata carnivora, dogs, birds, and beasts being added to the former four evils, {#Jer 15:2} quasi per auxesin.

Ver. 4. Because of Manasseh.] Because of his sins, idolatry and bloodshed especially, wherein the people partook and persisted, and were therefore justly punished.

The son of Hezekiah.] But altogether degenerate. He was therefore the worse, because he should have been better, and yet the worse again, because he was author publicae corruptelae, a ringleader of rebellion to others, as was Jeroboam.

Ver. 5. Who shall bemoan thee?] Heb., Who shall come out of his place to comfort thee? Or, Who shall shake his head in commiseration to thee?

Ver. 6. I am weary with repenting.] Patiendo, ac parcendo. I have so oft revoked my threats, that unless I should wrong my justice, I can do so no more.

Ver. 7. And I will fan them with a fan.] Not of purgation {a} {as #Jer 6:29,30} but of perdition. Such as that, #Jer 51:2.

In the gates of the land.] As men use to winnow grain at a windy door, where the chaff is blown quite away.

{a} Deo gratias quod lingua Petiliani non sit ventilabrum Christi. -Jerome.

Ver. 8. The widows are increased to me.] Or, Before me; or, In my sight.

Above the sands of the seas.] Hyperbole.

A spoiler at noon day.] Nebuchadnezzar, that choice young man; for so some render the text. And so he was, when he came against Jerusalem and burned it, viz., in the eighteenth year of his reign.

And terrors upon the city.] Or, Terrors, even the city; that is, say the Septuagint and Chaldee, the army of the Chaldees, which for their numbers and order of pitching their tents, seemed to be a city.

Ver. 9. She that hath born seven languisheth.] Jerusalem, that mater multipara, a fruitful mother.

She hath given up the ghost.] Heb., She putteth out her soul. {as #Job 11:20} We read of some mothers who, hearing of their sons to be slain in battle, have fallen down dead in the place.

Her sun is gone down.] See on #Am 8:9. A Christian, when at worst, can sing, Non omnium dierum sol occidit, Not on all days the sun sets. I look for better days yet.

Ver. 10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me, ] scil., In such an age wherein I may not pray for my people, nor can preach unto them to any good purpose. Buchanan bewailed it that he was born nec coelo, nec solo, nec coeculo erudite. {a} Jeremiah lamenteth here for a worse matter. Surely he might well say for his manifold sufferings:

“ Littora quot conchas, quot amaens rosaria flores,

Quotque soporiferum grana papaver habet;

\Tot premor salversis, ”& c.

- Ovid., Trist.

A man of strife and a man of contention.] {b} Generally opposed and quarrelled, for my free and faithful discharge of my duty. This is the world’s wages to godly ministers, whom they usually make their buttmark. But God be thanked, saith he with Jerome, quod dignus sim quem mundus oderit, that I am worthy whom the world should hate. Lutherus pascitur convitiis, saith he of himself, Luther is fed with reproaches.

I have neither lent on usury, ] i.e., I have neither bought nor sold, as we say, meddled nor made with them. I have had as little to do with them any way as was possible. Usura praecipuum fomentum litium. Usuary particularily starts quarrels. I have kept myself close to my calling, and yet I cannot avoid their variance and virulencies. To preach is to derive upon a man’s self the hatred of the world, saith Luther.

{a} Camden’s Elisabeth.

{b} Virum arguentem. -Arab.

Ver. 11. Verily it shall be well with thy remnant.] Heb., If it be not well, q.d., then trust me no more; thy latter end shall be comfortable; {#Ps 37:37} the end of that man is peace, be his beginning and middle never so troublesome.

Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well.] Or, I will intercede for thee with the enemy. See this fulfilled, #Jer 40:4. God can speak for his in the hearts of their enemies, and make their foes to favour them, as many of the Papists here did Wickliffe, and after him Bradford.

Ver. 12. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?] That is, say some, shall these hardhearted Jews be too hard for me? or, for thee, Jeremiah, whom I have made an "iron pillar and brazen walls" against the whole land {#Jer 1:18} Never think it. Brighten thee they may, but not break thee. The northern iron is noted for the best and toughest.

Ver. 13. Thy substance and thy treasure.] This is spoken by an apostrophe to the people, who are here told again what to trust to for their national sins.

Ver. 14. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies.] Or, To serve thine enemies; for there is a double reading of the text.

Ver. 15. O Lord, thou knowest.] Jeremiah had begun a complaint, {#Jer 15:10} not without some tang and tincture of human infirmity. Invalidum omne natura querulum. God graciously interrupted him, and came leaping over all those "mountains of Bether," all lets and impediments, to his comfort and best satisfaction. {#Jer 15:11,12} Nevertheless Jeremiah hath not done, but goeth on as before; et humanum aliquid patitur.

Remember me, and visit me.] He was full, and speaks thick.

Take me not away in thy longsuffering.] While thou bearest with them, take care of me, that I perish not by their perfidy aud cruelty.

Know that for thy cause I have suffered rebuke.] Ceu dabitorem compellat Deum, suaque adducit merita. He delivers himself as if he held God to be his debtor. This was not so well.

Ver. 16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them.] I was well apaid of thy messages that came at first to me, and of that commission thou gavest me to be a prophet; yea, I took no small delight and complacence therein; and having found this honey, I ate it; {as #Pr 25:16} but since I have met with much bitterness in this wicked world for my plain dealing. See #Eze 3:3 Re 10:10. Herodotus writeth of the river Hypanis, that for five days’ journey the water of it runneth clear and sweet; and then, for four days’ journey farther, bitter and brackish. The ministry is an honourable and comfortable function, but hath its troubles and encumbrances.

Ver. 17. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers.] That scoffed and mocked at God’s messages and menaces. Or, I have not sat in the assembly of those that make merry; sed serius fui, spiransque compunctionem; I came not at feasts and merry meetings since I became a prophet.

I sat alone.] As Moses in like case did. {#Ex 33:7}

Ver. 18. Why is my pain perpetual? &c.] Here the prophet too freely expostulates with God, as less faithful, or less mindful at least, of the promised preservation. This was in a fit of diffidence and discontent, as the best have their outbursts, and the greatest lamps have needed snuffers. The Milesians, saith the philosopher, are not fools; yet they do the things that fools use to do. So the saints do oft as wicked ones, but not in the same manner and degree.

Ver. 19. Therefore, thus saith the Lord.] Or, Notwithstanding, man’s perverseness breaketh not off the course of God’s goodness.

If thou return.] If thou cast out this devil of discontent, and (accounting distrust worse than distress) apply thyself cheerfully and constantly to the work of the ministry, I will continue and confirm thee in thine office, notwithstanding thy present frailties and failings. {a} So our Saviour, presently upon their repentance for their shameful forsaking him at his apprehension, restored his disciples to their apostolic function. {#Joh 20:21-23}

And if thou take forth the precious from the vile, ] i.e., The gracious from the vicious, preaching comfort to those and terror to these; not giving, as he in the fable did, straw to the dog and a bone to the ass, but to every one his proper portion, without fear or flattery. {b}

Thou shall be as my mouth.] Speaking as a prophet of mine, and as I myself would do, if in thy place.

Let them return to thee, ] i.e., Conform to thee, but do not thou chime in with them, as the false prophets do.

{a} Hic vides non praescribi gratiae Dei menses et annos.

{b} Probe vir, hae nihil ad te, dixit Zwinglius cum in vitia acriter inveheretur.

Ver. 20. And I will make thee.] See on #Jer 1:18,19.

Ver. 21. And I will deliver thee.] I will, I will; never fear it, man, but go on courageously. Deal courageously, and God shall be with the good. {#2Ch 19:11}

Chapter 16

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord came also unto me.] It is the property of this prophet to handle the same thing several ways, and by sundry effectual arguments. God’s ministers must turn themselves, as it were, into all shapes and fashions, both of speech and spirit, to win people to God.

Ver. 2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, &c.] It is very likely that this befell the prophet in a vision. Or, if otherwise, it was but for a sign, and in regard of the great calamity impendent, that he is here forbidden marriage, otherwise lawful enough, and in some cases necessary. The contrary doctrine (such as was that of the Tatian heretics and Popish canonists) is a doctrine of devils. {#1Ti 4:1}

Ver. 3. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons—born in this place, ] i.e., At Anathoth, say some; but others better, at Jerusalem. So great and grievous shall be the calamity, that married people shall be ready to wish, as Augustus did for another cause, Utinam aut caelebs vixissem, aut orbus periissem, Oh that either I had lived single, or else died childless!

Ver. 4. They shall die of grievous deaths.] Heb., Death of diseases or grievances, as did Jehoram, {#2Ch 21:18} and Philip II of Spain, &c.; they shall die piecemeal, morte valetudinariorum, by death of the sickrooms, which is a misery, especially if the disease be slow, and yet sharp, as some are.

They shall not be lamented nor buried.] Which are two of the usual dues of the dead.

Ver. 5. Enter not into the house of mourning.] Or banquets, whether at burials or bridals. {as #Am 6:7} Of funeral banquets, see #De 26:14. These the Greeks called περιδειπνα, the Latins Parentalia. See #Jer 16:7.

Ver. 6. Both the great and the small shall die.] Princes and peasants, lords and lowlies together.

Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald.] Neque caedetur neque calvabitur. This they had learned of the heathen, and would needs use it, though flatly forbidden them. {#Le 19:27,28 De 14:1} Now they were told that they should have little either lust or leisure to do any such matter.

Ver. 7. Neither shall men tear themselves for them.] Or, Neither shall they deal them bread in mourning to comfort any for the dead. Compare #Eze 24:17. Of feasting at funerals mention is made by Herodotus, Cicero, Lucian, Pliny, Clement, and Chrysostom. See #Jer 16:5.

Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation, ] i.e., The consolatory cup, usually given at funerals to the disconsolate friends of the deceased. See on #Pr 31:6,7.

Ver. 8. Thou shall not also go into the house of feasting.] Ministers may lawfully go to feasts, {#Joh 2:1,2} but not in times of common calamity. See #Isa 22:12-14. Pliny {a} telleth us that when in the time of the second Punic war, one Fulvius Argentarius was seen at Rome looking out at a window with a rose garland on his head, the senate sent for him, laid him in prison, and would not suffer him to come forth till the war was at an end.

{a} Lib. ii. cap. 7.

Ver. 9. Behold, I will cause to cease.] See #Jer 7:34. {See Trapp on "Jer 7:34"}

Ver. 10. And they shall say unto thee, Wherefore?] This is still the guise of hypocrites, to justify themselves, and quarrel the preacher that reproveth them. See #Jer 5:19.

What is our iniquity?] Nature showeth no sin; it is no causeless complaint of a grave divine, that some deal with their souls as others do with their bodies. When their beauty is decayed, they desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses, and from others by painting; so their sins from themselves by false glosses, and from others by excuses.

Ver. 11. Because your fathers.] See #Jer 2:5 7:24,25.

Ver. 12. And ye have done worse.] See #Jer 7:26.

For, behold, ye walk.] See #Jer 9:13,11:8 13:10.

Ver. 13. Therefore I will cast you.] #Jer 10:18. Because ye have sinned wilfully and willingly, ye shall be cast out of this land, though full sore against your wills.

And there shall ye serve other gods.] {a} Will ye nill ye (for a just punishment of your voluntary idolatries); being compelled by your imperious enemies so to do, except ye will taste of the whip, as now the Turks’ galley slaves.

Where I will not show you favour.] This was a cutting speech, and far worse than their captivity; like as that was a sweet promise, "They shall be as if I had not cast them off, and I will hear them." {#Zec 10:6}

{a} Notatur poena talionis.

Ver. 14. Therefore. behold.] Or, Notwithstanding, scil., these grievous threatenings and extreme desolations. Thus the Lord still remembereth his remnant, and the covenant made with them. Ministers also must comfort the precious, as well as threaten the vile and vicious. Evangelizatum, non maledictum missus es: laudo zelum, modo non desideretur mansuetudo, said Oecolampadius to Farellus in a certain epistle—Thou wert sent to preach gospel, and not law only; to pour off as well as wine into wounded consciences. I commend thy zeal, so it be tempered with "meekness of wisdom."

That it shall no more be said, ] i.e., Not so much be said: the lustre of this deliverance shall in some sort dim the lustre of that, but both must be perpetually celebrated.

Ver. 15. But the Lord liveth, &c.] Or, "Let the Lord live, and let the God of our salvation be exalted." {#Ps 18:46} {See Trapp on "Ps 18:46"} How much more, then, should our redemption from sin, death, and hell by Jesus Christ obscure all temporal deliverance! See for this #Jer 23:7,8 cf. Jer 3:16.

Ver. 16. Behold, I will send for many fishers, &c.] scil., To enclose in their αμφιβληστορα, large and capacious nets, whole shoals of them together. These were the Chaldees, whom God sent for, arcano instinctu cordium, by putting it into their hearts to come up against Jerusalem. Howbeit, some by fishers understand the Egyptians, who lived much by fishing, and by hunters the Chaldeans. {as #Ge 10:8,9}

And they shall hunt them.] Out of all their starting holes and lurking places, as the Romans afterwards pulled them out of their secret places, &c.

Ver. 17. For mine eyes are upon all their ways.] And though they hide me from themselves, yet can they not hide themselves from me possibly, nor from my hunters, who shall ferret them out.

Ver. 18. And first, ] i.e., Before I restore them. I will recompense their iniquity and their sin

double, ] i.e., Abundantly. {a} I will have my full pennyworths of them; not double to their deserts, {as #Isa 40:2 60:1}

With the careases, ] i.e., With their idolatries, more odious and loathsome than any stinking carcases can be.

{a} Poenarum abunde. -Jun.

Ver. 19. My refuge.] Better than those of the fugitive Jews, out of which they were hunted and murdered.

The Gentiles shall come to thee.] By faith and repentance.

Ver. 20. Should a man make gods to himself?] Nonne res haec stupore digna? Is not this a strange sottishness? The Gentiles here see it, and yet the Papists will not.

Ver. 21. I will for this once.] And "this once" shall stand for all. Affliction shall not rise up the second time. {#Na 1:9}

And I will make them to know.] Effectu magis quam affectu. Effecting more than affecting.

My hand and my might, ] i.e., My mighty hand, mine irresistible power in their just punishment.

Chapter 17

Ver. 1. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron.] The four first verses of this chapter are left out by the Septuagint. Jerome saith they omitted them in gratiam et honorem papuli sui, in favour, and for the honour of their countrymen the Jews; but that was no just reason. "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven," {#Ps 119:89} though there were not a Bible left on earth. These sinners against their own souls had their idolatry so deeply engraven on their hearts, that they could not get out the stamp, and the guilt thereof stuck so fast to their consciences, that they could hardly get off either the sting or the stain thereof.

It is graven upon the tables of their hearts.] Their sin lay there, where the law should have lain. {#Jer 31:33} Like as Queen Mary, when she died, told those about her that the loss of Calais lay at her heart, a place far fitter for Jesus Christ.

And upon the horns of your altars, ] Whereon the blood of your sacrifices are sprinkled, and so your sin proclaimed.

Ver. 2. While their children remember their altars.] Or, As they remember their children, so they remember their altars and their groves, scil., with greatest love and delight. The Greeks call children φιλτατα, the comedian Charissima; so were their idols to these Jews.

Ver. 3. O my mountain in the field.] Or, O my mountain and field, i.e., O ye mountaineers and fieldlings. Montani fere asperi sunt et inculti: molliores corpore atque moribus pratenses; they should all be spoiled one with another, for the sin of their high places.

Ver. 4. And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue.] Or intermit, scil., the tillage of thy land. See #Ex 23:11 Le 26:33,34. It shall keep her Sabbaths.

Ver. 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.] Disserit hic de summo bono, et de summo malo, saith one. Here the prophet discourseth of the chief good and of the chief evil. This latter he pronounceth to be to depart from God, and to depend upon the creature for help; for such a man, seem he never so manly a man (haggheber), is accursed of God, whom he robbeth of his chief jewel, that which giveth him the sovereignty, and setteth, as it were, the crown upon his head. See #Jud 9:15 Ps 78:22 52:7.

And maketh flesh his arm, ] i.e., His strength; for in brachio est robur. Now three ways, saith a reverend man, {a} we make flesh our arm— (1.) By sitting down in a faithless, sullen discontent and despair when we can see no second causes; (2.) By rising up in a corky, frothy confidence when we see sufficient human help; (3.) When we ascribe the glory of our good to it, "sacrificing to our own net." {#Hab 1:16} This is to pull the curse upon our heads with twisted wrath and indignation.

Whose heart departeth from God.] He trusteth not God at all who trusteth him not over all.

{a} Mr Case.

Ver. 6. For he shall be like the heath.] Wild myrice, that neither beareth fruit nor seed, and is good for little but to burn or make besoms. See #Heb 6:8. Bastard tamarisk some call it; others, juniper.

But shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness.] Such shall have no content or satisfaction. Compare #Mt 12:43. The unclean spirit cast out "walks in dry places," &c.; not but that dry and wet is all one with him, but it importeth his extreme restlessness.

Ver. 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord.] See on #Jer 17:5 Ps 25:12 32:10 34:8 84:12 125:1 146:5, where David. having entered a caveat against creature confidence, persuadeth people, by trusting in God alone, to provide for their own safety and happiness. See #Na 1:7. Such shall have marvellous lovingkindness from God, {#Ps 17:7} above all that can be uttered (#Ps 31:19; see #Pr 28:25).

Ver. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted.] It is plain that he here alludeth to #Ps 1:3; see the notes there. The laurel, saith Pliny, is never thunderstruck. Sure it is that he who trusteth in God taketh no hurt; his heart is fixed and unmovable {#Ps 112:7,8} to endure things almost incredible. {#Ps 27:3 Isa 14:32 cf. Isa 26:4,5} True trust will certainly triumph at length, as that which leaneth on the Lord and the power of his might, the surest support.

By the river.] The Hebrew here is jubal; and the jubilee, saith one, had its name from this word, which signifieth a stream or watercourse, as carrying us to Christ, who is the truth of this type. {#Lu 18:19}

But his leaf shall be green.] Neither falling nor fading.

And shall not be careful in the year of drought.] A metaphor, setting forth the full assurance of faith that is in some good men, such as was that holy martyr, {a} who said, I will henceforth be careless, according to my name.

“ Si fractus illabatur orbis,

Impavidum ferient ruinae.”

Neither shall cease from yielding fruit.] As they say the lemon tree doth not, but ever and anon sendeth forth new lemons as soon as the former are fallen down with ripeness. {b}

{a} John Careless, Acts and Mon., fol. 1743.

{b} Theoph., Plin.

Ver. 9. The heart of man is deceitful above all things.] The pravity and perversity of man’s heart, full of harlotry and creature confidence, deceiving and being deceived, is here plainly and plentifully described; and oh that it were duly and deeply considered. "Deceitful" it is here said to be "above all things," no creature like it. Varium est, versutum, et versipelle; tortuosum est, anfractuosum et fallax, ideoque inscrutabile; It is full of turnings and windings, nooks and corners, wiles and sleights. It deceived David, as wise as he was, and tripped up his heels, as the word here used importeth; {#Ps 39:1-3} so it did Peter. {#Joh 13:37,38} Fitly doth the prophet here call our hearts "deceitful," in that word in the original, from whence Jacob had his name, because our fleshly hearts do the same things to the spirit in doing of good, which Jacob did to his brother—supplant it and catch it by the heel while it is running the Christian race. As Jehu offered sacrifice to Baal, killing his priests at the same time—and this he did in subtlety to circumvent them {#2Ki 10:19} -and as Hushai went to Absalom’s company to overthrow him, {a} so deal our deceitful hearts with us, &c. Neither is it deceitful only, but deep (so the Septuagint {b} here render it); those that are still digging in this dunghill do find it to be a very bottomless pit. Yea, it is

Desperately wicked.] Desperately bent upon deadly mischief. So that he gave no evil counsel who said to his friend, Ita cave tibi, ut caveas teipsum; so see to thyself that thou beware of thine own heart. Another prayed not amiss, Lord, keep me from that naughty man—myself. Take heed of the devil and the world, said a certain martyr in a letter to his wife, but especially of thine own heart.

“ Non longe scilicet hostes

Quaerendi nobis, circumstant undique muros.”

We have a Trojan horse full of armed enemies in the citadel of our hearts. We have Jebusites enough within us to undo us, quos nec fugere possumus nec fugare. who we are not able to put to flight or rout. It was no ill character, therefore, of a good man that is given by Epictetus, a heathen, that he carefully watcheth himself as his own deadly enemy. {c}

Who can know it?] None but a man’s self; {#1Co 2:11} nor not even a man’s self, for nothing is more common than self deceit. {#Ga 6:3 Jas 1:21} How much was Bellarmine, that great scholar, mistaken, and how ill-read in his own heart, when, the priest coming to absolve him on his deathbed, he could not remember any particular sin to confess till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth! Had he but thrust his hand into his own bosom, with Moses, he had brought it out leprous, white as snow. Had he looked well into his own heart, he would have found it to be a raging sea of sin, {#Isa 57:20} where is that leviathan, the devil, besides creeping things, crawling lusts, innumerable. This made blessed Bradford never look on any man’s lewd life but he would straight cry out, Lord, have mercy upon me! for in this my vile heart remaineth that sin which, without God’s special grace, I should have committed as well as he.

{a} See Dike, Of the Deceitfulness of the Heart

{b} Βαθεια.

{c} ως εχθρον εαυτον παραφυλασσει και επιβουλον.—En. chirid, cap. 72.

Ver. 10. I the Lord search the heart.] Be it never so full of shifts and fetches, I cannot be deceived in it. The watchmaker must needs know every turning and winding in the watch. God is the heart maker and the heart mender; neither is there any creature, no, not any creature of the heart, that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened before his eyes. {#Heb 4:13} "Naked" for the outside, and opened for the inside—dissected, quartered, and, as it were, "cleft through the back-bone," as the apostle’s word {a} there signifieth; so opened as the entrails of a man that is anatomised, or of a beast that is cut up and quartered. The heart and reins are taken to be the seat of the thoughts and affections, yea, of the strongest affection, namely, that which is for generation. These are a man’s inwardest and most remote parts, so that it is hard for food or physic to come at them. Covered they are also with fat and flesh, &c., and yet they are not hid from God’s eye, which is indeed a fiery eye, {#Re 1:14} and therefore needeth no outward light. Man’s eye is like a candle, which is first lighted, and then extinct; the angels’ eyes are like the stars, which shine indeed, and in the dark, too, but with a borrowed light, neither know they the thoughts of men’s hearts further than they are discovered. But God’s eye is like the sun, yea, far brighter and more piercing than that eye of the world; neither needeth he a window in man’s breast, as Momus wished, to look in at, for every man, before God, is all window, totus totus transparens et pellucidus. This Thales and other philosophers saw and confessed.

{a} τετραχηλισμενα.

Ver. 11. As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not.] Because either she is taken in an evil net, or the eggs are marred by the male, or otherwise, before they can be hatched.

So he that getteth riches, and not by right.] That crieth

“ Rem, rem, quocunque mode rem,

Unde habeat nemo quaerit, sed oportet habere.”

Right or wrong, many are resolved to be rich, but are usually crossed or else cursed with a blessing for treasures of wickedness profit not, but righteousness delivereth from death. {#Pr 10:2} God sometimes giveth wealth to the wicked, as men put money into an earthen bottle, which, that they may get out again, they break the bottle in pieces.

Shall leave them in the midst of his days.] Either they shall leave him, or he them, to his unmedicinable grief and heart break. A poor fool God will be sure to make of him. He that trusteth in his riches, as every mammonist doth, shall fall; {#Pr 11:28} for although he bless himself, as well underlaid—and what should all such a one saith the world—yet the Lord abhorreth him, {#Ps 10:3} so that he many times cometh in the midst of his days to an untimely end, as did Judas, Ahab, Achan, Balaam, Ananias and Sapphira, &c. And thus many a rich wretch spinneth a fair thread to strangle himself, both temporally and eternally; he by his covetousness not only killeth others, {#Pr 1:19} but himself too.

Ver. 12. A glorious high throne from the beginning.] Therefore it is best to "trust in God at all times, ye people, and to pour out your hearts before him," since "God is a refuge for us." {#Ps 62:8} All that do otherwise shall be ashamed, {#Jer 17:13} and worthily; because, having so glorious a God resident among them, they so basely forsake him to serve and seek to idols.

Ver. 13. Shall be written in the earth, ] i.e., Aeterna motre damnabuntur; they shall be hurled into hell, as not having their names written in heaven, {#Lu 10:20} where all that are "written among the living in Jerusalem" {#Isa 4:3} are enrolled. {#Heb 12:23} Non pro gloriosis sed pro probrosis habiti. See #Ps 17:14. Prudentius rightly saith, that their names that are written in red letters of blood in the Church’s calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ’s register in the book of life; as on the contrary, these idolaters, whose sin was with an iron pen engraven on the tables of their hearts, {as #Jer 17:1} are justly "written in the earth"—i.e., cast to hell.

Ver. 14. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.] Viz., of that cordolium heartfelt grief that my malicious countrymen cause me. The prophet was even sick at heart of their unworthy usages, and prays help and healing, ne totus et ipse labescat inter auditores deploratissimos, lest he should perish by them, and with them.

Ver. 15. Behold, they say unto me.] Heb., They are saying unto me; it is their daily dicterium, or jeer.

Where is the word of the Lord?] Whereby thou so oft threatenest us with desolation. {a} Thus profane persons flear, when they should fear. See #2Pe 3:4 Isa 5:19 Am 5:18.

{a} Ubi est? It is where? i.e., Nusquam est. It is nowhere.—Piscat

Ver. 16. I have not hastened from being a pastor before thee.] I have neither rashly taken up the work of the ministry, quo secundus abs te assam pastor, wherein I have been thine under shepherd, but was rightly called by thee thereunto, and have obeyed thy call; neither have I been over hasty to rid my hands of this so troublesome and thankless an employment. Latimer, in one of his sermons, speaking of a minister who gave this answer why he ceased preaching, Because he saw he did no good, but got the hatred of many: This, saith he, was a naughty, a very naughty answer.

Neither have I desired the woeful day.] The doleful or deadly day, sc., of their desolation, or my denunciation of it. God’s ministers take no delight to fling daggers at the faces of graceless persons, whatever they may think, or to terrify them causelessly; but, as "knowing the terror of the Lord," they seek to frighten them by the menaces of God’s mouth from such sinful practices as will be their ruin, and hence they are hated,

“ An expectes ut Quintilianus ametur?’’—Juven.

Thou knowest it.] See #Jer 12:1 15:15 2Co 1:12.

Ver. 17. Be not a terror unto me.] Let me have fair weather overhead, how foul soever it be under foot. If we have peace with God, though trouble in the world, we can take no hurt. If vapours be not got into the bowels of the earth, and stir not there, storms and tempests abroad cannot cause an earthquake; so if there be peace within, &c. But like as all the letters in the alphabet, without a vowel, will not make one word; nor all the stars in the firmament, without a sun, will make a day, so neither can all this world’s good make one happy, without God and his favour.

Ver. 18. Let them be confounded.] A heavy imprecation. Let persecutors take heed how they move ministers to make intercession to God against them, as Elias did against Israel; {#Ro 11:2} as Jeremiah here and elsewhere doth against the Jews; as the Christian churches did against Julian the apostate. God will set to his fiat.

Let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed.] Paveant illi et non paveam ego, so the Vulgate Latin hath it. But what a stupid Latin dolt was that Popish priest who alleged to his parishioners this text, to prove, that not he, but they, were to pave the church way! So another of them, finding it written in the end of Paul’s epistles, Missa est, &c., bragged he had found the mass in his Bible. So another, reading #Joh 1:44, Invenimus Messiam, we have found the Messiah, made the same conclusion.

Ver. 19. Go and stand in the gate of the children.] The sheep gate, say some, whereof see #Ne 3:1,32 12:39; or, as others, the water gate, whereof #Ne 3:26. A place it was of great resort and concourse, and therefore fittest for this new sermon to be made in first, though afterwards also he was to preach it in all the gates of Jerusalem, forasmuch as it was about a matter of greatest importance, even the serious sanctification of the Sabbath day. Diem septimum opifex mundi natalem sibi sacravit, et observari praecepit. That fourth commandment, saith Philo, is a famous precept, and profitable to excite to all kind of virtue and piety.

Ver. 20. Ye kings of Judah.] Magistrates, being lord keepers of both the tables of the law, should carefully see to it that both be duly observed. Our King Edgar made laws for the sanctification of the Lord’s day, Sabbath, as have also our present governors, to their lasting renown. The first blow given to the German churches was on the Lord’s day, which they carelessly observed; for on that day was Prague lost; as was likewise Constantinople on Whitsunday, as they called it. {a}

{a} Jer. Dike, Of Conscience.—Estius in lib. Sentent. Distinc., xi. cap. 2.

Ver. 21. Take heed to yourselves.] Break not the Sabbath, that ye fall not under the fierce wrath of God, who paid him home with stones who but only gathered sticks on that day. Cavete, Beware, it concerns you much.

And bear no burden.] See #Ne 13:15,16,19. {See Trapp on "Ne 13:15"} {See Trapp on "Ne 13:16"} {See Trapp on "Ne 13:19"}

Ver. 22. Neither carry forth a burden.] Let not the Sabbath of the Lord, that sanctified day of his rest, be so shamefully troubled and disquieted. Make not God’s holy day a voider, as some do, to the week aforegoing.

Ver. 23. But they obeyed not.] See #Jer 7:24,26.

Ver. 24. But hallow the Sabbath day, ] sc., By spending the holy time holily, else God may sue us on an action of waste. Idleness is a sin any day, but specially on the Sabbath day; spiritual idleness then, is as bad as corporal labour.

Ver. 25. Then shall there enter.] Then shall all go well with you, publicly and privately; ye shall have a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments.

Ver. 26. And they shall come.] All the solemnity of the temple shall continue, with the exaltation of all the neighbourhood. When the high priests would so work that day like to beg the body, seal the sepulchre, and set the watch on the Sabbath—called, by an irony, the day that followed the day of the preparation {#Mt 27:62} -they forfeited all.

Ver. 27. Then will I kindle a fire.] That furious element, whereby God hath so oft punished this sin, as is to be seen in the Practice of Piety, Denison’s Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, Mr Clark’s Examples, &c.

Chapter 18

Ver. 1. The word which came to Jeremiah.] To show the just punishment of the people for disobeying the precept concerning the Sabbath, {#Jer 17:27} and other of God’s commandments. See #Jer 7:1.

Ver. 2. Arise, and go down to the potter’s house.] Whether the prophet was to go actually to the potter’s house, or in vision only, it matters not. This we know, that our Saviour did actually wash his disciples’ feet, and at another time set a child in the midst of them when they were striving about the primacy, expounding to them afterwards what he meant; and so it might well be here. It may not be amiss for us to go down oft with Jeremiah to the potter’s house in our meditations—to consider, I mean, our original, Κεραμος ο ανθρωπος; as the "first man, Adam, was of the earth earthy," so are we ex lute lutei, from the clay, clayish.

Ver. 3. Then I went down to the potter’s house.] {a} God’s commands must be obeyed without sciscitation. Jeremiah saw that verbal teaching without signs would not work upon his hearers; he is therefore ready to do anything, or to go any whither, for their eternal good.

And, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.] So the poet—

“ Amphora coepit

Institui, currente rota, cur urceus exit?”

- Hor. De Art. Poet.

{a} Officiose paret.

Ver. 4. And the vessel which he made of clay was marred.] Or, The vessel which he was making miscarried, as clay in the potter’s hand.

“ Non semper feriet quodcunque minabitur arcus.”

Ver. 5. Then came the word of the Lord unto me.] See #Jer 18:1. To the visible word God always addeth the audible; as in the two sacraments.

Ver. 6. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you.] Make you or mar you at my pleasure: have I not an absolute sovereignty over you, that ye lift up the heel against me, and awake my power by your provocations?

As the clay is in the potter’s hand.] What, then, hath vain man to vaunt of? or why should any proud Arminian {a} say, Quod potui, miserentis est Dei; quod volui, id meae est potestatis? That I can do good, is of God’s mercy; that I will do it, is merely in mine own power? This man was sure his own potter, and not willing to owe overmuch of himself to God.

{a} Grevinchovius.

Ver. 7. At what instant I shall speak.] As God loveth to forewarn; and he therefore threateneth, that he may not punish, for he would be prevented.

Ver. 8. Turn from their evil.] If I may see such work among them, as at Nineveh God did. {#Jon 3:10} He saw not their sackcloth and their ashes, but their repentance and works—those fruits of their faith.

I will repent of the evil.] Not by any change of my will, but by the willing of a change: mutatione Rei non Dei.

Ver. 9. And at what instant I shall speak.] All is done as God the great Induperator commandeth, whether it be for or against a nation, or a particular man only. {#Job 34:29}

To build or to plant it.] As he did this kingdom of England; which was therefore anciently called Regnum Dei, kingdom of God, and reckoned among the fortunate islands.

Ver. 10. Then will I repent of the good.] I will take away mine own, and be gone; {#Ho 2:9} "curse their blessings," {#Mal 2:2} and "destroy them after that I have done them good"; {as #Jos 24:20} and all this, whether for the better or for the worse to a nation, God usually doth on the sudden; "At what instant," &c. Mercies, the more unexpected, the more welcome; judgments, the more sudden, the more direful they are.

Ver. 11. Behold, I frame evil against you.] As the potter frameth his vessel on the wheel.

Return ye now.] Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia. Mitte preces et lachrymas, cordis legatos. Let him run from regret not hasten on by feeling. Send prayers and tears as envoys of the heart. Address yourselves to God, and be at peace; so shall good be done unto you. See #Jer 3:12 7:3.

Ver. 12. And they said, There is no hope.] {a} See the like desperate return, #Jer 2:25 13:9. Actum est: vel desperatum est: vel expectaratum est -that is, we are at a point, and have made our conclusion. Thou mayest save a labour of further exhorting us; for we are as good as we mean to be, and shall not stir from our resolution. Keep thy breath to cool thy broth, &c.

We will do every one the imagination of his evil heart.] As you forsooth please to count it and call it; though we reckon that we have as good hearts as the purest or proudest of you all.

{a} Refert stomachose cantilenam illorum obstinatam.

Ver. 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord.] God himself seemeth here to wonder at the desperate obstinace of this people, as not to be matched again. Like as our Saviour marvelled at the unbelief of the Nazarites, and could do for them no mighty work. {#Mr 6:5,6} {See Trapp on "Mr 6:5"} {See Trapp on "Mr 6:6"}

The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.] A "virgin" she is called, either by an irony, or else because she should have been a pure virgin, sincere in God’s service, but was nothing less. What this horrible thing was, see #Jer 18:15 cf. Jer 2:13,32.

Ver. 14. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon?] See #Jer 2:13, which may stand for a commentary on this verse. The rocks of Lebanon were still covered with snow: whence also it was called Lebanon—i.e., white. Now the Lord was to the Jews as this snow was to the thirsty traveller, cooling and comforting, and therefore in no wise to be left.

Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?] Heb., Shall strange, cool, flowing water be forsaken, or fail?

Ver. 15. Because my people hath forgotten me.] Not forsaken me only. Of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten; this is that very horrible thing, {#Jer 18:13} this is filthiness in virgin Israel, which is most abominable.

From the ancient paths.] Chalked out by the law, and walked in by the patriarchs and prophets; Heb., Paths of antiquity or of eternity. Set a jealous eye upon novelties, and shun untrodden paths, as dangerous. {a}

{a} Vepreta avia.

Ver. 16. To make their land desolate.] Not intentionally so; but yet eventually. Idolatry is a land desolating sin.

Ver. 17. I will scatter them.] Whirry and whirl them up and down, as chaff before the force of the enemy.

I will skew them the back, and not the face.] This was woeful, but just upon them for their unworthy dealing in like sort with the Lord. {#2Ch 29:6 Jer 2:27 32:33 Eze 8:16} Every transgression and disobedience hath a just recompense of reward. {#Heb 2:2}

Ver. 18. Then said they, Come, let us devise devices.] Words savouring of a most exulcerate spirit against God and his faithful prophet, quem toto coelo hic explodunt, whom they shamefully slight, and desperately oppose, both with their virulent tongues and violent hands. Hence his ensuing complaint, and not without cause.

For the law shall not perish from the priest, &c.] As he would persuade us it shall. We shall have priests, sages, and prophets still; better than he is any. Let us therefore stop his mouth, or make him away, there will be no great loss of him.

Come, let us smite him with the tongue.] By loading him with slanders, and laying false accusations against him. Some men have very sharp tongues. He that was famous for abuses stripped and whipped, had nothing but his tongue to whip them with. Some render it, Let us smite that tongue of his—that is, tie it up and tamper it, that he reprove us no more. Or if he do, yet

Let us not give heed to any of his words, ] If we cannot rule his tongue, yet let us rule our own ears, and say, Tu linguae, nos aurium domini. And is not this the very language of the Romanists? Non tam ovum ovo simile, &c.

Ver. 19. Give heed to me, O Lord.] Though they will not, yet do thou, I beseech thee. This is ordinary with good men, when wearied out with the world’s misusages, to turn them to God, and to seek help of him.

Ver. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good?] q.d., That is greatest disingenuity and unthankfulness. To render good for evil is divine; good for good is human; evil for evil is brutish; but evil for good devilish. Lo, with such breathing devils had Jeremiah here to do; and, indeed, what good man hath not? See #1Sa 24:17 Ps 35:12 109:5.

Ver. 21. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine.] He who had prayed so hard for them, could and did pray here as earnestly against them; yet not out of private revenge, but by a prophetic spirit, whereby he foretelleth their calamities auxesi verborum per hypotyposin. This is usual with the psalmist and other prophets.

And let their men be put to death.] Heb., Be killed with death. See #Re 2:23. {See Trapp on "Re 2:23"}

Ver. 22. When thou shalt bring a troop.] The Vulgate rendereth it, Latronem, a thief, or robber—viz., Nebuchadnezzar, that arch-thief, whose monarchy was grande latrociuium, grand thief, and whose regiment, without righteousness, was robbery by authority.

Ver. 23. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel.] Though I know it not, yet thou art privy to it, and canst prevent it; for wisdom and might are thine. {#Da 2:20}

To slay me.] All malice is bloody.

Forgive not their iniquity.] He knew their sin to be unpardonable; and therefore prayeth for vengeance upon them unavoidable. This was fulfilled upon the Jews by the Babylonians in respect of Jeremiah, and by the Romans in respect of Christ.

Neither blot out their sin from thy sight.] A heavy curse. Woe to such as whose debts stand uncrossed in God’s book. Their sins may sleep a long time, like a sleeping debt, not called for of many years; as Saul’s sin in slaying the Gibeonites was not punished till forty years after; as Joab’s killing of Abner slept all David’s days. Men’s consciences also may sleep (in such a case) for a season; but their damnation sleepeth not, nor can their condition be safe till God have wiped out their sins for his own sake, till he have crossed out the black lines of our iniquities with the red lines of his Son’s blood, and taken out of his coffers so much as may fully satisfy, &c.

Chapter 19

Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lord.] By the former type of a potter and his vessel, God had showed the Jews what he could do to them—viz., break them at his pleasure, and remake them upon their repentance. Here, by a like prophetic paradigm, is set forth what the Lord now will do to them—viz., break them so for their obstinace, as that they should never be repaired, and restored to their ancient lustre and flourish. And this the prophet Jeremiah ( fortissimus ille Dei athleta, as one calleth him) that valiant champion of the Lord, telleth them freely, though he kissed the stocks and was well beaten for his boldness. {#Jer 20:2} Where it is worthy our observation, that as the prophet’s task was more and more increased, so was his strength and courage. Deus gratiam multiplicat onere ingravescente. So it was with Athanasius, Luther, Latimer, Calvin, &c.

Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle.] Called in Hebrew Bakbuk, {a} either from the emptiness and hollowness of it, or else from the guggling sound that it made when it was either filled or emptied. By a like figure it is said of the vulturine eagle, {#Job 39:30} that they do glutglut blood. {b}

And take of the ancients.] Of both sorts for witnesses.

{a} Onomatopoeia.

{b} Jegnalegnudam.

Ver. 2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom.] See #Jer 7:3, that where the Jews had sinned, there they might be sentenced.

Which is by the entry of the east gate.] Or, as others render it, Portam fictilem seu testaceam, the gate of clay or brick, the potters’ gate (because the potters dwelt near to it, and thereby carried forth their potsherds), called also the dung gate, saith the Chaldee paraphrase; an allusion being hereby made both to the pot he carried and to the pieces of it when broken, which should be cast to the dunghill. Inde ad gehennam via erat. This was the way to Tophet, and thither Jeremiah led them, said an expositor, that {a} considering their graves in that valley, according to #Jer 7:32, and that their bodies, those earthen vessels, should soon after be broken and carried out as dung into Tophet by the Chaldeans, and their souls into hell by the devils, they might repent, and so prevent such a mischief.

And proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.] God took his own times to tell his prophets what they should tell the people. The privilege of infallibility, saith a divine, was perpetual to the apostles: Prophetis vero saepius intervallatum, et fere non extra ipsos prophetandi paroxysmos durans; not so to the prophets, but while they were prophesying only for the most part; neither knew they many times what they should prophesy, till the very instant.

{a} A Lapide.

Ver. 3. Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, ] i.e., O king and thy counsellors, who are so many little kings, as King James was wont to say of the parliament men.

Behold, I bring evil upon this place.] This he spake to all, and with all authority; catholicam et miserabilem perniciem proclamans. It is credible that he spake it with as good a courage (or better), as Bishop Ridley, martyr, did those comminatory words of his to Queen Mary and her servants, when they refused to hear him preach. He uttered them with such vehemence, saith mine author, that some of the hearers afterwards confessed the hairs to stand upright on their heads. {a}

His ears shall tingle.] For grief and fear, as if he had been stonied with a thunder clap, or were ready to swoon.

{a} Acts and Mon., 1270.

Ver. 4. Because they have forsaken me.] #Jer 16:11.

And estranged this place.] Or, Strangely abused it, so as I scarce know it, or can find in my heart to own it.

Whom neither they, nor their fathers, ] scil., Quamdiu probi fuerunt et pii; so long as they had any goodness in them, saith Jerome. Those afterwards that worshipped, they knew not what (as those Samaritans did, #Joh 4:22), are not worthy to be reckoned on, much less to be imitated. Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. {#Eze 20:18}

And have filled this place with the blood of innocents.] Especially of infants sacrificed to Moloch in Tophet, so filling up the measure of your sins.

Ver. 5. Which I commanded not.] Reprobatur voluntarius cultus, et factitiae religiones. See #Jer 7:31 32:35 2Ki 23:10.

Ver. 6. This place shall no more.] See #Jer 7:32. Things are repeated, that they may be the better observed.

Ver. 7. And I will make void the counsel of Judah.] As vain and empty as this earthen bottle now is. See on #Jer 19:1, and take notice of an elegant agnomination in the original.

And their carcases will I give.] See #Jer 7:33 16:4.

Ver. 8. And I will make this city desolate.] See #Jer 18:10.

Ver. 9. And I will cause them to eat the flesh.] This, as it was threatened, {#Le 26:29 De 28:23} so accordingly accomplished. {#La 2:20 4:10} Ptolemy Lathurus, king of Egypt, barbarously slew thirty thousand Jews, and forced the rest to feed upon the flesh of those that were slain.

Ver. 10. Then shalt thou break the bottle.] That the eyes of the bystanders and beholders may affect their hearts. Non alia ratio Sacramentorum est.

Ver. 11. That cannot be made whole again.] Heb., Cured. No more was the Jewish state ever restored to its ancient dignity and lustre, after the captivity; neither was Tophet ever repaired at all, but served for a mortuary chapel, a place to lay dead men’s bones in.

Ver. 12. And even make their city as Tophet.] Every whit as abominable and horrid; a very hell above ground.

Ver. 13. And the houses of Jerusalem.] Wherein they had their "chambers of imagery," and their private chapels for idolatrous uses, as Papists also have. {#Eze 8:12 Zep 1}

Because all the houses upon whose roofs.] See on #Zep 1:4.

Ver. 14. And he stood in the court of the Lord’s house.] A place of greatest concourse of people; and where he might meet with many hearers. Here he spread his net, that he might catch some souls; dilated his discourse at Tophet, whereof we have here but the short notes; minding them of their sin and punishment. And surely this prophet should be so much the more regarded by us, for that he so freely and fully delivered the divine messages, omitting no part thereof, either for fear or favour. Ambrose bade Augustine read the prophet Isaiah diligently, for the confirmation of his faith. We may all very profitably read the prophet Jeremiah, who is full of incitation to repentance and new obedience.

Ver. 15. Because they have hardened their necks.] Which may seem possessed with an iron sinew, so stiff they are and sturdy, having manum in aure, aurem in cervice, cervicem in corde, cor in obstinatione, { a} their hand on their ear, their ear in their neck, their neck in their heart, and their heart in obstinace, &c.

{a} A Lapide.

Chapter 20

Ver. 1. Now Pashur the son of Immer, ] i.e., One of the posterity of Immer, after many generations. See #1Ch 24:14.

Who was also chief governor.] Not high priest, as some have said, but a principal priest, haply the head of the sixteenth course; or, as Junius and others think, the high priest’s vicar, or second. Such as was Eleazar to Aaron his father. {#Nu 4:16}

Heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.] Or, Heard Jeremiah prophesying; and having gall in his ears, as they say some creatures have, he was galled at the hearing of so smart a truth.

Ver. 2. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet.] Either with his fist, as Zedekiah did Micaiah, {#1Ki 22:24} and as Bonner did Hawkes and other martyrs, pulling off part of their beards; or else with a staff, as they dealt by our Saviour, {#Mt 26:67} and as that Popish bishop, degrading a martyr minister, struck him so hard with his crosier staff as he was kneeling on the stairs at Paul’s, that he fell down backwards and broke his head. {a} Atqui lapidandi sunt haeretici sacrarum literarura argumentis, saith Athanasius. {b} But heretics are to be stoned with Scripture arguments; and men may a great deal sooner be cudgelled into a treaty than into a tenet.

And put him in the stocks.] As they did afterwards Paul and Silas; {#Ac 16:22-24} Clerinus the martyr, mentioned in Cyprian’s epistles; {c} Mr Philpot, in the Bishop of London’s coal house; and that good woman who, suffering afterwards for the same cause, rejoiced much that her leg was put in the same hole of the stocks where Philpot’s leg had lain before.

That were in the high gate of Benjamin.] Which might be a prison like Lollard’s tower in London whereunto were sent the martyrs, many of them for their zeal and forwardness. Action and passion go together— omne agens agendo repatitur -especially if men go a little faster than others do. "They who will live godly in Christ Jesus"—and be set upon it—"shall suffer persecution." This gate-house might well be the priests’ prison, whither they used to send such as they took for false prophets.

{a} Acts and Mon.

{b} Contra Arrian., orat. ii.

{c} Epist., lib. iv.

Ver. 3. Pashur brought forth Jeremiah.] To be judged, say some; but why then did he first smite him? An officer should retain the majesty of the law, and not do anything passionately. To set him at liberty, say others; as perceiving that the "word of God could not be bound," nor a prophet’s mouth stopped by a prison, as Pashur also shall well perceive ere Jeremiah hath done with him. Bonner said to Hawkes the martyr, A faggot will make you believe the sacrament of the altar. He answered, No, no, a point for your faggot; God will meet with you one day. {a} So true is that of the poet,

“ Pressa sub ingenti ceu pondere palms virescit,

Sub cruce sic florent debita corda Deo.”

The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur.] That is, black mouth, as some {b} derive it; or diffusing paleness, as others; but on the contrary. {c}

Magormissabib, ] i.e., Terror round about, or, Fear on every side; a proverbial form of speech, denoting extreme consternation of spirit and greatest distress. Such as befell Tullus Hostilius, King of Rome, who had for his gods Payor and Pallor. Dignissimus sane qui deos suos semper haberet praesentes, saith Lactantius wittily; i.e., great pity but this man should ever have had his gods at hand, since he was so fond of them. Our Richard III and Charles IX of France, a pair of bloody princes, were Magormissabibs in their generations, as terrible at length to themselves as they had been formerly to others; and therefore could never endure to be awakened in the night without music or some like diversion. {d}

{a} Acts and Mon.

{b} Junius.

{c} q.d., Non Augustus, sed augustus; non nobilis, sed mobilis futurus es. Non tumor sed timer.

{d} Daniel; Thuan.

Ver. 4. I will make thee a terror.] Heb., I will give thee unto a terror—i.e., I will frighten thy conscience, and then turn it loose upon thee, so that thou shalt be a corde tuo fugitivus, and thy friends shall have small joy of thee, or thou help by them. See on #Jer 20:3.

Ver. 5. Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city.] Thus Pashur prevailed nothing at all with good Jeremiah by imprisoning him, to make him give over menacing. But as Baruch wrote the roll anew that had been cut in pieces, and added unto it many like words, {#Jer 36:32} so doth Jeremiah here; he will not budge to die for it. This was to show the magnanimity of a prophetic spirit.

Ver. 6. There shalt thou be buried.] In a dunghill perhaps, as Bishop Bonner was, and have cause enough to cry out, as that great Parisian doctor did from his bier, when brought to be buried,

“ Parcite funeribus: mihi nil prodesse valebit.

Heu infelicem cur me genuere parentes?

Ah miser aeternos vado damnatus ad ignes.”

“Spare funeral costs: why was I born

By hell’s black fiends now to be torn?”

Ver. 7. O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.] {a} From hence to the end of the chapter the prophet, not without some tang and taint of human frailty, grievously quiritateth and expostulateth with God about the hard usage and ill success he met with in the execution of his prophetic function. But as ex incredulitate Thomae nostra contirmata est fides, Thomas’s unbelief serveth to the settling of our faith; and as Peter’s fall warneth us to look well to our standings; so when such a man as Jeremiah shall miscarry in this sort, and have such outbursts, oh be not high minded, but fear. Some render the text, Lord, if I be deceived, thou hast deceived me; and so every faithful man who keepeth to the rule, may safely say. Piscator hath it, Persuasisti mihi Iehova, et persuasus sum. O Lord, thou persuadedst me, and I was persuaded—sc., to undertake this prophetic office—but I have small joy of it. Some think he thus complained when he was put in prison by Pashnr.

I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.] This is the world’s wages. The cynic said of the Megarians long ago, Better be their horse, dog, or pander than their teacher, and better he should be regarded.

{a} Iterum more solito causam suam μεμψιμοιρος coram Deo agit. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 8. For since I spake, I cried out, ] i.e., Ever since I took upon me the office of a prophet, I executed it vigorously, I cried with full mouth. {#Jer 4:5 Isa 58:1}

I cried violence and spoil, ] sc., Will surely befall you by the Chaldees. Or, I cried out of my misusages.

Because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily.] This was all the recompense I reaped of my goodwill to this perverse people, and of my pains taken among them. Few sins are more dangerous than those of casting reproaches upon God’s Word, as here; of snuffing at it; {#Mal 1:13} of enviously swelling at it; {#Ac 13:45} of chatting at it; {#Ro 9:19,20} of stumbling at it; {#1Pe 2:8} of gathering odious consequences from it. {#Ro 3:8}

Ver. 9. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, ]{ a} i.e., I will give over preaching. This, said Latimer in a like case, was a naughty, a very naughty, resolution.

But his word was in my heart as a burning fire.] {b} Ex sensu malae conscientiae propter illud propositum. And here was the work of the Spirit against that carnal resolution of his. God’s people cannot do the things that they would, saith the apostle. {#Ga 5:17} As they cannot do the good they would, because of the flesh, so neither the evil that they would, because of the Spirit. There is a continual conflict, and as it were the company of two opposite armies. {#So 6:13} True grace will as little be hid as fire: quis enim celaverit ignem?

And I was weary with forbearing, and could not stay.] {c} Jeremiah’s service among the Jews was something like that of Mantius Torquatus among the Romans, who gave it over, saying, Neither can I bear their manners, nor they my government. He began to think, with that painful patriarch, that rest was good; {#Ge 49:15} and with the olive, vine, and fig tree in Jotham’s parable, that it was best to enjoy a beloved privacy. He was ready to say, Bene qui latuit bene vixit; and Bene qui tacuit bene dixit, &c. But this could not hold with him, he saw well; for as the motion of the heart and lungs is ever beating, and it is a pain to restrain it, to hold the breath, so here,

“ Strangulat inclusus dolor atque exaestuat intus:

Cogitur et vires multiplicare suas.’’—Ovid., Trist.

{a} Ex humano motu et metu hoc in mentem incidit. -A Lapide; Pisc.

{b} Quoque magis tegitur, tanto magis aestuat ignis. -Ovid.

{c} Hanc legem ex hoc loco dat concionatori ne defatigetur nec ullo tempore sileat, sive sit qui auscultet, sive non. -Chrysost, de Lazaro.

Ver. 10. For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side.] This passage is borrowed from #Ps 31:13; {See Trapp on "Ps 31:13"} Some render the text, I heard the defamation of many Magormissabibs, many of his accomplices and Coryphaei, spies set a-work by him to defame and smear me.

Report, say they, and we will report.] Calumniare audacter; broach a slander, and we will blazon it; set it afoot, and we will set it afloat give us but some small hint or inkling of aught spoken by Jeremiah, whereof to accuse him to the king and state, and we desire no more. Athanasius was about thirty times accused, and of no small crimes either, but falsely. The Papists make it their trade to belie the Protestants, their chieftains especially. They reported of Luther that he died despairing; of Calvin, that he was branded on the shoulder for a rogue; of Beza, that he ran away with another man’s wife, &c. And for their authors they allege Baldwin and Bolsecus, a couple of apostates, requested by themselves (and, as some say, hired) to write the lives of these worthies, their professed enemies. But anything of this kind serves their turn, and they cite the writings of these renegades as canonical.

All my familiars.] Heb., Every man of my peace; from such there is the greatest danger. Hence one prayed God to deliver him from his friends, for as for his enemies he could better beware of them. Many friends are like deep ponds, clear at the top, but all muddy at the bottom.

Ver. 11. But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one.] Instar gigantis robusti, { a} as a strong giant, and mine only champion on whom I lean. Here the Spirit begins to get the better of the flesh, could Jeremiah but hold his own. But as the ferryman plies the oar, and eyes the shore homeward where he would be, yet there comes a gust of wind that carrieth him back again; so it fared with our prophet. See #Jer 20:14,15, &c.

{a} Ut formidabilis heros. -Pisc.

Ver. 12. But, O Lord of hosts.] See #Jer 11:20 17:10.

Let me see thy vengeance on them.] Some pert and pride themselves over the ministry as if it were a dead Alexander’s nose, which they might wring off, and not fear to be called to account therefor; but the visible vengeance of God will seize such one day, as it did Pharaoh, Ahab, Herod, Julian.

For unto thee have I opened my cause.] Prayer is an opening of the soul’s causes and cases to the Lord. The same word for opened here is in another conjugation used for uncovering, making bare and naked. {#Ge 9:21} God’s people in prayer do or should nakedly present their souls’ causes without all cover shames, or so much as a rag of self or flesh cleaving to them.

Ver. 13. Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord.] Nota hic alternantis animi motus aestusque. Here the Spirit triumpheth over the flesh; as in the next verses, the flesh again gets the wind and hill of the Spirit. Every good man is a divided man.

For he hath delivered the soul of the poor, ] i.e., Of poor me. {as #Ps 34:4}

Ver. 14. Cursed be the day wherein I was born.] What a sudden change of his note is here! Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, saith James, these things ought not so to be. {#Jas 3:10} But here human weakness prevailed; and this part of the chapter hath much of man in it. The best have their outbursts; and as there be white teeth in the blackest blackamore, and, again, a black bill in the whitest swan, so the worst have something in them to be commended, and the best to be condemned. See on #Jer 20:7. Some of the Fathers seek to excuse Jeremiah altogether; but that can hardly be, neither needeth it. Origen saith that the day of his birth was past, and therefore nothing now; so that cursing it, he cursed nothing. This is like those among us who say they may now without sin swear by the mass, because it is gone out of the country, &c. Isidor., that Jeremiah’s cursing is but conditional, if any, let that day be cursed, &c.

Ver. 15. Cursed be the man.] Let him have a curse for a reward of his so good news. Thus the prophet, in a fit of impatience, carrieth himself as one who, being cut by a surgeon and extremely pained, striketh at and biteth those that hold him; or, like him in the poet,

“ Quem non incusavi amens hominum que deumque?”

Aeneid, lib. ii.

Surely as the bird in a cage, because pent up, beats herself, so doth the discontented person. Look to it, therefore. Satan thrusteth in upon us sometimes praying, with a cloud of strange passions, such as are ready to gallow us out of that little wit and faith we have. Resist him betimes. The wildfire of passion will be burning while the incense of prayer is in offering; this scum will be rising up in the boiling pot, together with the meat. See #Jon 4:1. {See Trapp on "Jon 4:1"}

Ver. 16. And let that man be.] A most bitter curse, but causeless. The devil of discontent, where it prevaileth, maketh the heart to be for the time a little hell, {a} as we see in Moses, Job, David, Jeremiah, men otherwise made up of excellences. These sinned, but not with full consent. A godly man hath a flea in his ear, somewhat within, which saith, "Dost thou well to be angry, Jonah?" {#Jon 4:4}

{a} ταραττειν, thence ταρταρος.

Ver. 17. Because he slew me not, &c.] Why, but is not life a mercy? A living dog better than a dead lion. See on #Job 3:10 10:18,19.

Ver. 18. Wherefore came I forth, &c.] Passions are a most dangerous and heady water when once they are out.

That my days should be consumed with shame?] Why, but a Christian soldier may have a very great arrear. {#2Ti 4:7,8} Vincet aliquando pertinax bonitas He will conquer sometimes obstinate goodness. {#Re 2:10}

Chapter 21

Ver. 1. The word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord.] This history is here set down out of course; {a} for Jerusalem was not besieged till #Jer 32:2, and Jehoiakim reigned #Jer 25:1 It was in the ninth year of Zedekiah that this present prophecy was uttered. {#2Ki 25:1,2} This Zedekiah was one of those semiperfectae virtutis homines, as Philo calleth some professors, cakes half-baked., {#Ho 7:8} no flat atheist, nor yet a pious prince. Of Galba the emperor, as also of our Richard III, it is recorded that they were bad men but good princes. We cannot say so much of Zedekiah; two things he is chiefly charged with: (1.) That he broke his oath and faith plelged to the King of Babylon; {#Eze 17:16} (2.) That he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord. {#2Ch 36:12,13} Hitherto he had not: but now in his distress he seeketh to this prophet; yea, sendeth an embassy. Kings care not for soldiers, said a great commander, till their crowns hang on the one side of their heads. Sure it is that some of them slight God’s ministers till they cannot tell what to do without them, as here. Kingdoms have their cares, and thrones their thorns. Antigonus cried out of his diadem, O vilis pannus, O base rag, not worth taking up at a man’s feet. Julian complained of his own unhappiness in being made emperor. Dioclesian laid down the empire as weary of it. Thirty of the ancient kings of this our land, saith Capgrave, resigned their crowns; such were their cares, crosses, and emulations. Zedekiah now could gladly have done as much. But since that might not be, he sendeth to Jeremiah, whom in his prosperity he had slighted, and, to gratify his wicked counsellors, wrongfully imprisoned.

He sent unto him Pashur.] Not that Magormissabib, {#Jer 20:1} but another of his name, though not much better, as it afterwards appeared, when, seeing Jeremiah’s stoutness for the truth, he counselled the king to put him to death. {#Jer 38:4}

And Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah.] Of whom see further, #Jer 29:25-29 37:3.

{a} Est hic hysterologia sive praeposterus ordo.

Ver. 2. Inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us.] He seeketh now to the Lord, whom in his prosperity he regarded not; so doth a drowning man catch at the tree or twig, which before he made no reckoning of. Rarae fumant felicibus arae. "In their affliction they will seek me early." {#Ho 5:15} "When he slew them, then they sought him, and inquired early after God." {#Ps 78:34} Pharaoh, when plagued, calleth earnestly for Moses to pray for him; and Joab, when in danger of his life, runneth to the horns of the altar.

If so be the Lord will deal with us according to his wondrous works.] Or, It may be the Lord will deal with us, &c.—scil., As he did not long since with Hezekiah, when invaded by Sennacherib. Thus wicked wretches are willing to presume, and promise themselves impunity. See #De 29:19. {See Trapp on "De 29:19"}

Ver. 3. Then said Jeremiah unto them.] He answereth them modestly, and without insultation; but freely and boldly, as a man of a heroic spirit, and the messenger of the King of kings.

Ver. 4. Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war, ] i.e., I will render them vain and useless; as it is God who in battle ordereth the ammunition, {#Jer 50:25} and maketh the weapons vain or prosperous. {#Isa 54:17 Jer 50:9} This was plainly seen at Edgehill fight.

Ver. 5. And I myself will fight against you.] This was heavy tidings to Zedekiah and his courtiers. Optassent sibi prophetas qui dixissent laeta, saith Oecolampadius; they could have wished for more pleasing prophecies; but those that do what they should not must look to hear what they would not. Such bitter answers as this they must look for who seek to God only in a time of necessity. Silence, or else sad answers, they shall be sure of.

Ver. 6. They shall die of a great pestilence.] See #Jer 16:4 18:21. Hippocrates calleth the pestilence το θειον, the divine disease; because there is much of God’s hand in it, like as there was here in the sweating sickness, wherewith the English only were chased, not only in England, but in all countries. {a}

{a} Sir John Heywood’s Life of Edward VI

Ver. 7. And afterward, saith the Lord.] This is noted by the Hebrew critics for a very long verse—as having in it forty-two words, which consist of one hundred and sixty letters—and it sounds very heavily all along, to the courtiers especially. Potentes potenter torquebuntur. Power torments powerfully.

Ver. 8. Behold, I will set before you the way of life and the way of death.] They should have their option, but a very sad one. Saved they could not be from their enemies but by their enemies, nor escape death but by captivity, which is a kind of living death, and not much to be preferred before death. Only life is sweet, as the Gibeonites held it, and therefore chose rather to be "hewers of wood and drawers of water" than to be cut off with the rest of the Canaanites.

Ver. 9. His life shall be unto him for a prey.] And lawful prey or booty is counted good purchase. {#Isa 49:24} He shall save his life, though he lose his goods. And it should not be grievous to any man to sacrifice his estate to the service of his life. Why else did Solomon make so many hundreds of targets and shields of gold?

Ver. 10. For I have set my face against this city.] I have looked this city to destruction. I have decreed it, and will do it. When our Saviour set his face to go towards this city, {#Lu 9:51} he was fully resolved on it, and nothing should hinder him. See #Le 17:10 20:5.

Ver. 11. And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, ] i.e., His courtiers and his counsellors. which probably were now as bad or worse than they had been in his father Josiah’s days. "Her princes within her were roaring lions, her judges evening wolves." {#Zep 3:3} {See Trapp on "Zep 3:3"}

Ver. 12. O house of David.] But much degenerated from the piety of David. So #Mic 2:7, "O thou that art named the house of Jacob—are these his doings," &c. {See Trapp on "Mic 2:7"} To be a degenerate plant of so noble a vine is no small discommendation.

Thus saith the Lord.] After that the court had sent to him, he is sent to the court with these instructions.

Execute justice in the morning.] As David your progenitor and pattern did. {#Ps 101:8} Be up and at it early, and make quick despatch of causes that poor men may go home about their businesses who have other things to do besides going to law. It is a lamentable thing that a suit should depend ten or twenty years in some courts, Quo saturentur avarissimi rabulae, omnia bona pauperum exugentes, { a} through the avarice of some pleaders, to the utter undoing of their poor clients. This made one such (when he was persuaded to patience by the example of Job) to reply, What do ye tell me of Job? Job never had any suits in chancery. Jethro adviseth Moses {#Ex 18:14-23} to dismiss those timely, {b} whom he cannot despatch presently.

{a} Oecolamp.

{b} Mane, i.e., Mature.

Ver. 13. Behold, I am against thee.] I, who alone am a whole army of men, van and rear both, {#Isa 52:12} and may better say than any other, how many reckon you me at?

O inhabitant of the valley, ] i.e., Of Jerusalem, called elsewhere the valley of vision. It stood high, but yet was compassed about with mountains that were higher. {#Ps 125:2}

And rock of the plain.] The bulwark and beauty of the whole adjacent country. Pliny saith that it was the most famous of all the cities of the east; he might have said of the whole world, if he had known all.

Which say, Who shall come down against us? or who, &c.] This they said out of carnal confidence in the natural strength of the place, increased by their fortifications. The Jebusites had done so, {#2Sa 5:6} and were unroosted. Security ushereth in destruction.

Who shall enter into our habitations?] Which we hold impregnable. Such like vaunts precede and presage ruin. See #Jer 49:16 Ob 3.

Ver. 14. But I will punish you.] {a} And if I take you once to do, you are sure of your full payment. Heb., I will visit upon thee according to the fruit of your actions, i.e., I will lay upon you a punishment answerable to your sins; the sin being as the seed, and the punishment as the fruit that cometh of it—q.d., " Ye have sown the wind, and ye shall reap the whirlwind."

And I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, ] i.e., In the streets, which stand as thick with houses as the forest of Lebanon doth with trees, and are built with timber fetched from that forest.

{a} Puniam vos pro meritis.

Chapter 22

Ver. 1. Go down to the house of the king of Judah.] To the palace royal of Jehoakim, son of Josiah, who reigned after that his brother Jehoahaz was carried captive to Egypt. {#2Ki 23:34}

Ver. 2. Thou and thy servants.] Thine attendants and officers, who, too oft, are evil instruments. This made the primitive Christians pray for the emperor, that God would send him Senatum fidelem, faithful counsellors. {a}

{a} Tertul. Apol.

Ver. 3. Execute ye judgment and righteousness.] Make good laws, and see that they be well executed. This the prophet presseth quasi ad fastidium, ever and anon, over and over, as the likeliest means to prevent future judgments; so Phineas found it. See #Jer 21:12.

Ver. 4. For if ye do this thing indeed.] Heb., If doing you do this word, i.e., If seriously and sedulously ye do it.

Then shall there enter in…kings sitting.] See #Jer 17:25.

Ver. 5. That this house shall become a desolation.] This stately edifice, the place of thy royal residence. Note here the prophet’s boldness, and learn that truth must be spoken, however it be taken.

Ver. 6. For thus saith the Lord concerning the king’s house, ] i.e., Concerning the whole kingdom of Judah, saith Junius.

Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon, ] i.e., High and happy, as these fruitful mountains, famous for spicery and other things desirable. {#Ge 37:25}

Yet surely I will make thee a wilderness.] Like as I have made them when the ten tribes were carried away captive.

Ver. 7. And I will prepare destroyers.] Heb., Sanctify them; that is, send them on mine errand, and let them forward. God’s holy hand is in all such desolations.

Every one with his weapons.] Or, Tools rather, to fell with.

And they shall cut down.] Sonat icta securibus ilex.

Ver. 8. And many nations shall pass, &c.] By a personification of passengers admiring the utter ruin of so famous a city, the prophet setteth forth the cause of their desolations.

Ver. 9. Because they have forsaken the covenant &c.] In promptu causa est. Heinous sins brings hideous plagues. Ingentia beneficia, flagitia, supplicia. {a}

{a} Magdeburg.

Ver. 10. Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him.] Lament no more for the good Josiah, lately slain in war, and yet dead in peace: Ne fletote, neque condoletote: there is no such cause, everything counted; neither shall ye have leisure so to do, because of later miseries befalling you thick and threefold. Weep ye rather for his son Challum, carried captive into Egypt; and there miserably handled, without hope of return.

Ver. 11. Which reigned instead of Josiah his father.] But was too hasty, stepping into the throne before his elder brother Jehoiakim; and therefore soon after dethroned, carried down to Egypt, and, as some say, there put to death. See #2Ki 23:33 2Ch 36:2. {See Trapp on "2Ki 23:33"} {See Trapp on "2Ch 36:2"}

Ver. 12. But he shall die in the place.] See on #Jer 22:11.

Ver. 13. Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness.] This was Jehoiakim, cuius iniusta et insana aedificia hic accusantur; who would needs be building, but whether by fight or by wrong dealing, regarded not. This was to incur that curse. {#Isa 5:8 Hab 2:9,12} {See Trapp on "Isa 5:8"} {See Trapp on "Hab 2:9"} {See Trapp on "Hab 2:12"} Such injurious and therefore accursed builders were the pyramid makers in Egypt, Tarquinius Priscus, Caligula, Nero, Phocas, {a} who is said to have heard this voice from heaven, Though thou shouldst erect thine edifice as high as heaven—

“ Aedificans aure, sedesque in sidera mittens, ”

yet sin, that lieth at the foundation, will soon overturn all. Bernard inveigheth against some in his time, who did, with great care and cost, erigere mutes, negligere mores, build high manors, but not amend their manners, which should have been their chief care.

That useth his neighbour’s service.] His "neighbour" he was, though his vassal and poor labourer.

And giveth him not for his work.] This is a crying sin. {#De 24:14,15 Jas 5:4} {See Trapp on "Jas 5:4"}

{a} Sueton.; Niceph.

Ver. 14. I will build me a wide house.] Heb., A house of measures, or dimensions; such as is the Turk’s Seraglio, two or three miles in compass, or rather such as is Westminster Hall, built by William Rufus, who found much fault with it for being too little, saying it was fitter for a chamber than for a hall for a king of England; and taking a plot for one more spacious to be added unto it, he came to an untimely end. {a} Sarcophago contentus, shut up in a little grave, which yet was more honour than this ambitious prince attained to; for he was "cast out and buried with the burial of an ass," as it followeth. {#Jer 22:19}

And large chambers.] Heb., Widened or winded; thoroughly aired. {b} Thus, with those Megarensians, spoken of by Plato, he built as if his life had been riveted upon eternity.

And cutteth him out windows.] Some render it, and the original will bear it, That teareth my windows {c} -scil., To enlarge and beautify therewith his new building: he took in, belike, a piece of God’s house. This was such a piece of sacrilege as the very heathens abhorred. A certain King of Sicily, to enlarge his palace, pulled down an old temple; but the emperor, Marcus Antoninus, calleth it a beastly and lewd action, not to be spoken of without shame, protesting that it was a matter of wonder and scandal, not only to him, but to the whole city and senate of Rome; and therefore he blamed the king exceedingly for it. Our William the Conqueror is much cried out upon for throwing down thirty-six mother churches in Hampshire for the making of his New Forest, to hunt in. {d}

{a} Daniel’s History.

{b} Coenacula perstabilia.

{c} Et lacerat sibi fenestras meas. -Trem.

{d} Camden’s Britain.

Ver. 15. Shalt thou reign because thou closest thyself in cedar?] Hast thou no better mediums to establish thy throne? no better defence against a potent enemy that comes to dethrone thee than a ceiling of cedar? What if thy cedar putrify not can it secure thee that thou perish not? Ah, never think it.

Did not thy father eat and drink?] Live cheerfully and comfortably, enjoying peace and prosperity through his righteousness and piety.

And then it was well with him.] Heb., Then was good to him; though he did not flaunt it out in sumptuous buildings. But you have great thoughts, and will not take it as your father did.

Ver. 16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy.] And so took a right course, a thriving way. {#Pr 29:4}

Was not this to know me? saith the Lord, ] i.e., To show that he knew me soundly and savingly; while he exercised his general calling in his particular, and observed the first table of the decalogue in the second.

Ver. 17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness.] That is all thou mindest and lookest after, oculis atque animo intentus ad rem. "Hearts they have," saith Peter of such, "exercised with covetous practices: cursed children." {#2Pe 2:14} William Rufus is in story noted for such another.

Ver. 18. They shall not lament for him.] By his exactions he had so far lost his people’s affections, that none were found, either of his allies or others, that bewailed his death; but, Jehoram-like as he had lived undesired, so he died unlamented Edwin-like, as he lived wickedly, so he died wishedly; {a} Mohammed-like, he lived feared of all men, and died bewailed of none. {b} See the contrary promised to his brother Zedekiah, for his courtesy to Jeremiah, #Jer 34:5.

{a} Daniel’s History.

{b} Turkish History.

Ver. 19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass.] His corpse shall be cast out, like carrion, into some bycorner. A just hand of God upon this wicked one, that he who had made so many to weep, should have none to weep over him; he who had such a stately house in Jerusalem, should not have a grave to house his carcase in: sed insepulta sepultura elatus, { a} as Cicero phraseth it; but without the ordinary honour of burial, should be cast out, or thrown into a ditch or a dunghill, to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and fowls of heaven. Our Richard II, for his exactions to maintain a great court and favourites, lost his kingdom, was starved to death at Pomfret Castle, and scarcely afforded common burial. King Stephen was interred in Faversham monastery; but since, his body, for the value of the lead wherein it was coffined, was cast into river. Let great ones so live, as that they meet not in the end with the death of a dog, the burial of an ass, and the epitaph of an ox; such as Aristotle calleth that of Sardanapalus—

“ταυτ εχω, Εφαγον και εφυβρισα,” &c.

Or that of Pope Alexander VI and his Lucrece—

“ Hospes abi: iacet hic et scelus et vitium.”

{a} Philippic i.

Ver. 20. Go up to Lebanon and cry.] Jehoiakim hath had his doom and his destiny read him. {a} Followeth now Jehoiakim’s part, and what, for his obstinace, he shall trust to. The prophet beginneth this part of his discourse with a sarcasm or scoff at their carnal security and creature confidence. Get up, saith he, into those high mountains here mentioned, Lebanon, Bashan, Abarim, that look all toward Egypt, and see if thence, by crying and calling for help, thou mayest be saved from the Chaldees, who are coming upon thee; but all shall be to small purpose.

But thy lovers are all destroyed.] The Egyptians, to whom thou bearest a blind affection, contrary to God’s covenant.

{a} Subiecit fata tristissima Iechoniae.

Ver. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity.] Heb., In thy prosperities, or tranquillities. Prosperity rendereth men refractory. Demetrius called a peaceable and prosperous life a dead sea; because, being not tossed with any considerable troubles, it slayeth the simple, as Solomon hath it. {#Pr 1:32} Men are usually best when worst, and worst when best: like the snake which, when frozen, lieth quiet and still, but waxing warm, stirreth and stingeth. The parable of the sun and the wind is known, Anglica gens est optima flens et pessima ridens. The English people are best crying and worst laughing. Some of those who, in Queen Mary’s days, kept their garments close about them, wore them afterwards more loosely. It is as hard to bear prosperity, as to drink much wine and not be giddy. It is, at least, as strong waters to a weak stomach; which, however they do not intoxicate, yet they weaken the brain: plus deceptionis semper habet quam delectationis; it always has greater deception then amusments, it is able to entice, and ready to kill the entangled. In rest we contract rust; neither are men’s ears opened to hear instruction but by correction. {#Job 33:16} God holdeth us to hard meat, that he may be true to oar souls. {#Ps 119:75}

This hath been thy manner from thy youth.] "Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked," is an old complaint. {#De 32:15} To have been an old sinner, habituated and hardened in iniquity, is no small aggravation of it: #Eze 20:13, "But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness"; there they murmured against God and Moses ten times; "forty years was he there grieved with that perverse generation." They began as soon as ever they were moulded into a state, like as Esau began to persecute Jacob in the very womb, that no time might be lost.

Ver. 22. The wind shall eat all thy pastors, ]{ a} i.e., The vain hope that thy governors have in foreign helps shall deceive them; for God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack and break.

Surely then shalt thou be ashamed.] When thou shalt see thyself so shamefully disappointed by human helps, which were never true to those that trusted them.

{a} Vento vanitatis, ut chamaeleontes aere pascuntur.

Ver. 23. O inhabitant of Lebanon.] Heb., O inhabitress—that is, O Jerusalem, who hast perched thyseff aloft, and pridest thyself in thy strength and stateliness.

How gracious shalt thou be!] i.e., How ridiculous, when thy lofty and stately rooms wherein thou art roosted shall be to thee but as groaning rooms to women in travail.

Ver. 24. As I live, saith the Lord.] An oath which none may lawfully take but God himself, who is life itself. It is therefore sinful for any one to say, As I live, such a thing is so or so. That is God’s oath. See #Nu 14:21 Ps 95:11.

Though Coniah.] So Jechoniah, or Jehoiakin, by an aphaeresis, dropping a letter, is called in scorn and contempt. Prepared he was of the Lord, as his name signifieth, for misery; and yet he was now but eighteen years old. {#2Ki 24:8} Youth excuseth not those that are wicked. This young king was scarce warm in his throne when carried captive to Babylon.

Were the signet on my right hand.] Which is very carefully kept and carried about. See #So 8:6 Hag 2:23, where good Zerubbabel, the nephew of this Jechoniah, is called God’s "signet."

Yet would I pluck thee thence.] This Nazianzen fitly applieth to preachers, such as prove vile and vicious.

Ver. 25. And I will give thee into the hand.] No sooner was he plucked off God’s hand but he fell into his enemies’ hands. So Saul’s doleful complaint was, God hath forsaken me, and the Philistines are upon me. {#1Sa 28:15}

Ver. 26. And I will cast thee out.] Heb., I will hurl thee out. To be held captive by idolaters in a strange country is no small misery. Poor Zegedine found it so among the Turks.

Ver. 27. But to the land that they desire to return.] Heb., Which they lift up their soul to quam avent totaque anima expetunt, et ad quam summe anhelant; they shall die in banishment. So they that are once shut out of heaven must for ever abide in hell, would they never so fain get out, with dragons and devils.

Ver. 28. Is this Coniah a despised, broken idol?] Interrogatio pathetica: Is he not? Who would ever have thought to have seen a king of Judah so little set by, like some old picture or inglorious trunk?

A vessel in which is no pleasure.] That is, by a modest round about phrase, A close stool, or piss pot. {so #Ho 8:8}

He and his seed.] If any he had, or shall have in his captivity.

Ver. 29. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.] Hear this irrevocable decree of mine, and this ensuing dreadful denunciation, which I cannot get this stupid and incredulous people to believe. His trebling of the word is {as #Eze 21:27} for more assurance. Some sense it thus, O Coniah, thou who art earth by creation, earth by generation, and earth by resolution, hear and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken it. {as #Jer 13:15}

Ver. 30. Write ye this man childless] {a} As to succession in the royal dignity, as well as to success in his reign. The Septuagint render it, A man abdicated or proscribed. This God would have to be written—that is, to be put upon public record for the use of posterity. Our chronicles tell us of John Dudley, that great Duke of Northumberland, in King Edward VI’s days—who endeavoured by all means to engrand his posterity, reaching at the crown also, which cost him his head—that though he had six sons, all men, all married, yet none of them left any issue behind them. "Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; serve the Lord with fear."

{a} Ariri -i.e., orbus vel solus, sicut in deserto myrica. -Fuller.

Chapter 23

Ver. 1. Woe to the pastors, ] i.e., To the rulers and chieftains, whether in the State or Church; woe to the wicked of both sorts; and why?

They destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.] So he calleth the people, how bad soever, because of the covenant with their fathers.

Ver. 2. Against the pastors.] Impostors, rather.

That feed my people.] Or, That feed upon my people, rather; attonsioni gregis potius quam attentioni consulentes, more minding gain than godliness.

Ye have scattered my flock.] And worried them, as so many evening wolves, {#Zep 3:3} grievous, or fat wolves. {#Ac 20:29} {See Trapp on "Ac 20:29"}

Behold, I will visit upon you.] Ludit in voce visitare; I will visit you in another sense, for your not visiting my people according to your duty. {#Eze 34:4,6,8}

Ver. 3. And I will gather the remnant of my flock.] I will bring them back from Babylon, but especially from out of this present evil world, into the bosom of my Church, by Christ the Arch-shepherd, and by such under-shepherds as he shall make use of to that purpose. {#Eph 4:11}

And they shall be fruitful and increase.] Gignendo gentes, by begetting the Gentiles unto Christ, through the preaching of the gospel.

Ver. 4. And I will set up shepherds over them.] "Pastors after mine own heart," such as were Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jehoshua the high priest, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, &c. Christian princes and pastors under the gospel, but especially Christ the "chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls," who is therefore here promised, {#Jer 23:5,6} for the comfort of God’s elect, who might well be troubled at that former dreadful denunciation. {#Jer 22:29,30}

And they shall fear no more.] But enjoy spiritual security, and be of an invincible courage.

Neither shall they be lacking.] Christ the good Shepherd will see to that, {#Joh 10:28,29} his under-shepherds also, whose motto is Praesis ut prosis, will have a care. {a}

{a} Bernard.

Ver. 5. I will raise to David a righteous branch.] Who shall raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, {#Am 9:11} who shall also sit upon the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. {#Lu 1:32,33} Annon hoc probe sarcitur, &c. Is not this a good amends for that which is to befall Coniah and his posterity, put beside the kingdom? Of Christ the "righteous branch," see #Isa 11:1 4:2 Zec 3:8 {See Trapp on "Isa 11:1"} {See Trapp on "Isa 4:2"} {See Trapp on "Zec 3:8"}

Ver. 6. This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.] Jehovah Tsidkenu. {a} This is a most mellifluous and sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ, importing his Godhead, as the righteous Branch of David {#Jer 23:5} did his manhood; and besides assuring us that as he hath for us fulfilled all righteousness, {#Mt 3:15} so he is by God made unto us righteousness, {#1Co 1:30} and that we are become the righteousness of God in him. {#2Co 5:21} This one name of Christ is a strong tower; {#Pr 18:10} it is such as will answer all our doubts and objections, were they never so many, had we but skill to spell all the letters in it. Cyprian was wont to comfort his friends thus, Venit Antichristus, sed superveniet Christus; Antichrist will come, but then Christ will be at the heels of him. We may well comfort ourselves against all evils and enemies with this consideration, Christ is "Jehovah our righteousness." God hath "laid help on one that is mighty," and he came to "bring in everlasting righteousness." {#Da 9:24} Why then should we "fear in the days of evil, when the iniquities of our heels shall compass us about." {#Ps 49:5} Domine Satan, saith Luther somewhere, nihil me movent minae terrores tui; est enim unus qui vocatur Iehovah iustitia nostra, in quem credo: Is legem abrogavit, peccatum damnavit, mortem abolevit, infernum destruxit, estque O Satan, Satan tuus {b} -that is, You, Sir Satan, your menaces and terrors trouble me not. For why? There is one whose name is called the Lord our righteousness, on whom I believe. He it is who hath abrogated the law, condemned, sin, abolished death, destroyed hell, and is a Satan to thee, O Satan. Surely this brave saying of Luther may well be reckoned among such of his sentences as a man would fetch, rather than be without them, upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem.

{a} Vocat Scriptura nomen Messiae Iehova Tsidkenu, quia erit Mediator Deus, per cuius manus consecuturi sumus iustitiam a Deo ipso, inquit Rabbinus quidam in lib. Ikharim.

{b} Luth., tom. iv. fol. 55 A.

Ver. 7. Therefore, behold the days come.] See #Jer 16:14.

Ver. 8. But the Lord liveth.] See #Jer 16:15.

Ver. 9. My heart within me is broken.] Utitur exordiolo pathetico et tragico prorsus. Being to inveigh against the priests and false prophets, those great corrupters of the people, he useth this pathetic preface, Cordicitus et medullitus doles, I am grieved to the very heart, &c.

All my bones shake.] Heb., Hover or flutter, as birds do, They shake and shudder with extreme fear and horror. Totus contremisco.

I am like a drunken man.] Totus perturbatus sum, I am not myself, not able to stand high alone.

Because of the Lord.] Through zeal of his glory.

And because of the words of his holiness.] His holy words so shamefully slighted, his dreadful threats especially.

Ver. 10. For the land is full of adulterers.] It is even become a great brothel house, as sometimes Cyprus was, and as Rome is now said to be:

“ Tota est iam Roma lupanar.”

“Now Rome is entirely a brothel.”

For because of swearing (or cursing) the land mourneth.] Swearers and cursers, then, are public enemies, traitors to the State. The Jews observe that Beershaba signifies, The well of oath; and Beersaba, The well of plenty. Sure we are that for oaths the land mourneth; of which there is such store, as if men, by an easy mistake of the point, used to draw and drop them, as it were, out of the well of plenty.

And the pleasant places.] Or, Pastures, or habitations, which, being dried up, seem to mourn, and yet the inhabitants are without all sense of sorrow.

And their course is evil.] Naught all over, as we say.

And their force is not right.] Not rightly employed; they are not valiant for the truth, but violent for wrong doing.

Ver. 11. For both prophet and priest are profane.] What wonder, therefore, that the people were so? I have read of a woman, who, living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumination and repentance, did often protest that the vicious life of a great scholar in that town did conjure up those damnable doubts ia her soul. {a} And of another, that he desired a profane preacher to point him out a nearer way to heaven than that he had taught in his sermons, for he went not that way himself. Our Saviour foretelleth {#Mt 24:12} that "iniquity shall abound, love wax cold," &c.; and why? "Many false prophets shall arise."

Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness.] Sin is not a little aggravated as by the time, sc., If committed on the Lord’s day; so by the place, sc., If done in God’s house, and in his special presence. Unclean glances or worldly thoughts in hearing, &c., argue a profane heart. Like as it were a sign the orthodox party were but weak, if, while they were at sermons, Papists dared come in and put them out.

{a} Mrs Ward’s Happiness of Paradise.

Ver. 12. As slippery ways in the darkness.] They shall fall without fail, for they shall neither see their way nor stand their ground. See #Ps 35:6.

Ver. 13. And I have seen folly.] Heb., Insalsity. Folly is as unpleasant to the intelligent as unsavoury meat is to him that tasteth it.

They prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.] They sold poison to the people, as Laertius {a} saith Aristotle did—Epicurus is his witness—having first wasted his estate.

{a} Lib. x. in Epic

Ver. 14. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing.] {a} Heb., Fedity, or fetidity; filthiness or stench, such as the devil himself, they say, leaveth behind him going out of a room. It must needs be a horrible thing when doctors turn devils, teaching such impieties, acsi ipse teterrimus Satan eas ore suo docuisset, as if the devil himself, with his own mouth, had taught the same. I would shun a heretic, saith one, as I would do a devil, for he is sent on his errand. Seducers certainly act the part of that horrid fiend, and, together with him, shall be "cast alive into the burning lake." {#Re 19:20}

They commit adultery.] As did Eli’s sons, and those two stinking goats, #Jer 29:23.

And walk in lies.] Make a trade of it. It was not for nothing that Chrysostom {b} said of those of his time, Non arbitror inter sacerdotes, multos esse qui salvi fient.

They strengthen also the hands of evildoers.] Roborant manus malignatium; while knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but, both by their false doctrine and loose living, they countenance those that do them. {#Ro 1:32}

They are all become to me as Sodom, ] i.e., Paucissimis exceptis, omnes conscelerati et inemendabiles; they are all stark naught.

{a} φρικτα.—Septuag.

{b} Hom. iii. in Act.

Ver. 15. I will feed them with wormwood, ]{ a} i.e., I will slay them with most bitter and grievous kinds of deaths. See #Jer 8:14 9:15.

For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.] Their place adding two wings to their sin—viz., Example and scandal, whereby it soareth higher and flieth much further. See #Jer 23:11.

{a} Potabo eos calice maledictionis pessimae, quasi capribus draconum. -Chald. Paraph.

Ver. 16. Hearken not unto the words of the prophets.] Stop your ears to their enchantments, and seriously decline them, as ye would do a serpent in your way, or poison in your meats.

They make you vain.] Or, Beguile you. Fair words make fools fain. See #Ro 16:18.

Ver. 17. They say still to them that despise me.] They promise security to the impenitent, and flatter people in their sinful and sensual practices. Socinians set up man’s reason; Arminians, his free will; libertines, his unruly lusts; and Papists gratify his senses with their forms and pomp. In their humble supplication to King James for a toleration, they pleaded for their religion as that which was most agreeable to man’s nature. Sir Walter Raleigh knew what he said, that were he to choose a religion for sensual delights and licentious liberty, he would be a Papist. No sin past, but the Pope can pardon it; none to come, but he could dispense with it; no matter how long they have lived in any sin (thought the sin against the Holy Ghost), yet extreme unction at last will salve all.

Ver. 18. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord?] Quis praeter nos? so Piscator. Who hath, if we have not? say those false prophets, as if they were so many angels newly dropped from heaven.

Ver. 19. Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord, ] q.d., Though these flatterers make all fair weather before you, yet assure yourselves the tempest of God’s wrath, such as shall never be blown over, is even breaking forth upon them and you together. Look to it, therefore.

Ver. 20. In the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.] All too late ye shall subscribe to the truth of these threats, which now ye take as uttered in terror only, and will not believe till you feel. Sero, inquit Nero. Too late Nero said. Epimetheus, that after wit, had too many fellows. Sero sapiunt Phryges. The Pyyges understand too late.

Ver. 21. I have not sent these prophets.] Who I have duped you into the mouth of destruction, as that old Bethelite did the young prophet into the mouth of the lion.

Yet they ran.] They have from me neither mission nor commission, but do all on their own heads. Observabilis est hic locus contra multos qui hodie plebem docendi munus sibi arrogant, cum tamen non sint missi, saith Oecolampadius. This is a notable place against lay preachers. And, as if he had lived in those loose times of ours, he thus goeth on:—In #1Co 14:40 16:1, order is commanded to be kept; but there are now such as abide not in their own churches, but run into others, where they teach without a calling. These promote not, but hinder the cause of Christ. He is the God of peace, but they go forth and say, Mentiris; Deus amat talem constantiam et fortem confessionem: sic enim recant suam praefractam pertinaciam, Thou liest; God loveth such constance and bold confession of the truth as we hold forth; for so they call, saith he, their stiffness and obstinace. Besides that, they come not into the congregations of unbelievers to convert them to the faith, sed nostras perplexas reddunt, so that good man proceedeth in his complaint on this text—but they trouble our churches, like as of old they came to Antioch, and made disturbance there {#Ac 15:1-2 22-29} Luther also, who lived in the same time with Oecolampadius, cries out to like purpose, Decem annis laboratur antequam ecclesiola recte et pie instituta paretur, { a} &c. We are ten or more years, saith he, ere we can settle a small church as it should be; and yet, when that is done, there creepeth in some silly sectary, whose only skill is to rail against godly ministers, is uno memento evertit omnia, and he presently marreth all. See #Jer 14:14.

{a} Tom. Oper. iv., fol. 18 A.

Ver. 22. But if they had stood in my counsel, &c.] As they vainly vaunt they do, {#Jer 23:18} and that they know more of my mind than any others.

And had caused my people to hear my words.] And not their own fancies or cunningly devised fables. {#2Pe 1:16}

Then they should have turned them from the evil of their way.] Not but that a goodly preacher may want success; {#Isa 49:4} {See Trapp on "Isa 49:4"} And, on the contrary, a bad minister may be a means of good to others, as the dull whetstone edgeth iron, and the lifeless heaven enliveneth other creatures. The head of a toad may yield the precious stone bufonites, and wholesome sugar be found in a poisoned cane. Noah’s builders were a means to save him and his family, yet themselves were drowned; so was Palinurus, Aeneas’s pilot in the poet. {a} But God usually honoureth his faithful lahourers with some success; and they can say, as Chrysostom doth, Si decimus quisque, si unus persuasus fuerit, ad consolationem abunde sufficit. If but one in ten be converted by our ministry, yea, if but one in all, it is comfort enough. See #Jas 5:20.

{a} Virgil, Aeneid, iii.

Ver. 23. Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off?] See I not what is done on earth, which seemeth further from me? or think ye that you live out of the reach of my rod because remote from heaven, the habitation of my holiness and of my glory?

“ Iupiter est quodcunque rides, quocunque moveris.”

- Lucan.

Ver. 24. Can any man hide himself in secret places?] Hide he may God from himself, but not himself from God; though atheists are apt to think (as they say the struthiocamelus doth when he hath thrust his head in a hole) {a} that because they see none, therefore none seeth them.

Do I not fill heaven and earth?] See #Ps 139:3,5,7,11 Isa 66:1. {See Trapp on "Ps 139:3"} {See Trapp on "Ps 139:5"} {See Trapp on "Ps 139:7"} {See Trapp on "Ps 139:11"} {See Trapp on "Isa 66:1"}

{a} Plin.

Ver. 25. I have dreamed, I have dreamed, ] i.e., I have a prophetic revelation in a dream. Such lying prophets were the ancient and modern enthusiasts and high attainers. Messalanian heretics they were called of old, A.D. 371.

Ver. 26. How long shall this be in the hearts? &c., ] q.d., Will they never give over lying to the Holy Ghost, {#Ac 5:3} and flying against the light (of their own consciences), as bats do. Nam quod argute commenti sunt, haec aiunt ex Spiritu se dicere; studio enim suis mendaciis plebi imponunt, falsumque data opera docent; { a} for they father their falsities upon the Spirit of truth, cozening the credulous multitude. And this they do wittingly and incessantly.

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 27. Which think to cause my people to forget my name.] To drive them to atheism, which sometimes creepeth in at the back door of a reformation, "by the sleight of seducers and their cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Our Church is at this day pestered with atheists (who first have been Seekers, Ranters, Antinomians, Antiscripturists, &c.), and is even dark with them, as Egypt once was with the grasshoppers. They seemed to speak with judgment that said formerly, As Antichristianism decreaseth, so atheism prevaileth. And they seem still not to judge amiss that say that the Jesuits are acting vigorously by our sectaries to bring in Popery again— quasi postilimino -upon us. It hath been long the opinion and fear of some grave divines that Antichrist, before his abolition, shall once again overflow the whole face of the West, and suppress the whole Protestant churches— quod Deus avertat. Take we heed that these sect makers make us not forget God’s name by their fopperies, as our fathers forgot his name for Baal.

Ver. 28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream.] Or, Let him tell it as a dream, and not as a divine revelation, making more of it than the matter comes to, and

“ Laudans venales quas vult obtrudere merces.”

What are dreams ordinarily but very vanities, {#Ec 5:7 Zec 10:2} pleasant follies and delusions, the empty bubbles of the mind, children and tales of fancy, idle and fruitless notions, mere baubles? Why, then, should men make so much of them? why should they tell their Midianitish dreams to others with so much confidence, as if they were oracles?

And he that hath my word.] So he be sure he hath it, and can on good ground say, I believed, therefore have I spoken.

What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord, ] i.e., What is false doctrine to true? surely nothing in comparison; you may better set Palea, that is, chaff, upon it, than the Pope doth upon anything in the decrees of his predecessors that pleaseth him not. Shall not the whole body of Popery, founded, most part of it, upon revelations and feigned miracles (think the same of Ranters, Quakers, and some Anabaptists) prove palea -that is, chaff, hay, and stubble that shall be surely burnt. {#1Co 3:11-15} Some render the text Quid paleae cum tritico? what hath chaff to do with the wheat? {as #Ho 14:9 Joh 2:4} Away with any such mixtures. In the writings of some sectaries,

“ Sunt bona mista malis, sunt mala mista bonis.”

The speech in the text seemeth to have been proverbial, and is not unlike that of the apostle, {#2Co 6:14-16} and those in human authors, Quid sceptro et plectro? Quid specillo et gladio? quid lecytho et strophio? quid hyaenae et cani? quid bovi et delphino? quid cani et balneo? {a} What has a septre to do with a quill, a surgeon’s knife with a sword, bottle with a head band, a hyena with a dog, a cow with a dolphin, a dog with a bath. So what communion hath faith and unbelief, zeal and passion? &c. And yet unbelief may be with faith—"Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief" {#Mr 9:24} -zeal with passion; yea, in young Christians, heat and passion goeth sometimes for zeal; and yet it is but chaff, which, when blown away, the heap is little else but wheat—that is, faith, zeal, humility, though we have less pride, passion, presumption. But this by the way only.

{a} Suid.

Ver. 29. Is not my word like a fire?] As it is like solid wheat, wholesome food; {#1Ti 6:3} so it is no less like fire, that most active element, called πυρ, because it is pure, saith one; and fire, because it was fair. It enlighteneth, enliveneth, warmeth, purgeth, assimilateth, aspireth, consumeth combustible matter, congregat homogenea, segregat heterogenea; so doth the Word, when accompanied by the Spirit, who is of a fiery nature and of a fiery operation. {#Isa 4:4 Mal 3:2 Mt 3:11} "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." {#Joh 6:63} "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and opened unto us the Scriptures?" {#Lu 24:32} When the word comes home to the heart in the power of it, the preacher was sent of God. See #Ga 2:8.

And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?] i.e., The rockiest hearts and sturdiest stomachs are tamed and terrified by the Word, when God once takes them to do. It is as his plough to break up their fallow ground, and as his sword to run them through, {#Jer 4:3 Heb 4:2} and to lay them for dead. {#Ro 7:9} And like as the hardest ice is broken with hot waters, as well as with hammers, so is the hardest heart with the gospel, as well as with the law.

Ver. 30. Behold, I am against those prophets.] Heb., Behold, I against, by an angry aposiopesis. {a}

That steal my word every one from his neighbour.] That filch it, either by hiding it from others, as the Popish doctors do from the common people, or by wresting it to the defence of their false doctrines, as Marcion the heretic, whom, therefore, Tertullian fitly calleth Murem Ponticum, the rat of Pontus, for his gnawing and tawing of the Scriptures, to bring them to his purpose. Or, by a fraudulent imitating of God’s true prophets, taking up their parables, and making use of their expressions, such as are, Thus saith the Lord; Grace be to you and peace, &c. Wasps also have their combs as well as bees; and apes will be doing as they see men to do. Or, lastly, by causing the people to forget and lose the good that they had once learned of the true prophets. This we see daily done by the cunning fetches and flatteries of the seducers of our times, causing many to lose the things that they had wrought. {#2Jo 8}

{a} A rhetorical artifice, in which the speaker comes to a sudden halt, as if unable or unwilling to proceed.

Ver. 31. That use their tongues.] Or, Abuse them rather, to smoothing and soothing up people in their sins: lenificant linguas, id est, blando sermone alliciunt plebem, they flatter and collogue; or tollunt linguam, they lift up their tongues, viz., by extolling themselves, and speaking magnifically of their own doing. As one hath observed of some sectarians among us, that they often call upon their hearers to mark—for it may be they shall hear that which they never heard before—when the thing is either false, or if true, no more than is ordinarily taught by others, and which they have stolen out of the writings of others. {a}

And say, He saith.] See on #Jer 23:30.

{a} Dulcorantium, mollificantium. -False prophets soothe and sweeten men.

Ver. 32. That cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness.] By their lying discourses and light or loose courses. So #Zep 3:4 Jud 9:4. If these false prophets had been of a sober, grave behaviour, the people might have been with better excuse deluded by them; as Aristotle noteth of Eudoxus (and the same is true of Epicurus himself, as Cicero telleth us) that he prevailed much in disputing for pleasure, because he was no voluptuous man himself. But these in the text were no less lewd than loud liars.

Ver. 33. What is the burden of the Lord?] Ironicum interrogandi genus: thus they profanely asked by way of scoff or despite, such as he will drive down their throats again, plaguing them for their profane malignity.

Then shalt thou say, What burden?] q.d., I will burden you to some purpose, since ye profanely count and call my Word a burden. You shall suddenly have your back burden of plagues and miseries for the contempt of it.

I will even forsake you.] And then woe be unto you, {#Ho 9:12} you shall be eased of these burdens and of me together; and that you will find misery enough. See #Jer 12:7. Learn therefore to speak holily and honourably of God’s Word, lest thou hear this word of his, Thou shalt never enter into my rest.

Ver. 34. That shall say, The burden of the Lord.] Nempe per ludibrium, in contempt and derision. See #2Ch 36:16.

Ver. 35. Thus shall ye say.] God sets them a form, who otherwise knew not how to lisp out a syllable of sober language. Loquamur verba Scripturae, Let us speak the words of the Bible, saith Peter Ramus, utamur sermone Spiritus Sancti, Let us inure ourselves to Scripture expressions.

Ver. 36. For every man’s word shall be his burden.] That jeer of his afore mentioned shall lie heavy upon him, and cost him dear, for under the weight he shall sink and be crushed in pieces.

Ver. 37. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet.] See on #Jer 23:35.

Ver. 38. But since ye say, The burden of the Lord.] Since ye accuse me as unmerciful, my Word as a ponderous burden, and my messengers as telling you nothing but terrible things and bloody businesses, which therefore you are resolved to slight and neglect; —

Ver. 39. Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you.] I nunc ergo, lude pasquillis et putidis dicteriis, saith one. Go thy ways now, thou that thinkest it a goodly thing to gibe and jeer at God’s ministers and their messages. Consider of this dreadful denunciation, and thereby conceive aright of the heinousness of thy sin; for God doth not use to kill flies upon men’s foreheads with beetles, to threaten heavy punishments for light offences.

Ver. 40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you.] Contempt of the Word is such an enraging sin that God cannot easily satisfy himself in saying what he will do to such as are guilty of it.

Chapter 24

Ver. 1. The Lord showed me.] By showing as well as by saying, hath God ever signified his mind to his people; by the visible as well as by the audible word, as in sacrifices and sacraments, for their better confirmation in the faith.

And, behold, two baskets.] Dodaim, so called from dodim, breasts, because these two baskets resembled two breasts.

Were set before the temple.] Either visionally, or else actually there set; whether presented for firstfruits, {as #De 26:2} or set to be sold in such a public place.

Before the temple.] To show that the Jews of both sorts gloried in the same God, but were differently regarded by him, and accordingly sentenced.

After that Nebuchadnezzar.] This then was showed to Jeremiah about the beginning of Zedekiah’s reign.

Had carried away captive Jeconiah.] Who was therefore and thenceforth called Jeconiah Asir, {#1Ch 3:16} that is, Jeconiah the Prisoner. He was a wicked prince, and therefore written childless, and threatened with deportation. {#Jer 22:30} Howbeit, because by the advice of the prophet Jeremiah he submitted to Nebuchadnezzar (who carried him away to Babylon, where, say the Rabbis, he repented, and was therefore at length advanced by Evilmerodah, as #Jer 52:31), he and his company are here comforted, and pronounced more happy, however it might seem otherwise, than those that continued still in the land; and this, say the Hebrews, {a} was not obscurely set forth also by those two baskets of figs, whereof that which was worst showed best, and the other showed worst, till they came to be tasted.

With the carpenters, ] Or, Craftsmen. {#2Ki 24:14,16}

And smiths.] Heb., Enclosers—that is, say some, goldsmiths, whose work it is to set stones in gold; and these, thus carried away, are as a type of such, saith Oecolampadius, as are penitent and patient till the Lord shall turn again their captivity as the streams in the south.

{a} Raban., Hugo., Lyra.

Ver. 2. One basket had very good figs.] Maturas et praecoquas, ripe and ready early, bursas melle plenas, as one once called such good figs, purses full of honey.

“ Ficus habet lactis nivei, rutilique saporem

Mellis, et ambrosiae similes cum nectare succos.”

- Passerat.

The other basket had very naughty figs.] Sour and ill-tasted, because blasted, haply, or worm eaten, &c. Of the Athenians Plutarch {a} saith, that they were all very good or stark naught; no middle men: like as that country also produceth both the most excellent honey and the most deadly poison. Sure it is that non sunt media coram Deo, neque placet tepiditas, before God every man is either a good tree yielding good fruit, or an evil tree bearing evil fruit. He that is not with Christ is against him. He acknowledgeth not a mediocrity, he detesteth an indifference in religion; hot or cold he wisheth men, and threateneth to "spue the lukewarm out of his mouth." {#Re 3:15,16} The best that can be said of such neuter passives is that which Tacitus saith of Galba, Magis extra vitia quam cum virtutibus, that they are rather not vicious than virtuous; their goodness is merely negative. The world crieth them up for right honest men, but God decrieth them for naught, stark naught; they may not be endured, they are so naught. See #Lu 16:15.

{a} In Vit. Dion.

Ver. 3. What seest thou, Jeremiah?] See on #Jer 1:11.

The good figs, very good.] See on #Jer 24:2.

Ver. 4. Again the word of the Lord.] Transitio ad Anagogen: the interpretation followeth, whereby will appear the different judgment made of persons and things by God and men.

Ver. 5. Like these good figs.] Quas sic dat et arbor et aura, when once God hath made the tree good, the fruit will be good.

So will I acknowledge.] Heb., Know, that is, own, or take special notice of, and this made the difference.

Whom I have sent out of this place for their good.] It is for their good, temporal and eternal, that God chastiseth his children. Jehoiachin was preferred at length; and as the Jewish doctors say, converted, as Manasseh had been before him. Daniel and his associates were set over the kingdom. The Jews got good estates and respect in the land of their captivity, {#Jer 29:4 Es 9:4,29} and were at length sent back with many favours and privileges, &c.

Ver. 6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good.] I will see to their safety, and provide for their necessities. See #Ps 34:15. {See Trapp on "Ps 34:15"}

Ver. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me.] {a} This was better than all the rest, scil., a sanctified use of their afflictions. This we should highly prize, and pray for.

And they shall be my people.] This falling out of lovers shall but be a renewing of love between us.

For they shall return unto me.] God must sometimes whip his people to duty, and gather them from evil, as well as entice them, ut uvae dulces sint et non labruseae.

{a} Promissio Evangelica, ut infra., chap, xxxi. 33.

Ver. 8. And as the evil figs.] Zedekiah and his subjects, who were looked upon as the happier, because at home; and derided, likely, Jeconiah and his concaptives as cowards. Sure it is, that they were not bettered by their brethren’s miseries.

Ver. 9. And I will deliver them.] As men throw out naughty figs, rotten apples, or the like. All the figs were carried out, but in diverse baskets, and for diverse purposes.

To be a taunt and a curse.] As when they were called in scorn by the heathen Verpi, Apellae, Recutiti, &c., and were noted, as they are still, for a nasty people.

Ver. 10. And I will send the sword.] So #Jer 14:15 34:17.

Chapter 25

Ver. 1. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim.] See on #Jer 1:2. Above twenty years had Jeremiah spent his worthy pains upon them, illi vero ne teruntio quidem meliores facti sunt, but they were nothing the better; here, therefore, is their doom most deservedly denounced.

That was the first year.] This first year of Nebuchadnezzar, reigning alone after his father’s death, fell out part of Jehoiakim’s third, and part of the fourth. {#Da 1:1}

Ver. 2. Unto all the people of Judah.] The circumstances both of time when, and of persons to whom, is thus set down, for the reason given on #Jer 25:1.

Ver. 3. Rising early and speaking.] A dilucula indesinenter: as good husbands use to do, taking the best times.

Ver. 4. But ye have not hearkened.] See #Jer 7:24,26.

Ver. 5. They said, Turn ye again.] This was the sum of all the prophet’s sermons, as of the apostles’, "Repent ye and believe the gospel.," {#Mr 1:15}

Ver. 6. And I will do you no hurt.] Heb., I will not do evil to you; as else I must. The Romans honoured their Vejoves, that they might not harm them.

Ver. 7. That ye might provoke me.] See #Jer 7:17,18.

Ver. 8. Because ye have not heard, ] i.e., Not heeded them. {as #Jer 7:19}

Ver. 9. Behold, I will send and take.] By a secret instinct. {as #Jer 1:15}

And Nebuchadnezzar my servant, ] i.e., Mine executioner, the rod of my wrath, {#Isa 10:5} and the scourge of the world, as Attila styled himself.

And against all these nations round about.] Who were so infatuated that they did not combine against Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Septuagint called a dove, #Jer 25:38, but he was a vulture rather, and these nations were as so many silly doves, which save themselves by flight, not fight; and sitting in their dove cots, see their nests destroyed, and their young ones killed before their eyes, never offering to rescue or revenge, as other fowls do. So dealt the old Britons when invaded by the Romans; they joined not their forces against the common enemy, sed dum singuli pugnabant, universi vincebantur. but while the fought separately, they were conquered together. {a}

{a} Tacitus

Ver. 10. Moreover, I will take from them.] See #Jer 7:34 Re 18:22.

Ver. 11. And this land shall be a desolation—seventy years.] Which commenced at the deportation of Jeconiah. {#2Ki 24:8 Jer 29:1-3 Eze 4:1 33:21} Avignon in France, was the residence of the Pope for seventy years, which time the Romans yet remember, till this day, by the name of the Babylonian captivity. {a} Luther, when he first began to stir against the Pope, wrote a book bearing title De captivitate Babylonica, which when Bugenhagius, a Pomeranian divine, first read, he pronounced it to be the most heretical piece that ever was written, but afterwards, having better considered the contents of it, he retracted his former censure; he told his colleagues that all the world besides was in deep darkness, and that Luther alone was in the light and in the right, and him he would follow. So he did, and drew many more with him. {b}

{a} Heyl. Cosm., fol. 188.

{b} Scult Annal.

Ver. 12. I will punish the King of Babylon.] As had been previoulsy threatened, {#Isa 13:19-22 14:21-23 21:2-10 47:5,8,9} and was accomplished. {#Da 5:25-28,30}

Ver. 13. And I will bring upon that land, ] scil., By Cyrus and his successors, who out of the ruins of Babylon built two cities, Ctesiphon and Seleucia.

Ver. 14. For many nations.] The Medes and Persians, together with the rest that served under them.

And great kings.] Cyrus and Darius especially.

Ver. 15. Take the wine cup of this fury.] {a} Or, Take this smoking wine cup. A "cup" is oft put for "affliction," and wine for extreme confusion and wrath. Poison in wine works more furiously than in water. {#Ps 75:8}

And cause all the nations.] According to that power which I have put into thine hands. {#Jer 1:10} Vengeance is still in readiness for the disobedient, {#2Co 10:6} as ready every whit in God’s hand, as in the minister’s mouth, who threateneth it.

{a} Utitur demonstratione seu ostento divino.

Ver. 16. And be moved and be mad.] As men that are overcome by some hot and heady liquor, are mad drunk.

Because of the sword that I shall send.] For it is God who puts the sword in commission, {#Jer 47:6,7} and there it many times rideth circuit, as a judge, in scarlet. There are certain seasons, wherein, as the angel troubled the pool, so doth God the nations: and commonly when he doth it to one, he doth it to more, as here, and #2Ch 15:5,6, and as at this day in Europe.

Ver. 17. And made all drink, ] viz., In vision, and by denunciation.

Ver. 18. To wit, in Jerusalem.] Judgment beginneth at God’s house {#1Pe 4:17} {See Trapp on "1Pe 4:17"} {See Trapp on "Mt 25:41"} Sed si in Hierosolymis maneat scrutinium, quid fiet in Babylone? saith an ancient.

Ver. 19. Pharaoh king of Egypt.] Pharaohhophra, {#Jer 44:30} of whom Herodotus {a} writeth that he persuaded himself and boasted, that his kingdom was so strong that no god or man could take it from him. He was afterwards hanged by his own subjects.

{a} Lib. ii.

Ver. 20. The mixed people.] That lay scattered in the deserts, and had no certain abode; Scenitae and Hamaxobii.

And all the kings of the land of Uz.] Job’s country, called by the Greeks, Ausitis.

Ver. 21. Edom and Moab, &c.] By the destruction of all these nations we may make a conjecture at the destructiou of all the wicked, when Christ shall come to judgment. All that befalleth them in this world, is but as drops of wrath forerunning the great storm: or as a crack foretokening the fall of the whole house. Here the leaves only fall upon them as it were, but then the body of the tree in its full weight to crush them for ever.

Ver. 22. And all the kings of the isles.] As Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, subdued also by the Babylonian, saith Jerome, Rabanus, and Vatablus.

Ver. 23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz.] The Hagarens or Saracens {#Jer 49:8}

And all that are in the utmost corners.] Qui attonsi sunt in comam; Roundheads. See #Jer 9:26.

Ver. 24. And all the kings of Arabia.] Petraea.

That dwell in the desert.] In Arabia Deserta.

Ver. 25. And all the kings of Zimri, ] i.e., Of Arabia Felix. Zamarens, Pliny {a} calleth them.

{a} Lib. vi. cap. 28.

Ver. 26. And all the kingdoms.] See on #Jer 25:16.

And the king of Sheshak, ] i.e., Belshazzar, that bezzling king of Babylon, while he is quaffing in the vessels of God’s house to the honour of Shat, {a} the Babylonian goddess; whence those feast days were called σακεαι ημεραι, being like the Roman Saturnalia. Antichrist also, who hath troubled all the kingdoms of the earth, shall himself perish, together with his Babylon the great, which hath made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornications.

{a} Shesac, id est poculum laetitiae aut vanitatis, vel sericum tuum.

Ver. 27. Drink ye, and be drunk, and spue, and fall.] Eckius, or Eccius, otherwise by some called Jeccius, from his casting or spuing, being nonplussed by Melanchthon, and well nigh madded, started drinking, for his own solace, and drank himself to death. {a} So should these do of the cup of God’s wrath, not only till they were mad drunk, {as #Jer 25:16} but dead drunk.

{a} Manlii, Loc. Com. 89.

Ver. 28. Ye shall certainly drink.] See on #Jer 25:15.

Ver. 29. The city that is called by my name.] Periphrasis Hierosolymae argumentosa.

And should ye be utterly unpunished?] See on #Jer 25:18.

Ye shall not be unpunished.] But suffer as surely and as sorely.

Ver. 30. The Lord shall roar from on high.] As a lusty lion, having discovered his prey, runneth upon it, roaring so horribly that he astonisheth the creatures and sets them at a stand.

He will mightily roar upon his habitation.] Pliny reporteth of the lioness, that she bringeth forth her whelps dead, and so they remain for the space of three days, until the lion, coming near to the den where they lie, lifteth up his voice, and roareth so fiercely, that presently they revive and rise. The "Lion of the tribe of Judah" will roar to like purpose at the last day; and doth afore, when he pleaseth, roar terribly upon his enemies, to their utter amazement. {#Joe 3:16 Am 1:2 3:8}

He shall give a shout, as those that tread the grapes.] When they have their feet in the winepress, and the new liquor in their heads, as one phraseth it.

Ver. 31. For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations.] {a} A disceptation, which showeth that his revenge to be taken upon them shall be just and lawful. It shall well appear to be so, at that day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. {#Ro 2:5}

{a} Disceptatio catholica.

Ver. 32. Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation.] See on #Jer 25:16.

Ver. 33. And the slain of the Lord shall be, &c.] Such an utter destruction of the wicked is expected by the Jews at the coming of their Messiah, as of all people under heaven they are the most apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage, being light, aerial, fanatical.

Ver. 34. Howl, ye shepherds.] Ululate, volulate. Shriek and roll. This is spoken to the governors and grandees; for in public calamities such usually suffer more than meaner men. The corks swim, saith one, when the plummets sink. If a tree have thick and large boughs, it lieth more open to lopping.

And ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel, ] i.e., Irremediably. Like as a crystal glass or China dish once broken cannot be pieced again.

Ver. 35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee.] Who had formerly divers strongholds. See #Am 2:14.

Ver. 36. For the Lord hath spoiled their pastures, ] i.e., Their kingdoms and states, or their flocks.

Ver. 37. And the peaceable habitations.] Heb., The habitations or folds of peace. The fierce anger of the Lord hath unrooted them, their dwellings are demolished.

Ver. 38. He hath forsaken his covert, as a lion.] God hath, or, as some will, Nebuchadnezzar hath. He is come out of Babylon his den, to range about for prey. Ut in praeda involet.

Because of the fierceness of the oppressor.] Of the dove, say some, who also tell us that the Chaldees had in their standard this picture of a dove. But of that there is no such certainty.

Chapter 26

Ver. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.] What a sudden change was here, soon after the death of good Josiah! And was there not the like in England after the death of that English Josiah, Edward VI? Within a very few days of Queen Mary’s reign were various learned and godly men in various parts committed to prison for religion, and Mr Rogers, the proto-martyr, put to death, as was that holy prophet of God, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, not many weeks before Jeremiah was apprehended and questioned for his life, as is here related, his adversaries being pricked on by pride and malice.

Ver. 2. Diminish not a word.] Or, Detract not aught, viz., for fear or favour, lest I confound thee before them. {#Jer 1:17; see there} Haec, instar speculi omnium temporum, pastoribus inspicienda sunt. Here is a mirror for ministers.

Ver. 3. That I may repent me of the evil; because of the evil.] Flagitium et flagellum sicut acus et filum; evil of sin produceth evil of pain. See #Jer 4:4,6.

Ver. 4. If ye will not hearken unto me.] A conditional menace, the contrary promise whereunto see #Jer 26:13. And this was the sum of all Jeremiah’s sermons.

Ver. 5. Both rising early, and sending them.] See #Jer 7:13 11:7 25:3.

Ver. 6. Then will I make this house like Shiloh.] This same threat Jeremiah had uttered in good Josiah’s days, {#Jer 7:12-14} and no harm ensued. Now, tempora mutantur, truth breedeth hatred; and the prophet is in danger, for discharging his conscience, to be murdered; as were Rogers, Bradford, Taylor, and other famous preachers in those dog days of Queen Mary.

Ver. 7. So the priests and the prophets.] Like unto these prophets were the scribes and the lawyers in Christ’s time. {a}

{a} Verbum Domini parit crucem. The word of God brought forth the cross.—Oecol.

Ver. 8. That the priests and the prophets, &c.] So they dealt by Stephen, {#Ac 7:57,58} by Arnulph, an excellent preacher of the truth according to godliness at Rome, A.D. 1125, in the time of Pope Honorius II. Hic clericorum insidiis necatur. {a} This good man was put to death by the instigation of the clergy, against whose avarice, pride, and luxury he bitterly inveighed, and was therefore much favoured by the Roman nobility; as was likewise Wickcliffe by the English, and Huss by the Bohemian; but the envious priests wrought their ruin.

{a} Func. Chronol. ex Platina.

Ver. 9. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord?] Who doubtless hath not sent thee on this errand; but thou speakest it of thine own head, and shalt dearly answer it.

And all the people were gathered.] That many headed multitude, that neutrum modo, mas modo vulgus. See #Jer 26:16.

Ver. 10. When the princes of Judah heard those things.] Pii viri sunt quibus doluit populi impietas; good men they were, saith Oecolampadius. They might be so, some of them at least; and it was well done of them here to pass an impartial sentence for the innocent prophet against the priests and people. But Pilate did so for a while for our Saviour; and these princes soon after turned Jeremiah’s cruel enemies {#Jer 37:15} for his plain dealing. {#Jer 34:1-7}

And sat down in the entry of the new gate.] The east gate, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; called the new gate because repaired by Jotham, {#2Ki 15:35} saith Lyra.

Ver. 11. Then spake the priests and the prophets.] Against a priest and a prophet; but he had earnestly inveighed against them, {#Jer 23:1,2,14,15,33,34} and hence the hatred. As Erasmus told the Duke of Saxony that Luther had been too busy with the Pope’s triple crown and with the priests’ fat paunches, and was therefore so generally set against.

Saying, This man is worthy to die.] Sic Papicolae nostri saeculi. These are the very words of Popish persecutors.

For he hath prophesied against this city.] This holy, and therefore, it must be believed, inviolable city. Novum crimen, C. Caesar, &c. These sinners against their own souls, traitors also to the state, will neither see their evil condition, nor hear of it from others, as having gall in their ears, as they say of some kinds of creatures.

Ver. 12. The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house.] In this apology of the prophet thus answering for himself with a heroic spirit, five noble virtues, fit for a martyr, are by an expositor well observed: (1.) His prudence in alleging his divine mission; (2.) His charity in exhorting his enemies to repent; (3.) His humility in saying, "Behold, I am in your hand," &c.; (4.) His magnanimity and freedom of speech, in telling them that God would revenge his death; (5.) His spiritual security and fearlessness of death in so good a cause, and with so good a conscience.

Ver. 13. Amend your ways.] Fall out with your faults, and not with your friends. See #Jer 7:3.

And the Lord will repent him of the evil.] This he often inculcateth. Ideo minatur Deus ut non puniat. Therefore God will threaten so as not to punish. See #Jer 18:8.

Ver. 14. As for me, behold, I am in your hand.] See here how God gave his holy prophet a mouth and wisdom, such as his adversaries were not able to resist. The like he did to other of his martyrs and confessors, as were easy to instance. If the queen will give me life, I will thank her; if she will banish me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her, said Bradford to Cresswell, offering to intercede for him. {a}

To do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.] But this I can safely say, Non omnis moriar. All that ye can do is, to "kill the body." Kill me you may, but hurt me you cannot. Life in God’s displeasure is worse than death. I am not of their mind who say,

“κακως ζην κρειον η θανειν καλως.”

- Euripid. in Aulide.

Better live basely than die bravely. Faxit Deus ut quilibet nostrum epilogum habeat galeatum. God grant that, whether our death be a burnt-offering of martyrdom, or a peace offering of a natural death, it may be a free will offering, a sweet sacrifice to the Lord.

{a} Acts and Mon., 1462.

Ver. 15. Ye shall surely bring innocent blood, &c.] So Mr Rogers, our proto-martyr in Queen Mary’s days: If God, said he, look not mercifully upon England, the seeds of utter destruction are sown in it already by these hypocritical tyrants, and Antichristian prelates, double traitors to their native country. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon.

Ver. 16. Then said the princes and all the people.] The mobile vulgus. changeable mob, on #Jer 26:9. The good prophet is acquitted, as Athanasius afterwards was often; for if to be accused were enough to make a man guilty, none should be innocent.

Ver. 17. Then rose up certain of the elders.] Viri illi admodum venerabiles erant, saith Oecolampadius. These were very worthy men, whether princes or pleaders, well read in the annals of the times, as great men ought to be.

Ver. 18. Micah the Morashite.] See on #Mic 1:1.

Zion shall be ploughed like a field.] See #Mic 3:3.

Ver. 19. Did Hezekiah king of Judah.] Laudable examples are to be remembered; and, as occasion requireth, imitated. That was a very good one of Constantine the Great, when the Arians brought accusations against the orthodox bishops, as here the false prophets did against Jeremiah, he burned them, and said, These accusations will have proper hearing at the last day of judgment. {a}

{a} Sozomen.

Ver. 20. And there was also a man.] This seemeth to be the plea of the adverse party, producing an example opposite to the former, and showing what the way was now, whatever it had been heretofore. New lords, new laws.

According to all the words of Jeremiah.] Whose contemporary he was, and his memory was yet fresh bleeding.

Ver. 21. And when Jehoiakim.] This tiger laid hold with his teeth on all the excellent spirits of the times. See #Jer 36:26.

He was afraid, and fled.] Not out of timorousness, but prudence. Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kinds of flight in times of persecution. God hath not made his people as standing buttmarks to be shot at, &c. See #Mt 10:23.

Ver. 22. And Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt.] Where he might have anything, for he was Pharaoh’s feudatory and vassal.

Ver. 23. And they set forth Uriah out of Egypt.] As they did here Sir John Cheek out of the Low Countries, and frightened him into a recantation. Not so this Uriah.

And they set forth Uriah out of Egypt.] En collusio principum mundi in parricidio.

Who slew him with the sword.] Without all law, right, or reason. So John Baptist was murdered, as if God had been nothing aware of him, said that martyr. But Jehoiakim got as little by this as he did afterwards by burning Jeremiah’s book; or as Vespasian afterwards did by banishing all the philosophers of his time, because they spake boldly against his vices and tyranny.

Ver. 24. Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam.] Who had been one of Josiah’s counsellors. {#2Ki 22:12} By this man’s authority and help Jeremiah was delivered, and God rewarded him in his son Gedaliah, made governor of the land. {#2Ki 25:22}

Chapter 27

Ver. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.] By the date of this prophecy, compared with #Jer 27:12 28:1, it should seem that it lay dormant for fourteen or fifteen years ere it was recited.

Ver. 2. Make thee bonds and yokes, ] i.e., Yokes with bonds, such as they are wont to be fastened with.

And put them upon thy neck.] This was to the prophet, saith the Jesuit, molesta et probrosa poenitentia, { a} a troublesome and disgraceful penance. But this was no will worship, say we; and much handsomer than the penances they put the people to in Italy, where you may see them go along the streets, saith mine author, {b} with a great rope about their necks, as if they were dropped down from the gallows. And sometimes they wear a sausage or a swine’s pudding in place of a silver or gold chain, for a sign of their mortification, and that they may merit.

{a} A Lapide.

{b} Bee Hive of Rome.

Ver. 3. By the hand of the messengers, ] i.e., Ambassadors of those neighbouring states, who might come to Zedekiah, to confederate with him against Nebuchadnezzar’s growing greatness; but all in vain, and to their own ruin. Deus quem destruit dementat. The wicked oft run to meet their bane, as if they were even ambitious of destruction.

Ver. 4. Go, tell your masters.] But they would not be warned, and were therefore ruined. So true is that of an ancient, Divinum consilium, dam devitatur, impletur: humana sapicuria, dum reluctatur, comprehendirut.

Ver. 5. I have made the earth.] And I am therefore the great proprietary and Lord paramount of all, to transfer kingdoms at my pleasure. This Nebuchadnczzar, after seven years’ apprenticeship served among the beasts of the field, had learned to acknowledge. {#Da 4:23-25}

Ver. 6. And now have I given all these lands.] Nebuchadnezzar shall be monarch contra Gentes. Dicunt nugatores equitasse Nabuchodonosor super leonem, et infraenasse draconem. {a}

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 7. And all nations shall serve him.] All the neighbouring nations, and some others more remote; but never was any man παντοκρατωρ, universal monarch, though some have styled themselves so, as did Sesostris King of Egypt:

“ Qui Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit.”

Until the very time of his land come.] The greatest monarchies had their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin.

And then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.] As the Chaldeans had served themselves of the Assyrians, so did the Persians of the Chaldeans, the Greeks of the Persians, the Romans of the Greeks, the Goths and Vandals, and now the Turks, of the Romans; such an aestuaria vicissitudo there is in earthly kingdoms, such a strange uncertainty in all things here below. "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." {#Heb 12:28} Let us serve him, and not serve ourselves upon him, as self-seekers do.

Ver. 8. And it shall come to pass that the nation, &c.] It is better, then, to serve a foreign prince than to perish by the sword, famine, or pestilence. It should not be grievous to any man to sacrifice all his outward comforts to the service of his life.

And that will not put their neck under the yoke.] The Lord disposeth of the kingdoms of the heathens also, though in such a way as may seem to us to be mere hap hazard.

That nation will I punish.] By seeking to shun a less mischief, they shall fall into a greater; if they escape frost, they shall meet with snow.

Ver. 9. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets.] Whom the devil setteth to work to persuade you otherwise to your ruin; as he is an old manslayer, and hath his breathing devils abroad as his agents, such as are here mentioned.

Ver. 10. To remove you far from your land.] So it would prove; and such would be the event of their false prophecies.

Ver. 11. But the nations that bring their neck.] When God bids us yoke, it is best to submit. In all his commands there is so much reason for them, that if God did not enjoin them, yet it were best, in self-respects, for us to practise them; since in serving him we shall have the creatures to serve us, &c.

Ver. 12. I spake also to Zedekiah.] See on #Jer 27:1.

Bring your necks under the yoke.] Better do so than worse: if ye will not be active in it, ye shall be passive; and that because ye would not take upon you the lighter yoke of mine obedience.

“ Deus crudelius urit

Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi.”

- Tibul. Eleg. 1.

Ver. 13. Why will ye die, thou and thy people?] Ec quae haec pertinacia? If thou hast no mercy on thyself, yet pity the State, which is like to perish by thy pertinace. Josephus highly commendeth Jeconiah for his yielding to go into captivity for the safety of the city. Tertullian giveth this counsel to Scapula the persecutor, If thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself; or, if not thyself, yet thy country, Carthage, which is like to smoke for thy cruelty, for "God is the avenger of all such."

Ver. 14. Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets.] Quanta opus opera, saith Oecolampadius. What a business it is to beat men off from false prophets and seducers! But let the end and the evils they lead to be remembered. Cavete a Melampyge.

Ver. 15. For they prophesy a lie.] When they speak a lie, they speak of their own, as it is said of their father the devil. {#Joh 8:44 Jer 23:21,22}

Ver. 16. Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house, &c.] Notorious impudence! but it hath ever been the lot of the Church to be pestered with such frontless dissolute fellows, who dare affirm things flat opposite to the truth, and flatter men in their sin to their utter ruin. Those who are of God can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. {#2Co 13:8}

Ver. 17. Hearken not unto them.] Life and death is let in by the ear. {#Isa 55:3} Take heed, therefore, what ye hear.

Serve the king of Babylon.] And so long as ye may have liberty of conscience upon any reasonable terms, be content; and not, as the bird in the cage, which, because pent up, beateth herself.

Ver. 18. Let them make intercession to the Lord of hosts.] Let them pray in the Holy Ghost, by whom they pretend to be inspired. Let us see what answer. So Elias called upon the Baalites to call aloud unto their god; and forasmuch as he heard them not, the people were satisfied that they were false prophets. God will fulfil what he hath foretold; but then he looketh that his servants should make intercession. Elias had foretold Ahab that there should be store of rain after a long drought; but then he went up into Mount Carmel to pray for that rain. I came for thy prayer, said the angel to Daniel. God’s prophets are his favourites, and may have anything of him.

Ver. 19. Concerning the sea, and concerning the pillars, &c.] Of these, see #1Ki 7:15,23,27.

And concerning the residue of the vessels.] All the goodly plate, whether sacred or profane, that the moderation of the conqueror had left in the city. {a}

{a} Diod.

Ver. 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar took not.] See on #Jer 27:19.

Ver. 22. Until the day that I visit them.] Till by my providence I appoint a great part of them to be brought back again, and to be new consecrated to my service. {#Ezr 1:7 7:19}

Chapter 28

Ver. 1. And it came to pass the same year, ] scil., Wherein Jeremiah spake to Zedekiah and the priests. {#Jer 27:12}

In the beginning.] In his first year, dividing his reign into three parts.

That Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, ] i.e., The pretended prophet. Dictum κατα δοξαν. A priest he seemeth to have been by his country, Gibeon, {#Jos 21:13,17} and a prophet he taketh upon him to be, preacheth pleasing things through flattery, and for filthy lucre likely. He saw how ill Uriah and Jeremiah had sped by telling the truth. He resolveth, therefore, upon another course. These false prophets would ever, with the squirrel, build and have their holes open to the sunny side: ever keep in with the princes and please the people.

Ver. 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.] Thus this wretch makes overly bold with that Nomen Maiestativum, holy and reverend name of God; whom he entitleth also to his falsities with singular impudence, that he may pass for a prophet of the Lord, whenas the root of the matter was not in him.

Ver. 3. Within two full years.] Jeremiah had said seventy; Hananiah, a man of prime authority, some say high priest, within two years. This was some trial to good Jeremiah to be thus confronted. Jeremiah’s discourse was so much the more distasted, because he not only contradicted Hananiah and his complices, but also persuaded Zedekiah to submit to the King of Babylon, and afterwards to yield up the city; whereas the prophet Isaiah, not long before, had dissuaded Hezekiah from so doing.

Ver. 5. Then the prophet Jeremiah said.] Without gall or guile. Like the waters of Siloah at the foot of Sion, {#Isa 8:6} which runs softly; he made but small noise, though he heard great words and full of falsehood.

In the presence of the priests, and in the presence of the people.] Publicly he took him up, though mildly; because he had publicly offended. See #Ga 2:14 1Ti 5:20.

Ver. 6. Amen, the Lord so do, ] q.d., I wish it may be so as thou sayest with all my heart, if God be so pleased. But I know that this is magis optabile quam opinabile, rather to be wished than hoped for. I could wish, for my poor countrymen’s sake, to be found a false prophet, but I see little likelihood of it.

Ver. 7. Nevertheless, hear thou now.] Audi quaeso. Hear, I pray thee; soft words, but hard arguments. See on #Isa 5:3.

And in the ears of all the people.] Whom I desire not to deceive, and to advise for the best, whatever they think of me. Let them think what they will, mode impii silentii non arguar, as Luther once said, so that I be not found guilty of a sinful silence.

Ver. 8. The prophets that have been before me, &c., ] q.d., Committamus, Anania, nos tempori, &c. Let us be judged by our peers, or rather by our ancients. It hath been ever usual with true prophets to declaim against the sins of the times, and to proclaim divine vengeance if men amend not. But thou doest nothing less than this: Ergo.

And of evil.] Or, Of famine, that greatest evil of all the three, where it is extreme. {a}

{a} Vide Piscat. in Schol.

Ver. 9. The prophet which prophesieth of peace.] As thou now doest, but time will confute thee, and event will show thee to be a liar. Two years time will be soon come up, &c. How many that have taken upon them to predict the very year and day of the last judgment have been thus confuted and confounded! See #De 18:22.

Ver. 10. Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it.] This was a most insolent and desperate fact in Hananiah—but nihil est audacius illis deprensis -and a most dangerous temptation to the people to believe his prophesying. Such another bold henchman was Nestorius the heretic: Audax erat, saith Zanchius, et magnae loquentiae, qua unica fretus nihil non audebat, et quidem saepenumero feliciter quod volebat, obtinebat {a} -that is, Bold he was and big spoken, trusting whereunto he durst attempt anything; and too too oft he effected also that which he attempted; so that he seduced for a while the good emperor Theodosius, and caused him to eject Cyril, an orthodox bishop, whom afterwards, upon better consideration, he restored again to his place with greater honour, and condemned that hypocrite and heretic Nestorius, of whom what became afterwards I wot not; but Hananiah died, as he well deserved, for his thus daring to fight against God.

{a} Zanch., Miscell. Epist. Dedic.

Ver. 11. And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people.] This was prophet like indeed, first to teach by a sign, and then to show the sense of it. But what maketh a parable in a fool’s mouth? {#Pr 26:7} Excellent speech becometh not a fool. {#Pr 17:7} The people of Rome sware to Carbo that they would not believe him though he sware; so should this people have dealt by Hananiah.

And the prophet went his way.] As weary and sorry to hear and see such gross illusions: haud dubium factus ridicule omni populo praesenti; { a} being well laughed at, no doubt, by the seduced people. But he had been well inured to bear their buffooneries; besides that, the bird in his bosom sang sweetly, Conscia mens recti famae mendacia ridet. He went his way, saith one, as shunning contention, and providing for edification, which is not attained to by brawling and bitterness.

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 12. After that Hananiah had broken the yoke.] Which he looked upon as an eyesore while it was whole, and a real contradiction to his false predictions.

Ver. 13. Thou hast broken the yokes of wood.] That were weaker and lighter;

“ Nunc graviora feres.”

But thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.] Thou, Jeremiah shalt, for a type of a cruel, hard, and strong bondage. Bonfinius {a} writeth of the Hungarians, that they are not to be handled gently, or kindly dealt with, sed virga ferrea in obsequio continendos esse, but kept in order with a rod of iron. Such were these refractory Jews; but they had enough of it ere God had done with them.

{a} Hungar. rer. decad. 4, lib. ix.

Ver. 14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts.] Here were right words, not as #Jer 28:2, in labris nata, non in fibris, and therefore very forcible. {#Job 6:25}

I have put a yoke of iron.] See on #Jer 28:13.

And have given him the beasts.] All shall be his, and he shall sovereign it over all, as the lion doth over the beasts of the field.

Ver. 15. Thou makest this people to trust in a lie.] Who loved to have it so, {#Jer 5:31} and were therefore justly left to obduration and horrible destruction.

Ver. 16. Behold, I will cast thee.] I will shortly lay thee low enough together with thy lordly looks, as D. Taylor, martyr, once told Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, who reviled him and threatened him.

This year shalt thou die.] Than which thou hadst better do anything.

Ver. 17. So Hananiah died.] Two months after this prediction, {#Jer 28:1} yet the people relented not, but persisted in their obstinace to the end. Such a sward, or rather hoof, is grown over some men’s hearts, as neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy, can possibly mollify.

Chapter 29

Ver. 1. Now these are the words of the letter.] Heb., Of the book. It is taken for any manner of writing, whether longer, as a book, or shorter, as a letter, an epistle, cuius ornamentum est ornamentis carere, saith Politian; the two chief commendations whereof, say others, are shortness and plainness. Here we have both, and should therefore highly prize it, not as apocryphal Baruch’s letter, but as parcel of holy writ, worthy of all acceptation.

Which were carried away captive.] And longed for deliverance; but are advised to have patience, and not to antedate the promises, which in their due time should be accomplished. As till then obediendum est etiam dyscolis, obedience must be yielded to the Babylonians, now their masters, and "not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward; for this is thankworthy." {#1Pe 2:18}

Ver. 2. After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs.] Angusta et eunuchi. These eunuchs were chamberlains to queens; but not always so bold with them as Stephen the Persian presumed to be with the queen mother of the emperor Justinian II: quam flagellis sicuti servam castigavit whom he corrceted with a whip just as a servant. {a} See #Jer 24:1,2.

{a} Func.

Ver. 3. By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, &c.] Zedekiah, having heard by Hananiah the prophet, that within two full years Jeconiah and the captives should come back to Jerusalem, and knowing that if that should be so, he must give place and part with his royal dignity, sendeth an embassy to Nebuchadnezzar to show his obsequiousness, and is content that his messenger should carry Jeremiah’s letters (of whom, haply, he had a better conceit after the death of Hananiah) to those of the captivity, to persuade them to live quietly in Babylon, and not yet to think of returning to his disturbance. {a}

{a} Calvin.

Ver. 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts.] It was God, then, that dictated this letter to the prophet; neither is it of private, that is, of human interpretation, but the holy man wrote it as he was moved thereunto by the Holy Ghost. {#2Pe 1:20,21}

Ver. 5. Build ye houses, and dwell in them.] Mitigate the extremity of your captivity, which is likely to be long, by all honest means. Levius fit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas; patience, as a paring knife, cutteth the cross less and less till it comes to nothing. It teacheth a man, in case he cannot bring his estate to his mind, to bring his mind to his estate, and that is as well; but impatiens quisque bis affligitur; the bullock under the yoke gets nothing by wriggling but galling.

Ver. 6. Take ye wives, and beget sons.] First get ye houses and gardens, and then take wives. So in the last commandment house is set before wife; and nature teacheth the birds to build their nests before they come together for copulation.

Ver. 7. And seek the peace of the city.] Do not tumultuate or seek to break prison, as those seedsmen of sedition, your false prophets, would persuade you, but frame to a peaceable and patient behaviour. "In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" {#Isa 30:15}

And pray unto God for it, ] sc., That in it you may "lead a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty." {#1Ti 2:2} Christians should improve their waiting months upon the King of saints, to pray for kings and all that are in authority, though to them they had been tyrants, since it seemeth good to God that they should live under them. The Dutch have a proverb,

“ Arbor honoretur, cuius nos umbra tuetur.”

Ver. 8. Let not your prophets and your diviners.] Your deceivers, indeed, which were also in Babylon as well as at Jerusalem; for all places are full of them, aud so is hell too. But "beware of these dogs, beware of evil workers"; {#Php 3:2} three of them, the most active, no doubt, are here noted and noticed {#Jer 29:21,23} with a charge in this text, Ne committitote ut decipiant vos; see that they deceive you not. The body should be kept, say physicians, in habitu athletico, in a vigorous and healthy temper, able to oppose infections. Think the same of the soul.

Neither hearken to your dreams.] "Yours," because you itch after them, listen to them, pay dearly for them.

Ver. 9. For they prophesy falsely.] As #Jer 27:15 28:15.

Ver. 10. For thus saith the Lord.] Or, But this hath the Lord said, whatever these impostors say to the contrary. Set truth against falsehood, and it will silence it, like as if a lamp be hanged over a ditch where frogs are croaking, they are forthwith hushed and made quiet.

Ver. 11. For I know the thoughts that I think.] God’s thoughts run upon his children, the children of affliction especially, as a father’s do upon his dear children. Omnis in Ascanio, &c.

To give you an expected end.] Heb., An end and expectation— i.e., An end of evils past, and expectation of better for the future.

Ver. 12. Then shall ye call upon me.] With mind and mouth, with spirit and speech, as Daniel did, {#Da 9:3} and as but few others did, during the captivity, as is confessed. {#Da 9:13}

And go and pray unto me.] Go into your closets, or other oratories, where you shall pour out your hearts unto me.

And I will hearken unto you.] Which shall be a surer seal of my love than your return from Babylon.

Ver. 13. When ye shall search for me with all your heart.] Not with a piece of your heart only, as do partialists and double minded men, qui in parabola ovis capras quaerunt. who search for a nanny goat instaed of sheep. Johannes Groppcrus, of Colen, refused a cardinalship, but forsook the gospel. So Luther did not, who, when he was offered to be cardinal if he would be quiet, replied, No, not if I might be Pope. {a}

{a} Sleidan.

Ver. 14. And I will be found of you.] The best ευρημα. See #Ps 32:6 Isa 55:6 65:1.

And I will gather you.] As my scattered jewels. See #Jer 13:7 24:6.

Ver. 15. Because ye have said.] From the heirs of the promises he turneth his speech to others, qui praesumendo sperant, et sperando pereunt.

Ver. 16. Know that thus saith the Lord.] Or, Therefore thus saith the Lord, whatever ye say, or your counterfeit prophets say, to the contrary.

Ver. 17. Behold, I will send upon them.] #Jer 24:10 27:8.

And will make them like vile figs.] See #Jer 24:8.

Ver. 18. And will deliver them to be removed.] See #Jer 15:4 24:9.

Ver. 19. Because they have not hearkened.] See #Jer 7:23,26 11:7,8 13:11 17:23 25:4.

Ver. 20. Hear ye, therefore.] Or, Hear ye also; ye who have lost the fruit of your afflictions, and are little the better for your being so long in the iron furnace.

Ver. 21. Thus saith the Lord…of Ahab the son of Kolaiah.] These two—though not the two elders that assaulted Susanna, as some have fabled—are singled out, as arch-imposters and filthy adulterers, to be exemplarily punished; to whom also is added Shemaiah the Nehelamite. {#Jer 29:24}

And he shall slay them before your eyes.] Vide autem iustam poenam martyrum diaboli, saith Oecolampadius. See here the just punishment of the devil’s martyrs: this evil couple had prophesied, like, the destruction of Babylon, bade the Jews put themselves in a posture to return home, promised to conduct them to Jerusalem, played many lewd pranks besides, and were therefore worthily put to a cruel death by Nebuchadnezzar, in the presence of their friends and followers.

Ver. 22. And of them shall be taken up a curse.] They had blessed themselves, though the Lord abhorred them, and sought to set up themselves in the hearts of the people, being gloriae animalia, popularis aurae vilissima mancipia, as Jerome saith of Crates the philosopher; they shall therefore "leave their names for a curse." {as #Isa 65:15}

Whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.] Burnt them with a soft slow fire, as the Papists did John Huss, Bishop Ridley, and many other innocent martyrs; but should do rather these filthy Gergesites, their monks and friars, of whom it went for a proverb in Germany, as Luther witnesseth, Whosoever seeth any one of them, seeth the seven deadly sins.

Ver. 23. Because they have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives.] As did Eli’s sons, {#1Sa 2:22} those false prophets also at Jerusalem, {#Jer 23:14} Hetser, the great Anabaptist in Germany, {a} who yet died penitently, and as do still the Imailers, an order of religious men among the Turks, {b} who call them the religious brothers of love, and the Brahmins, successors to the Brachmanni, among the Indians, who are extremely impure and libidinous, claiming the first night’s lodging of every bride, &c., having nothing of a man but the voice and shape, and yet these are their priests. {c}

Even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.] Let them carry their villany never so cleanly and closely, with their si non caste, saltem caute, yet I know all, am now an eyewitness, and will be one day a swift witness against them. Utinam animadverterent haec principes, et ille qui non in sede Petri sed in prostibulo Priapi Lampsaceni sedens fornieationes tegit, sancta coniuga vetat, mera sorenia vendit, et Dei oculos claudit, saith one.

{a} Scultet. Annal.

{b} Turk. Hist., 477.

{c} Heyl., Cosmog.

Ver. 24. Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite.] Or, Dreamer, dream wright, enthusiast; such as were the Messalanian heretics of old, and some of the same stamp, loaves of the same leaven, today.

Ver. 25. Because thou hast sent letters in thy name.] Such as Sadoletus, a Popish bishop, sent to Geneva in Calvin’s absence, to bring them back again to the obedience of the see of Rome; and as we have many from the Romish factors sent hither, to the seducing of not a few, a subtle and shrewd way of deceiving the simple.

And to Zephaniah.] The second under the high priest Seraiah, and successor likely to that Pashur {#Jer 20:1} who was deposed for some misdemeanour, like as Dr Weston was here in Queen Mary’s days, put by all his Church dignities for being taken in bed with a harlot. {a} Of this Zephaniah, see #2Ki 25:18, his office was to judge of prophecies, and to punish such as he found to be false prophets.

And to all the priests.] Who were much too forward of themselves to bandy against God’s true prophets, {#Jer 26:8} and did as little need by letter to be excited thereunto, as Bishop Bonner did to be stirred up to persecute Protestants; and yet to him were letters sent from King Philip and Queen Mary, complaining that heretics were not so reformed as they should be, and exhorting him to more diligence, {b} &c.

{a} Acts and Mon.

{b} Clarke’s Martyrol., 136.

Ver. 26. The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Jehoiada the priest.] That heroic reformer in the days of Joash {#2Ki 11:4,17} Therefore, as he did by Mattan the Baalite, so do thou by Jeremiah the Anathothite. But neither was Zephaniah a Jehoiada, nor Jeremiah a Mattan. Shemaiah himself was more like a Baalite, and better deserved that punishment which shortly after also befell him, as was foretold. {#Jer 29:32} A hot spirited man he was, and a firebrand, being therefore the more dangerous. He also seemed to himself to be so much the more holy, by how much the prophet whom he set against was more famous for his holiness.

For every one that is mad.] Maniacus, arreptitius, fanaticus; so God’s zealous servants have always been esteemed by the mad world, ever beside itself in point of salvation. See #2Ki 9:11 Ac 26:24 Jer 43:2.

That thou shouldest put him in prison.] As #Jer 20:2.

Ver. 27. Now, therefore, why hast thou not reproved?] Or, Restrained Jeremiah? Alas! what had the righteous prophet done? He taxed their sin, he foretold their captivity; he desired it not, he inflicted it not, yet he must smart, and they are guilty. Zephaniah also is here blamed for his lenity, as bloody Bonner once was by the rest of the Popish bishops, who made him their slaughter slave.

Ver. 28. For therefore he sent to us in Babylon.] And is this all the thank he hath for his friendly counsel? Haec est merces mundi. This is the recompence of the world.

Ver. 29. And Zephaniah the priest read this letter.] For ill will, likely, and with exprobation. Ubi insignis elucit Dei tutela, saith an interpreter, where we may see a sweet providence of God in preserving his prophet from the rage and violence of the people so incensed.

Ver. 30. Then came the word of the Lord.] Or, Therefore came, &c. In the five former verses we had narrationem causae, an account of the reasons Shemaiah’s crime; in these three last, we have dictionem sententiae, the prediction of the sentence Shemaiah’s doom.

Ver. 31. Send to all them of the captivity.] Send the second time; let not so good a cause be deserted. Vincet aliquando pertinax bonitas, Truth will take place at length.

Because Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you.] He hath rewarded evil thereby to himself, and to his seed after him; his posterity shall rue for it, saith Jeremiah, who was irrefracti plane animi orator, a man of an invincible courage, and might better have been called Doctor resolutus, than was afterwards Bacon the Carmelite.

Ver. 32. Behold, I will punish Shemaiah, and his seed.] As being part of his goods, and walking likely in his evil ways.

He shall not have a man to dwell among this people, ] viz., At the return from Babylon; but both he and his shall perish in this banishment, which he prophesied should be shortly at an end, but shall prove it otherwise. See the like, #Am 7:17.

Neither shall he see the good.] He nor any of his. See the like threatened to that unbelieving prince, #2Ki 7:2.

Because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord.] So #Jer 28:16 Jer 23:27 Mt 5:19. To be tuba rebellionis trumpet of rebellion is no small fault. Luther was so secundum dici, sed non secundum esse; so may the best be; but let not the sins of teachers be teachers of sins, &c.

Chapter 30

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] This chapter and the next are Jeremiah’s thirteenth sermon, as some reckon them, and it is wholly consolatory. The author of it he showeth to be the "God of all consolation"; and this the prophet inculcateth six different times in the five first verses, pro maiori efficacia, that it may take the better.

Ver. 2. Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee in a book.] For the use of posterity, {as #Hab 2:2} and that the consolations may not be forgotten. {as #Heb 12:5}

“ Vox audita perit: littera scripta manet.”

Ver. 3. I will bring again the captivity {a} of Israel and Judah.] This promise, Oecolampadius thinketh, was written in the book in greater letters than the rest; it was fulfilled according to the letter in carnal Israel sent back by Cyrus (upon Daniel’s prayer, who understood by that book here mentioned that the time of deliverance, yea, the set time was come, #Da 9:2), but more fully in those "Jews inwardly," {#Ro 2:29} those "Israelites indeed" who are set at liberty by Christ, {#Joh 8:36} and shall be much more at the last day.

{a} Convertam conversionem. -Vulg.

Ver. 4. And these are the words.] These are the contents of this precious book; every leaf, nay, line, nay, letter whereof, droppeth myrrh and mercy.

That the Lord spake.] See on #Jer 30:1.

Ver. 5. We have heard a voice of trembling.] We were at first in a pitiful plight, scil., when the city was taken and the temple burnt (and this is elegantly here set forth, and in the two next verses); but better times are at hand:

“ Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur.”

Ver. 6. Ask ye now, and see, &c.] Was it ever heard of in this world that a male did bear? The poets indeed fable that Minerva was born of Jupiter’s brain:

“ Pictoribus atque poetis,

Quidlibet audendi fas est.”

Wherefore do I see every man.] Heb., Every strong or mighty man.

With their hands on their loins.] And not on their weapons.

And all faces turned into paleness.] Through extreme fear, the blood running to the heart, and the heart fallen into the heels. The Septuagint, for "paleness," have the yellow jaundice; the Vulgate, gold yellowness; Piscator, morbus regius; the royal sickness, the Hebrew properly implieth the colour of blasted corn. {#De 28:22} It importeth that the most stout-hearted warriors should be enervati et exangues, more parturientium, bloodless and spiritless, as travailing women.

Ver. 7. Alas! for that day is great, ] i.e., Troublesome and terrible, somewhat like the last day, the day of judgment, which is therefore also called the "great day," because therein the great God will do great things, &c.

It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble.] Such as never befell him before. Those very days shall be "affliction," so Mark expresseth the last desolation; {#Jer 13:19} not "afflicted" only, but "affliction" itself. But though it be the time of Jacob’s troubles, let it be also the time of his trust, for there will be shortly a day of his triumph.

But he shall be saved out of it.] Not from it, but yet out of it; the Lord knoweth how to deliver his: {#2Pe 2:9} and though Sense say it will not be; Reason it cannot be; yet Faith gets above and says it shall be; I see the land.

Ver. 8. I will break his yoke from off thy neck.] The forementioned misery did but make way for this mercy, that it might be the more magnified. Let the saints but see from what, to what, and by what Jesus Christ hath delivered them, and they cannot but be thankful.

Ver. 9. But they shall serve the Lord their God.] "Without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their lives." {#Lu 1:74,75 Joh 8:12,31-36, Ro 8:1-4}

And David their king, ] i.e., Zerubbabel of David’s line, {#Hag 2:23} but especially Christ, the King of saints, as the Jewish doctors also expound it.

Whom I will raise up to them.] To be Messiah the Prince. {#Da 9:25} Christ the Lord. {#Ac 5:31}

Ver. 10. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob.] This is Isaiah like; and indeed the prophet here setteth himself verbis consolantissimis, by words of comfort, as one saith, with most cordial comforts, to cheer the hearts of God’s poor afflicted.

Ver. 11. For I am with thee.] To preserve thee, and to provide for thee; to support thee, and to supply thee.

Though I make a full end of all nations.] See #Isa 27:7,8. {See Trapp on "Isa 27:7"} {See Trapp on "Isa 27:8"} #Jer 5:10,18.

But I will correct thee in measure.] Heb., According to judgment, not summo iure et rigida iustitia; not as I might, but in mercy and with moderation.

And will not leave thee altogether unpunished.] Heb., Et innocentando non innocentabo te; in very faithfulness I will afflict thee, that I may be true to thy soul, and not cruel to thy body. {a}

{a} Aliqui reddunt mundando non mundabo te, id est, non excoquam te exacte ad purum putum.

Ver. 12. Thy bruise is incurable, ] i.e., Inevitable, by God’s irrevocable decree. Or, It is incurable in itself; but not to me, who am an almighty Physician or surgeon. See #Eze 37:11. They seemed "free among the dead," free of that company.

Ver. 13. There is none to plead thy cause.] Thou art friendless.

That thou mayest be bound up.] Thou art helpless.

Ver. 14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee.] Thy sweethearts, thine idols, thy carnal friends, thy priests, prophets, riches, pleasures, all these have given thee the bag, as we say; they stand aloof from thy help.

They seek thee not.] Sink thou mayest, or swim, for them; thou art no part of their care.

For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy.] As if I cared not where I hit thee, or how much I hurt thee.

With the chastisement of a cruel one.] So it may seem, and so Job thought; {#Job 30:21} but that was his error. See here what a pass a saint may be at, and how deeply he may suffer, when his sins are increased. God, out of love displeased, may lay upon him and not spare, leave bloody wales on his back, &c. Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit.

For the multitude of thine iniquities.] Because thy sins are many and mighty, or bony. See #Am 5:12. {See Trapp on "Am 5:12"}

Ver. 15. Why criest thou for thine affliction?] And not rather for thy sins? cry not perii, I have died, but peccavi; I have sinned, not, I am undone; but, I have done very foolishly. See #La 3:39,40.

Ver. 16. Therefore all they that devoured thee shall be devoured.] Or, Nevertheless, or yet all they that devoured thee, &c., q.d., That thou mayest experience that in love I corrected thee and for thy good, though to thy so great grief. I will have my pennyworths on thine enemies, measuring to them as they have done to thee.

Ver. 17. For I will restore health.] It goes best with the Church when worst with her enemies. It shall do so much more when all Christ’s foes shall be made his footstool.

Because they called thee an Outcast.] Concluding so from thine afflictions. The Jewish nation, saith Cicero, {a} show how well God regards them, that have been so oft subdued, by the Chaldees, Greeks, Romans, &c. This was but a slender argument, only God is moved by the enemy’s insolence and insults to look in mercy the rather upon his poor despised and despited people.

Saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.] Illusio ex allusione, this was a jeer by playing upon her name, {b} as if Zion signified a dry or waste place, and therefore not much to be desired. Strabo indeed saith as much of Judea; and Mount Zion at this day, nihil habet eximium, nihil expetendum, hath no great desire in it. But certainly Judea was once a land flowing with milk and honey, and Mount Zion was in no small request. Howsoever, none ought by their bitter taunts to add affliction to the afflicted, but rather to weep with those that weep; "be pitiful, be courteous." {#1Pe 3:8}

{a} Quam cara diis esset, docuit, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod servata. -Cic, pro Flacco.

{b} Per ludibrium et blasphemam contumeliam.

Ver. 18. The captivity of Jacob’s tents, ] i.e., The poor captives that now live at Babylon as strangers in tents or huts.

And the city shall be builded upon her own heap.] Or, Hill, sc., in Mount Moriah. Jerusalem shall be inhabited in Jerusalem. {#Zec 12:6} All this was prolusio perfectae liberationis in Christo, saith Junius, a type and pledge of perfect deliverance by Christ.

Ver. 19. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving.] Mox ubi fides, inde prodit et laus et confessio. Faith is a fruitful grace, the very womb wherein all the rest are conceived.

Ver. 20. Their children also shall be as aforetime.] How easily can the Lord "turn again the captivity of his people," set them statu quo prius? "They shall be as if I had not cast them off." {#Zec 10:6} {See Trapp on "Zec 10:6"}

Ver. 21. And their nobles shall be of themselves.] Foreigners shall no more domineer over them, but they shall have governors of their own nation, who shall be more tender of them, and careful of their good. Some apply all this, and well they may, to Jesus Christ, who is here called Magnificus et Domigrator, his magnificent or honourable one and his ruler, {a} who also is one of them, and proceedeth from among them. See #De 18:18.

And I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me.] Either as God, co-equal and coessential with me, or as Mediator; and so he shall approach unto me by the hypostatical union (in respect of which he came the nearest unto God of any that ever was or could), and by the execution of his priestly office, wherein he intercedeth for my people, and reconcileth them unto me.

For who is this that engaged his heart?] Who but my Son Christ durst do it, or was fit to do it? He is a super-excellent person, as is imported by this Mi-hu-ze, Who this he?

{a} Christus Fortis ille et Gigas est. -Oecol.

Ver. 22. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God, ] sc., Through Christ, and by his mediation. As for those that are not in covenant with God by Christ, as the devil will one day sweep them, so meanwhile,

Ver. 23. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury.] Sensim sese conglomerans ac demittens in eorum capite; the vengeance of God followeth them close at heels, till at length they be wherried away by that terrible tempest at death. {#Job 27:20}

Ver. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord.] See #Jer 23:20.

In the latter days ye shall consider it.] In the days of the Messiah, but especially at the end of the world, when all these things shall have their full accomplishment.

Chapter 31

Ver. 1. At the same time, ] i.e., In the beginning of Zedekiah’s reign, as before, was this word uttered. Or rather, in those latter times forementioned, {#Jer 30:24} after the return from Babylon, but especially in the days of the Messiah. The modern Jews vainly apply it to the coming of their Messiah, quem tantis etiamnum ululatibus exposcunt, whom they yet expect, but to no purpose.

Ver. 2. The people that were left of the sword.] Of Pharaoh’s sword, who pursued them; and though he smote them not, because the Lord kept him off, yet he is said to have done it: {a} like as Balak afterwards "arose and fought against Israel," {#Jos 24:9} he had a mind so to have done, but that he was overawed: he did not indeed, because he dared not.

When I went to bring him to rest, ] i.e., To the land of Canaan, after so long trouble and travel. I effected that then, though it were held improbable or impossible: so will I do this promised reduction of my people from Babylon.

{a} Fieri dicitur quod tentatur aut intenditur.

Ver. 3. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me.] This seemeth to be the people’s objection. {a} You tell us what was done of old; but these are ancient things, and little pertaining to us, who are now under a heavy captivity; iam refrixit et obsoleta videtur Dei beneficentia. Hereunto is answered,

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.] I am one and the same. I am Jehovah that change not, whatever thou mayest think of me, because I seem angry at thy misdoings.

Therefore with lovingkinduess have I drawn thee.] Or, Therefore will I draw out lovingkindness towards thee. {as #Ps 36:10} {See Trapp on "Ps 36:10"}

{a} Iudaeorum quiritantium verba. -Zeged.

Ver. 4. Again I will build thee.] See #Jer 34:18.

Thou shalt be adorned with thy tabrets.] All shall be hail and merry with thee as heretofore: yea, thou shalt have spiritual joy, which is res severa, severe and solid, such as doth not only smoothe the brow, but fill the breast.

Ver. 5. Thou shalt yet plant vines.] Profunda pax erit: nemo te perterrefaciet. Thou shalt have plenty, peace, and security.

The planters shall plant them, and shall eat them as common things, ] i.e., Shall have God’s good leave and liking so to do. Heb., Shall profane them, i.e., not abuse them, but use them freely, even to an honest affluence. See #Le 19:23. {See Trapp on "Le 19:23"}

Ver. 6. The watchmen upon the mount Ephraim.] Such as are set to keep those vineyards. {#Jer 31:5}

Shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion.] As the ten tribes first made defection, so shall they be forwardest in the reformation. England was the like alate.

Ver. 7. Shout among the chief of the nations.] Heb., Neigh unto the heads of the nations, ut illa vobis adhinniant et pariter in Christi fide iubilent, that they may join joys with you, and help to make up the choir.

Publish ye, and praise ye, and say, O Lord, save.] The saints have never so much matter of praise, but that they may at the same time find cause enough to pray for more mercy. {#Ps 18:3}

Ver. 8. Behold, I will bring them.] Here is a present answer to such a prayer; and this promise hath its performance chiefly in the kingdom of Christ, who will not suffer the least or the weakest of his to miscarry. See #Isa 35:5,6.

Ver. 9. They shall come with weeping.] Prae gaudio, inquit, flebunt, before happiness, it is said, they were weeping, they shall weep for joy, having first soaked themselves in godly sorrow by the spirit of grace and of supplications or deprecations poured upon them, {#Zec 12:10} being solicitous about their salvation.

And I will make them to walk by the rivers of waters.] Heb., To the brooks of waters, i.e., to the holy ordinances. {as #Ps 23:3}

For I am a Father to Israel.] I do all of free grace.

Ephraim is my firstborn.] And therefore higher than the kings of the earth. {#Ps 89:27}

Ver. 10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations.] Hear and bear witness of the gracious promises that I make to my people; for I would have them noted and noticed.

Ver. 11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob.] Redemption is a voluminous mercy, an accumulative blessing.

From the hand of him that was stronger than he, ] scil., The Chaldean, but especially from Satan. {#Mt 12:29 Joh 12:31}

Ver. 12. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, ] i.e., In the temple shall they celebrate that singular mercy, in the congregation of the faithful.

And shall flow together, ] i.e., Flock together by troops and caravans; flock thither by shoals.

To the goodness of the Lord.] Or, To the goods of the Lord, such as here instanced, wheat, wine, and oil; whereby also better things are figured. A confluence of inward and outward mercies is here assured the saints.

And their soul shall be as a watered garden.] Where every good thing comes forward amain mens faecundata est rore coelesti. See #Isa 58:11.

And they shall not sorrow any more at all.] As those do who have not this contented godliness, but serve various lusts, to their great vexation.

Ver. 13. And make them rejoice from their sorrow.] Or, After their sorrow. I will turn all their sadness into gladness, their sighing into singing, their tears into triumphs, &c.

Ver. 14. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, ] i.e., Provide liberally for my ministers; {#Isa 66:21} they and theirs shall be well maintained. Terms taken from the good and fat parts of the sacrifices, which were allotted for the priests.

Ver. 15. A voice was heard in Ramah.] It was once, when the poor captives were carried that way to Babylon, the mothers bitterly bewailing their Luctuosam faeunditatem. It was also another time, when Herod barbarously butchered the babes of Bethlehem. {#Mt 2:16-18} But now the case is altered, joy is restored, &c.

Rachel weeping for her children.] An elegant personification. {See Trapp on "Mt 2:18"}

Ver. 16. Refrain thy voice from weeping.] Take up in time, O Rachel, and the rest; God comforteth the abject, {#2Co 7:7} he restoreth comfort to his mourners. {#Isa 57:18}

Ver. 17. And there is hope in the end.] Or, For thy posterity. Tribulation causeth patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; lively hope, such as maketh not ashamed, is not disappointed, Spes in fundo. Hope in the depths. God can recompense his people’s patience and obedience, in their heirs and executors.

Ver. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself.] Heb., Hearing I have heard; his moans and laments have rung in mine ears. So #Ho 14:8, "I have heard him, and observed him." This is God’s speech concerning the Christian Church of the Jews; for in this sermon we may easily observe a frequent change of persons, tanquam in opere dramatico, as in an interlude.

Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, ] i.e., I was chastised to good purpose, taught my duty. {as #Ps 94:12}

Turn thou me.] Give me the whole turn, that I be not as an untamed sturdy heifer, or as a cake half baked.

Ver. 19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented.] After that I had turned short again upon myself, as those penitents, {#1Ki 8:47} as Manasseh, the publican, {#Lu 18:13} and that prodigal. {#Lu 15:17}

And after that I was instructed.] Postquam ostensum fuerit mihi. {a} After that I knew myself, or rather was made known to myself—scil., by mine afflictions sanctified; for Schola crucis, schola lucis. The followers of the cross are the followers of light. Afflictions are those pillulae lucis, that serve notably to clear the soul’s eye sight.

I smote upon my thigh, ]{ b} Sicut mulierculae in puerperio facere solent, saith Luther, as travailing women use to do. It is a token of greatest grief. See #Eze 21:12.

I was ashamed, yea, even confounded.] Abashed and abased to the utmost; my sorrow was deep and downright.

Because I did bear the reproach of my youth, ] i.e., The brunt and burden of my reproachful practices in my youth. See #Job 13:26 Ps 25:7.

{a} Tremel., In Gloss. Marginal.

{b} Homer hath it oft πεπληγετο μηρω, he smote on his thigh. Cicero hath the like, lib. iii. Tuscul.

Ver. 20. Is Ephraim a dear son? is he a pleasant child?] q.d., Ay sure he is; and never more dear and pleasant than when thus beblubbered; like as some faces appear most oriently beautiful when they are most enstamped with sorrow. Heb., Is he a child of delight? q.d., He may seem to be otherwise by my hard dealing with him; but so he is assuredly—"Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." {#Joh 11:3}

For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still.] Or, So oft as I speak of him, I am mindful still of him. See #Isa 49:14,16.

Therefore my bowels are troubled for him.] Perstrepunt viscera mea. My bowels work, as that mother’s did toward her child; {#1Ki 3:26} as Croesus’ dumb son’s did, when seeing a fellow ready to kill his father, he burst out into, Kill not king Croesus. {a} See #Ho 11:8. {See Trapp on "Ho 11:8"}

{a} Ανθρωπε, υη κτεινε τον Κροισον.—Herod.

Ver. 21. Set thee up waymarks.] Statue tibi statuas Mercuriales -q.d., I will surely bring thee back by the same way thou wentest hence into captivity; therefore take good notice of the way now, that thou mayest know it again another time. This God saith to quicken their faith, and to ascertain them of his love and favour; which is not like the winter sun, which casteth a goodly countenance when it shineth, but giveth little heat and comfort, &c. We must also set up waymarks, observe how we fell from the Lord, repent and do our first works.

Set thine heart towards the highway.] This is done, saith Augustine, when God is sought for God’s sake. Sed vix diligitur Iesus propter Iesum, saith the same Father; but this is rarely done.

Ver. 22. How long will thou go about?] Hunting after human helps, and—refusing to set thy heart on the right straight way {#Jer 31:21} -fetch a compass, to thy loss of time and labour.

O thou backsliding daughter.] Who wast at times O virgin of Israel. {#Jer 31:21}

For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth.] Or, Will create; he is even about it.

A woman shall compass a man.] i.e., Say some, the Jews (who are now looked upon as weak women, and may say Imbelles damae, quid nisi turba sumus?). shall compass about, and conquer the Chaldees, those men of might— Sicut hostis circundat hostem. Or, As others sense it, the Church Christian, how weak soever at first it may seem, and inconsiderable, yet shall be able, by the confession of her faith, to resist her most potent persecutors, and by faith to overcome them, {#1Jo 5:4} as she did in the apostles, {#Ac 4:13,14,33 5:18,19 38-42} in the noble army of martyrs and confessors. The text is generally understood to be Christ’s wonderful conception in the womb of his virgin mother.

Ver. 23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts.] Et haec pertinent ad regnum Christi propriissime. These words also, to the end of the chapter, do most properly pertain to the kingdom of Christ, saith Oeecolampadius.

As yet.] Or, Yet again. {as #Jer 31:5}

The Lord bless thee.] This prayer is daily made for the Church by all her children.

Ver. 24. Husbandmen, and those that go out with flocks.] Agricolae et pecuarii; the citizens of the Church shall be plain hearted and profitable persons, living together in amity, and not jarring, as husbandmen and shepherds oft do; Cain and Abel for instance.

Ver. 25. For I have satiated the weary soul.] Or, I will satiate, fill them with my fulness, so that they shall have enough for their own, and not emulate others. A good man shall be satisfied from himself, {#Pr 14:14} as knowing within himself that, whatever he hath here, little or much, he hath in heaven a better and more enduring substance. {#Heb 10:34}

Ver. 26. Upon this I awaked.] Out of my prophetic dream.

And my sleep was sweet unto me, ] i.e., The promises (Christ in the promises) were sweet unto me, and I was as much refreshed therewith, as with sound sleep after hard toil or travel.

Ver. 27. I will sow the house of Israel.] I will repeople the country, and raise up many believers to Christ.

Ver. 28. Like as I have watched over them.] I have been sedulous and assiduous.

To pluck up and break down, &c.] See #Jer 1:10,11 10:12 18:7.

So I will watch.] I will make them a plentiful amends.

Ver. 29. In those days they shall say no more.] There shall be rectius de operibus Dei iudicium, a more correct judgment passed upon God’s proceedings. See about this byword, #Eze 18:2.

Ver. 30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity, ] i.e., Every unbeliever shall: neither shall the gospel save him.

Ver. 31. I will make a new covenant.] The same for substance with the former made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the Israelites in the wilderness; but new in respect of the form thereof, the manner of dispensing it—viz., more clearly, freely, effectually, and spiritually now under the gospel, than in those days of yore, when they saw the face of God only in that dark glass of the ceremonies; whereas we, with open face, &c. {#2Co 3:18}

Ver. 32. Not according to the covenant.] Not so, but a great deal better, in regard of larger measures of the Spirit now poured out upon all flesh: together with the efficacy thereof in the hearts of God’s covenanters, who have a duplicate of God’s law written within them. {#Jer 31:33} Lex iubet, gratia iuvat: hence it is an "everlasting covenant," and the fruits of it are "sure mercies," "compassions that fail not," as is here set forth.

Ver. 33. I will put my law in their inward parts.] This the apostle calleth the "law in their minds," opposed to the "law of their members"; {#Ro 7:23} for the natural man is inversus decalogus, oposed to the law, "he is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." But God putteth into the hearts of his people the counterpart of his holy law; he stamps, as it were, a decalogue upon their spirits; he puts into them an inward aptness, answering the law of God without, as the lead answereth the mould, wax the seal, as tally answereth tally: or as indenture indenture.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.] This promise is divini mellis alveare, as one calleth it, The hive of heavenly honey.

Ver. 34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour.] Deest coactio, non deerit cohortatio. {a} Men shall learn with much less ado, because "taught of God," and lively illightened by his Holy Spirit: et quando Christus magister, quam cito discitur quod doeetur? saith Augustine; when Christ becomes a man’s teacher, he must needs be a forwardly scholar. Some make this to be the sense of the words, that in gospel times the truths of Christ, and the knowledge of the Son of God, should be so evident, that men might get more of themselves without a teacher, than with one in the legal administrations; as Paul also showeth, 2 Cor. iii. Not that men should have no need of teaching at all in those times; for the best know but in part, and must daily grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. {#2Pe 3:18}

For they shall all know me.] All mine elect shall know me in some competent measure: know the principles, {#Heb 6:1,2} and go on unto perfection, ib.

For I will forgive their iniquities.] In heaven, and in their own consciences also, {#Zec 3:4} provided that they put this and the like promises in suit by their prayers. {#Mal 3:16} Augustine, Mr Perkins, and Archbishop Ussher expired with crying for mercy and forgiveness.

{a} Oecolampadius.

Ver. 35. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun, &c.] For their better security and settlement; he borroweth a comparison from the surest things, sun, sea, &c.

Which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar.] Or, Who when I trouble the sea, the waves thereof roar, but cannot pass their bound which I have set them. See #Isa 51:15.

Ver. 36. If those ordinances depart from before me.] If they alter their constant course.

Then shall the seed of Israel cease.] Then shall the faithful fail, and the Israelitish nation be utterly abolished.

Ver. 37. If heaven above can be measured.] By man; for God measureth it with his span. {#Isa 40:12}

And the foundations of the earth be searched out.] If any man can dig or dive to the centre.

Ver. 38. That the city shall be built to the Lord.] Jerusalem shall be re-edified, the Church eternally re-established by Christ.

From the tower of Hananeel.] #Ne 3:1 12:39 Zec 14:10.

Unto the gate of the corner.] #2Ki 14:13 Zec 14:10.

Ver. 39. Upon the hill Gareb.] Versus collem scabiosi, toward the hill of the scabby, so Tremellius rendereth it; and Junius thinks it was so called because thither they used to send their lepers and lazars. {poor and diseased person} At Geneva in times of Popery there, they had in an empty place certain cottages set up whereunto they sent their lepers, wherewith that city then abounded, through the horrible filthiness that was there in those days committed. But from the year 1535, wherein they embraced the purity of the gospel, there hath been not above one leper seen in that city. So testifieth Matthaeus Cottherius in his Exposition of the Revelation, printed at Sedan in France, A.D. 1625.

And shall compass about to Goath, ] alias Golgotha, as some think, but these places here mentioned, as also those #Zec 8:3 14:4, as they were known to the ancients, so to us at this day they are unknown. Travellers tell us that Jerusalem is now a poor obscure place, governed by a Turkisk Sanzak, and that Golgotha, or Calvary, is in the very midst of the town.

Ver. 40. And the whole valley of the dead bodies.] Of Rephaim, say some; of Tophet, say others. See on #Jer 31:39.

Shall be holy unto the Lord.] So is the holy Catholic Church, the New Jerusalem which is above especially.

It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more for ever.] This cannot be applied to the earthly Jerusalem, which was plucked up and thrown down by the Romans once and again; but especially by Aelius Hadrian the emperor, who laid the whole country waste almost, drove the Jews utterly out of it, set a sow of white marble over the chief gate of Jerusalem in reproach of their religion, and called the city by his own name, Aelia, commanding the Jews not once to look towards it from any tower or hill. It must be therefore meant to be the Church, which cannot be ruined.

Chapter 32

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah.] What this word was, see #Jer 32:26.

In the tenth year of Zedekiah.] The city had now been a year at least besieged; and yet these "sinners against their own souls" went on to do wickedly, and held the prophet prisoner, for the faithful discharge of his duty. Full forty years had he been prophesying to them, and for many years he had foretold this siege, and the following deportation, but could never be believed. {a} And now he is imprisoned, but not left destitute by God of prison comforts, such as made his prison a paradise, and his sleep sweet unto him. {as #Jer 31:26}

{a} Notanda est tam diutina populi pertinacia.

Ver. 2. And Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison.] Where he had some liberty more than at some other times. {#Jer 37:16,20,21} So had Paul at Rome, {#Ac 28:16,30} Bradford in the counter, &c.; this was a mercy, and so they esteemed it. Good people were suffered to come about them; and they made use of that opportunity to do what good they could.

Ver. 3. For Zedekiah had shnt him up.] He who before had set him at liberty, and thereby haply hoped to have stopped his mouth; but that might not be.

Behold, I will give this city.] This holy city, as the false prophets styled it, and therefore held this prophecy little better than blasphemy.

Ver. 4. And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape.] As he hoped to have done, either by his wiles or by his wealth; and accordingly attempted it, but all in vain.

And he shall speak with him mouth to mouth.] This was no small punishment to Zedekiah, that he must look him in the face from whom he had so perfidiously revolted, even against oath; and hear his taunts, before he felt his fingers. How, then, will graceless persons do to stand before the King of kings, whom they have so greatly offended, at that great day? See #Re 9:17.

Ver. 5. And there shall he be until I visit him.] sc., With death; but the prophet useth a general term, that might be taken either in good part or bad for his own safety’s sake.

Ver. 6. The word of the Lord came unto me, saying.] He had God’s word for his warrant, and this bore him out against the jeers of the ungodly, who would easily think it a very simple part in him who prophesied a desolation of the whole land to go about to buy land.

Ver. 7. Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum.] This Shallum and Hilkiah the father of Jeremiah were brethren. And it was no less an honour to Hanameel to have such a kinsman as Jeremiah, than afterwards it was to Mark to be Barnabas’s sister’s son.

Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth.] The priests, though they had no grain fields, yet they had meadows for their cattle, gardens and orchards in the suburbs of their cities, which in some cases they might sell one to another, till the year of jubilee howsoever. Some say that if such a field were so sold to a kinsman as here, it remained to him for ever. But the possession of the Levites might at any time be redeemed. {#Le 25:32}

For the right of redemption is thine.] See #Le 25:25,32 Ru 3:12 4:3,4.

Ver. 8. So Hanameel my uncle’s son came to me.] God ruleth and boweth men’s wills and all second causes according to the good pleasure of his will; he doth also so frame and contemper them among themselves, that there may be a harmony and correspondence between them.

Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.] Or, That it was a business of God—sc., for the better settling of the faithful in the assurance of a return out of captivity.

Ver. 9. And I bought the field.] This was bravely done, to make a purchase at such a time, when the enemy was seizing upon all. That Roman is famous in history who dared to purchase that field near Rome wherein Hannibal had pitched his camp. {a} Verum eorum res non erant ita deplorates; but the Romans were nothing near so low at that time as the Jews were at this.

And weighed him the money.] That was the manner of payment in those times. {b} Hence the Hebrew shekel from shakal, to weigh {#Ge 23:16} -our English word scale seemeth to come from it), the Greek στατηρ from ισταναι ponderare to weigh {#Ex 30:13 Mt 27:9} or of statera, for a balance the Dutch and English mark {c} cometh from a similar origin.

Even seventeen shekels of silver.] No great sum, not much over forty shillings; but it might be as much as the thing was worth, considering the times especially.

{a} Liv., lib. xxvi. Plutar. in Annib. Flor., lib. ii. c. 6.

{b} Olim moneta librabatur. Pater puellae id aurum in dotem viro appendit

{c} Unde et nomen marcharum hodie nobis superest. -Zegedin.

Ver. 10. And I subscribed the evidence.] Heb., I wrote in the book, and sealed it. Men love to be upon sure grounds in things temporal; oh that they were as wise for their souls!

Ver. 11. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed, &c.] There were then two copies of these contracts and covenants, for preventing of later claims and quarrels.

Ver. 12. And I gave the evidences of the purchase unto Baruch.] Who was Jeremiah’s household servant, and his scribe or notary, such as was afterwards Paulus Coneordiensis to Cyprian.

In the sight of Hanameel, &c.] Here was good husbandry, which Bishop Andrews was wont to say was good divinity. {a}

Before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.] Whither they came likely to hear the prophet, as the well affected here did to hear and see the martyrs in Queen Mary’s days. To Mr Bradford (by his keeper’s courtesy) there was such resort at his lecture and ministration of the sacrament, that commonly his chamber was well nigh filled therewith. {b}

{a} Fuller’s Church Hist.

{b} Acts and Mon., 1457.

Ver. 13. And I charged Baruch.] See on #Jer 32:12.

Ver. 14. That they may continue many days.] Even beyond the seventy years of captivity, and then be produced again.

Ver. 15. Houses and fields and vineyards, &c.] However unlikely it may seem, like as it did to Moses, that the people should eat flesh a month together. He thought that God had made an unadvised promise, and prays him to consider that the people were six hundred thousand footmen, and that the flocks and herds would not suffice them. Jeremiah seemeth to object some such matter in his following prayer, especially #Jer 32:25. But God answereth them both alike—viz., that his hand was not waxen short, that nothing was too hard for him, that he was never nonplussed, &c. See #Jer 32:27 Nu 11:23.

Ver. 16. I prayed unto the Lord, saying.] His heart began to boil with unbelief and carnal reasonings; he therefore setteth himself to pray down those distempers. As a man may sleep out his drunkenness, so he may pray away his perturbations. It was Job’s restraining of prayer, Eliphaz thought, that made him so far to forget himself, and to extravagant. {#Job 15:4}

Ver. 17. Ah Lord God!] This interjection in the beginning of his prayer showeth that his heart was greatly grieved and perplexed. Nevertheless he reineth in his passions, and runneth not out into a brawl instead of a prayer, as Jonah did. {#Jon 4:1} {See Trapp on "Jon 4:1"}

Thou hast made the heaven and earth by thy great power.] God’s might and mercy are the good soul’s Joachin and Boaz, whereon it ever resteth. These two doth Jeremiah in this prayer of his chiefly plead and flee to.

And there is nothing too hard for thee.] Heb., Nothing is hidden from thee, or wonderful with thee. But for my part I am at a great stand, neither know I how to bring both ends together.

Ver. 18. Thou showest lovingkindness.] See on #Jer 32:17.

And recompensest the iniquity.] Thou art not made all of mercy either, as silly folk are apt to conceit it.

Into the bosom of their children.] Who have it in full measure, long though it be first sometimes. Such parents are parricides.

The great, the mighty God.] Surgit hic oratio. Let us learn to represent the Lord to ourselves in prayer under fit notions and attributes; this will both increase faith and inflame affection.

Ver. 19. Great in counsel and mighty in work.] See on #Isa 9:6 28:29.

For thine eyes are upon all the ways of the sons of men.] Oh that we could always look upon these eyes of God as looking on us! it would be a notable retentive from evil and incentive to good.

To give unto every one according to his ways.] God’s providence (which is nothing else but the carrying on of his decree) is that helm which turneth about the whole ship of the universe.

Ver. 20. Who hast set signs and wonders.] #Ps 78:43 106:22 135:9.

Even unto this day.] Oresius writeth {a} that the tracks of Pharaoh’s chariot wheels are yet to be seen at the Red Sea. Fides sit penes authorem.

{a} Oros., lib. i. cap. 10.

Ver. 21. And hast made thee a name.] As #Isa 63:11-13 Ps 136:10-21 Ps 105:44 Ne 9:24,26.

Ver. 22. {See Trapp on "Jer 32:21"}

Ver. 23. {See Trapp on "Jer 32:21"}

Ver. 24. Behold the mounts.] Raised by the enemies as high as the walls, that they might fight with the besieged upon even ground.

Ver. 25. And thou hast said unto me.] Which now I cannot but seriously wonder at, seeing how things are carried; yet I have obeyed thee without questioning.

For the city is given.] Or, Though the city be given.

Ver. 26. Then came the word of the Lord.] See on #Jer 32:1.

Ver. 27. Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.] Yea, of the "spirits of all flesh"; {#Nu 16:22} but what can weak flesh do against the Almighty?

Is there anything too hard for me?] See on #Jer 32:15,17. Still God is careful to confirm and comfort his ministers, and here he doth Jeremiah much what in his own words.

Ver. 28. Behold, I will give this city.] As #Jer 32:3.

Ver. 29. With the houses, upon whose roofs.] Such was their impudence, and so far was this now from being, as once, the holy city. It was become a very Poneropolis, excessively superstitious, as was afterwards Athens. {#Ac 17:22}

Ver. 30. Have only done evil before me.] Have made it their whole practice to provoke me, like as #Jer 32:23 they are said to have "done nothing of all that God commanded them to do," so cross grained they were, and "to every good work reprobate."

Ver. 31. From the day that they built it.] Ever since Solomon beautified it, and made it the metropolis. Nevertheless Hegesippus was out, in saying that Jerusalem was so called quasi ιερον Σολομωντος. Solomon made it famous by his magnificence; but odious by his idolatry there.

Ver. 32. Because of all the evil.] Their omissions {#Jer 32:23} and commissions, {#Jer 32:30} doing evil as they could.

Ver. 33. And they have turned unto me.] See #Jer 2:27.

Though I taught them.] See #Jer 7:13,25:3 26:3.

Ver. 34. In the house which is called by my name.] Templi periphrasis haec est emphatica, atque argumentosa.

Ver. 35. And they built.] See #Jer 7:31 19:5.

Ver. 36. And now therefore.] Or, Yet now notwithstanding, when God thus cometh in with his non-obstante what may not he do?

Ver. 37. Behold, I will gather them.] See #Jer 16:15 23:3. This was fulfilled especially in that golden age, and perpetual jubilee of the gospel, that began five hundred years after.

Ver. 38. And they shall be my people.] See #Jer 24:7 31:33.

Ver. 39. And I will give them one heart.] Oneness or singleness of heart in my service, and unanimity among themselves, until they all come unto that oneness of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, &c. {#Eph 4:13}

That they may fear me for ever.] This the Jews say (but falsely) a man may do by the power of nature. See #Jer 32:40 Eze 36:26,27.

Ver. 40. And I will make.] See #Jer 31:31 Eze 39:29.

Ver. 41. Yea, I will rejoice over them.] Volupe mihi erit; it shall be as great a pleasure to me to bless them, as it can be to them to obey me. See #Jer 24:7 Ps 119:2,10.

Ver. 42. So will I bring upon them.] #Jer 29:10 31:28.

Ver. 43. And fields shall be bought.] For an assurance whereof I have caused thee to buy this field now.

Ver. 44. Men shall buy fields for moneg.] All shall be statu quo prius in that great restoration of all things. And with this chapter endeth the commentary of Jerome upon Jeremiah.

Chapter 33

Ver. 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time.] To the same purpose with the former, {#Jer 32:1} which is reckoned his fourteenth sermon, as this his fifteenth; by both we see that "the word of God is not bound," though the preacher may; {#2Ti 2:9} "It runs and is glorified," is free and not fettered. {#2Th 3:1}

While he was yet shut up.] God forsaketh not his prisoners, but giveth them oft extraordinary comforts. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, being a long time held prisoner by Charles V for the defence of the gospel, was demanded what upheld him all that time? he answered, Divinas martyrum consolationes se sensisse, that he felt in his soul the divine consolations of martyrs, in whom as the afflictions of Christ do abound, so do comforts by Christ abound much more. {#2Co 1:5}

Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof.] i.e., Of the promise of restoration. {#Jer 32:41-44} Or of Jerusalem, which he is said to make in the sense that he "made Moses and Aaron," that is, "advanced" them. {#1Sa 12:6, marg.}

The Lord is his name.] Jehovah the essentiator, who giveth being to all things, and particularly to his word.

Ver. 3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee.] Thou hast a promise, and I will perform it; but so as that thou Jeremiah, and such as thou art, Daniel, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, &c., pray over the promise. The angel told Daniel he came for his prayer’s sake. {#Jer 10:12}

And show thee great and mighty things.] Or, Abstruse and reserved things. God’s praying people get to know much of his mind above others; like as John, by weeping, got the book opened; and Daniel, by prayer, had the king’s secret revealed unto him in a night vision. {#Da 2:18,19} Bene orasse, est bene studuisse, said Luther; who, because he had much communion with God by prayer, so holy truths were daily more and more made known unto him, he knew not how nor which way, as himself said.

Ver. 4. Which are thrown down by the mounts.] Or, Catapults, or engines of demolition, used to batter with. See #Jer 32:24.

And by the sword.] Or, Mattocks—scil., After that the enemy had entered the city, and cried, as #Ps 137:3,

“ Destruite, ex imis subvertite fundamentis:”

Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.

Ver. 5. They come to fight with the Chaldeans.] But they fight not in God’s name; for he hath, for all their wickedness, hidden his face from them; therefore they fight with such sorry success; the houses which they would defend are filled with their dead caresses. This whole verse would be hemmed in with a parenthesis.

Ver. 6. Behold, I will bring it health and cure.] Una eademque manus vulnus opemque feret. This is God’s usual method and manner of dealing with his people, {#Ho 6:1} as a skilful physician, primo pungit, deinde ungit.

“ Enecat, ut possit vivificare Deus.”

And I will reveal {a} unto them abundance of peace and truth.] Why then, feri, Domine, feri; such gold as "peace and truth" cannot be bought too dear. The Chaldee here hath it, Revelabo iis portam poenitentiae, I will reveal unto them the gate of repentance, and show them how they may walk in the way of peace and truth.

{a} Revelabo., i.e., re ipsa exhibebo.

Ver. 7. And I will cause the captivity of Judah.] As #Jer 24:5 30:3 32:44. They shall be as if I had not cast them off, and I will hear them. {#Zec 10:6}

Ver. 8. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity.] Which must therefore needs be a filthy and loathsome thing, else what need cleansing? Christ, for this cause, came by water and blood.

And I will pardon all their iniquities.] This clause expoundeth the former, and containeth the mother mercy.

Ver. 9. And it shall be to me a name {a} of joy, ] i.e., An honour, that I shall take singular delight in.

And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness.] Which bodes no good to them; for the Church’s welfare is ever joined with the downfall and destruction of her enemies.

{a} In nomen laetum, i.e., laeificum.

Ver. 10. Again there shall be heard in this place.] God loveth to help his people, when they are forsaken of their hopes.

Ver. 11. The voice of joy.] See #Jer 7:34 16:9.

The voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts, for he is good.] This carmen intercalare the Jews sang joyfully at their return from Babylon, {#Ezr 3:11} and the saints shall have cause to sing throughout all eternity.

And of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise.] Even "the calves of their lips, giving thanks to his name," {#Heb 13:15} together with other evangelical sacrifices, as contrition; {#Ps 51:17} confidence; {#Ps 4:4} alms deeds; {#Heb 13:16} the obedience of faith; {#Ro 15:16} self-denial, {#Ro 12:1} &c. The Talmudists say that the sacrifice of praise here mentioned shall continue when all other sacrifices are abolished; and this we see verified in the Christian Church.

Ver. 12. In all the cities thereof shall be an habitation of shepherds, ] i.e., Several sorts of buildings, yea, even sheep cotes and lodges for shepherds and their flocks. All these promises are antitheta, opposite to those menaces, #Jer 7:34,16:9 cf. 25:10 31:24.

Ver. 13. Shall the flocks pass again under the hand of him that telleth them.] As shepherds used oft to tell their sheep. Christ the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls knoweth all his sheep, and calleth them by name; he hath them ever in numerato, for he numbereth the stars also. See #Joh 10:3,11,12.

Ver. 14. I will perform that good thing.] Praestabo verbum istud optimum, as Tremellius well rendereth it. I will perform that best word or promise, viz., concerning Christ, in whom all the former and future promises are Yea and Amen, to the glory of God. {#2Co 1:20}

“ Haec dicenda bono sunt bona verba die.”

Ver. 15. I will cause the branch of righteousness.] See the same, #Jer 23:5. The sweet promise concerning Christ can never be too often repeated. The Greek and German versions have that clause here also as there, "And a king shall reign and prosper, or understand."

Ver. 16. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord is our righteousness.] Heb., This is that he shall call her, Jehovah our righteousness; called the Church shall be by Christ’s own name, which is a very high honour, as being his spouse, and making up one mystical body with him. Hence she is called "Christ," {#1Co 12:12} and "the fulness of him who filleth all in all." {#Eph 1:23} See #Jer 23:6, with #Eze 48:35.

Ver. 17. David shall never want a man.] The man Christ Jesus. {#Lu 1:32,33}

Ver. 18. Neither shall the priest want a man.] The same man Christ Jesus, who is, as a King everlasting, so a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek; and his sacrificing of himself once is more than equivalent to the daily perpetual sacrificing. Whereunto may be added the continuance of an evangelical ministry in the Church to the world’s end. {#Mt 28:20 Eph 4:11-13}

Ver. 19. And the word of the Lord, &c.] Iterum de perpetuitate regni Christi tractat et iurat, saith Oecolampadius. Once more he treateth of the perpetuity of Christ’s kingdom, and assureth it as by oath.

Ver. 20. If ye can break my covenant of the day.] God hath hitherto kept promise with nights and days, that one shall succeed the other; and will he not then keep in touch with his people?

Ver. 21. Then may also my covenant.] See #Jer 33:17,18. The poet hath somewhat like this:

“ Iungantur ante saeva sideribus freta,

Et ignis undae, tartaro tristi polus,

Lux alma tenebris, roscidae nocti dies, ”& c.

- Sen. in Octavia.

Ver. 22. As the host of heaven.] See #Ge 13:16 15:5.

So will I multiply the seed of David.] True believers.

And the Levites.] Godly ministers. See #Ps 68:11.

Ver. 23. Moreover.] Or, Again. Idem repetit; the same thing is repeated, that it may be the better believed.

Ver. 24. Consider thou not what this people have spoken.] This unbelieving, misgiving, desponding people of mine.

The two families.] Iudah et Israel habentur pro properipsemate.

Ver. 25. If my covenant be not with day and night.] See on #Jer 33:20. If there be not a constant intercourse of either.

Ver. 26. Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob.] The body of the faithful, whom he ruleth by his Word and Spirit. {#Ps 105:1,6 Ro 9:6 Ga 3:16,17 6:16}

And will have mercy on them.] This is a complexive promise, and better than money, answereth all things.

Chapter 34

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] Still he voucheth his author for more authority sake. And this is held to be his sixteenth sermon.

And all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion.] For never any monarch was master of the whole earth.

Ver. 2. Go and speak unto Zedekiah.] Tell him plainly what shall become of him and his, though thou be sent to prison for thy plain dealing.

Ver. 3. And thou shalt not escape.] Whatever vain hopes thou mayest nourish, and although thou thinkest thou hast a stake in store, howsoever the world goes with the rest. See #Jer 32:4,5.

Ver. 4. Yet hear the word of the Lord.] A word of comfort. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. {#Ps 145:9} Out of his philanthropy he giveth this wicked prince a mitigation of his just punishment, and a further time to repent. {as #Re 2:21} And possibly this goodness of God might in time lead him to repentance. {as #Ro 2:4}

Thou shalt not die by the sword.] And yet Josiah, his father, a far better man, did; so unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out.

Ver. 5. But thou shalt die in peace.] Yet not as his father Josiah did, in that peace of God, unless he amended his manners, for he was reckoned among the naughty figs.

And with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings.] With the usual solemnities at the exequies of the better sort of kings: Nec una fuit veteribus sepeliendi ratio. See #2Ch 16:14 21:19. The Jews have a tradition that Nebuchadnezzar, upon a festival day, caused him to be brought out of prison, and so abused him before his princes to make them sport, that for shame and grief thereof he died soon after; and then Nebuchadnezzar, to make him some recompense, caused him to be honourably buried, suffering his former subjects to burn sweet odours and to bewail his death. {a}

And they will lament thee.] The dues of the dead are, honorifice lugeri et honeste sepeliri, to be honourably lamented and laid up; which yet is not granted to all good men, but heaven makes amends. Planctus haec fuit formula iuxta Seder Olam, Heu! quia mortuus est Rex Zedechias bibens faeces omnium cetatum; i.e., Luens peccata priorum saeculorum—interprete Genebrardo.

For I have pronounced the word.] Both the comminatory part of this message and the consolatory. But Zedekiah was so moved at the former that he regarded not the latter.

{a} Joseph. Antiq., lib. x. cap. 11.

Ver. 6. Then Jeremiah spake all these words.] Never fearing what might follow; and he had no sooner done but he was clapped up. See #Jer 32:3.

Ver. 7. And against all the cities of Judah which were left.] These were not many, for the Chaldean conqueror, as an overflowing scourge, had passed through Judah, and gone over all, reaching even to the neck. {as #Isa 8:8}

Ver. 8. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] Here beginneth a new sermon, reckoned the seventeenth; and here ought to begin a new chapter, saith Piscator.

After that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant.] In their distress they made some shows of remorse, and some overtures of reformation. So did Pharaoh. {#Ex 8:8,15,28,32 9:28,34 10:17,20} And the Israelites of old. {#Jud 10:15,16 Ps 78:34-36; see the notes there} Daemon languebat, &c. Pliny, in one of his epistles to one that desired rules from him how to order his life aright, I will, said he, give you one rule that shall be instead of a thousand: Ut tales esse perseveremus sani, quales nos futuros esse profitemur infirmi, i.e., That we continue to be as good in health as we promise and begin to be at the time of our sickness.

Ver. 9. That every man should let his manservant.] Should manumit and dismiss him at six years’ end, according to the law. {#Ex 21:1,2} The seventh year {a} was called the year of liberty, and then they were to let go their brethren that served them, and this in a thankful remembrance of their deliverance from the Egyptian servitude. But this they had neglected to do; and now, to pacify God’s wrath, and to prevent, if it might be, the Chaldeans’ cruelty, this coarse they took, and not altogether without success, for the siege was thereupon raised for a season; and had they returned to God with all their heart and with all their soul, who knows what might have been further done for them? But they did nothing less; therefore came wrath upon them to the utmost.

{a} Hic septimus annus fuit typus aeternae liberationis post curriculum sex dierum mundi, sex mille annorum.

Ver. 10. Then they obeyed, and let them go.] They seemed to be very good as long as it lasted. See on #Jer 34:8. So when God lays siege to men by sickness or otherwise, then covenants are made and kept for a while concerning the putting away of their sins; but no sooner doth God slack his wrath but they retract their vows, and return to their wonted wickedness:

“ Aegrotus surgit, sed pia vota iacent.”

Ver. 11. But afterwards they turned, and caused their servants.] Stimulante avaritia. Covetousness prompting and pricking them on thereunto for that is the root of all evil. {#1Ti 6:10} The Chaldeans had drawn off, to go, belike, to fight with the relief that was coming out of Egypt; {#Jer 37:7,11} and now these silly Jews thought themselves out of the reach of God’s rod perfidiously repealed their vows, re-embondaged their servants, and are therefore worthily threatened with a more cruel servitude to the Chaldeans for this their relapse and breach of covenant with God.

Ver. 12. Therefore the word of the Lord.] Of God the Son. {a}

Came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] From God the Father.

{a} Junius.

Ver. 13. I made a covenant with your fathers.] Heb., I cut a covenant. See #Jer 34:18.

Out of the house of bondmen.] Such were you when there; why then should you pull up the bridge before others which yourselves have gone over? make slaves of those whom God had made free? {#Le 25:39,42}

Ver. 14. At the end of seven years let ye go.] He layeth before them God’s law, which they had transgressed, out of #Ex 21:2 De 15:12. A law so full of equity, humanity, and benignity, that the more honest heathens approved and observed it, as the Romans and Athenians. Only these latter had an action at law (which they called ‘Αποστασιον) for a master against his servant, ungrateful for his manumission, and not doing his duty to his master, for such were again to be made bondslaves, if the crime could be proved against them. {a}

{a} Val. Max., lib. ii. cap. 1.

Ver. 15. And you were now turned.] Being frightened into a temporary reformation: but all was in hypocrisy, as now well appeareth. Falling stars were never but meteors.

In proclaiming liberty every one to his neighbour.] Your servants were your neighbours, and "their flesh as your flesh," {#Ne 5:5} and should have been so considered. In the law the servant paid the half shekel as well as his master. And in the gospel, as there is "neither Jew nor Greek, so neither bond nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus," {#Ga 3:28} whether he be lord or lowlies. Servus est domini sui συναδελφος.

And ye had made a covenant before.] And have not all done so in baptism, that Beersheba, or Well of an oath?

Ver. 16. But ye turned.] Exprobrat recidivum Iudaeorum scelus, qui scilicet primam virtutem turpiter deluserint et violarint. He upbraideth them, and deservedly, with their apostasy and perjury. Peter also thundereth against such. {#2Pe 2}

And polluted my name, ] scil., By the violation of your solemn vow; so doth every profligate professor and ungirt Christian.

Whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure.] Liberty is a desirable and delectable commodity. Those that live in Turkey, Persia, yea, or but in France, &c., esteem it so.

Ver. 17. Ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty.] Ye have not done it, because ye have not continued to do it; ye have lost the things that you had wrought.

Behold, I proclaim a liberty for you.] God loves to retaliate. Here he abandoneth these apostates to the plagues instanced. Let them use you at their pleasure, saith God; I have no mercy for such merciless wretches, neither care I what becomes of you.

Ver. 18. That have transgressed my covenant.] His covenant he calleth it by a weighty emphasis, because about a business by him commanded, and wherein he was engaged, not as a bare spectator, but as a severe avenger of their perjury.

When they cut the calf in twain.] To show the correspondence of wills whereunto the contractors did bind themselves, and the punishment of dissection or other violent death whereunto they submitted themselves, in case they broke promise. The rise of this rite in covenanting, see #Ge 15:9,10,17. The heathens {a} used the like ceremony, {b} as is to be seen in Homer, Cicero, Livy, Virgil:

“ Et caesa iungebant faedera porea.”

The Romans cut a sow in twain; and when it was divided, the Faeciales or heralds gave one half to one party, and the other half to the other, and said, So God divide you asunder if you break this covenant; and let God do this so much the more as he is more able.

{a} Hom. Il., lib. iii; Tul. de Invent.; Liv., lib. i.; Virg. Aeneid, 8.

{b} Hinc faedus a faedo animali diviso.

Ver. 19. The princes of Judah.] These were most of them cut in pieces by the King of Babylon, as the calf had been.

Ver. 20. And their dead bodies.] #Jer 7:33 16:4.

Ver. 21. Which are gone up from you.] But will be upon you again ere long; they are but gone back to fetch beer, as it were. You have deceived your servants with a vain hope of liberty, and so you do now yourselves. See #Jer 37:8,21.

Ver. 22. Behold, I will command] i.e., By a secret instinct I will move.

Chapter 35

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] The eighteenth sermon, ordine tamen arbitario non naturali, delivered various years before the former, and here placed, not in its proper order, but as it pleased him that collected them into this book.

Ver. 2. Go unto the house of the Rechabites.] So called of one Rechab, the father of, Jonadab, who was famous for his piety in Jehu’s days, {#2Ki 10:15} three hundred years at least before this prophecy of Jeremiah. They were of the posterity of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, and lived up and down in the land upon their employments, weaned from the world, and exercising themselves in the law of God. See #1Ch 2:55, where they are called the "families of the scribes that dwelt at Jabez," as being men learned in the laws of God. Of them came the Essenes, a studious and abstemious sect among the Jews; and they might better than those Donatists have taken to themselves the title of Apotactici, so called from their renouncing the world.

And give them wine to drink.] Heb., Make them drink wine—i.e., set it before them, and then leave them to their own liberty.

Ver. 3. Then I took Jaazaniah.] Whether actually or in vision only it skilleth not; but the former way probably.

Ver. 4. And I brought them into the house of the Lord.] That it might be made a public business, and so the better work upon all that should hear of it.

The son of Igdaliah, a man of God.] A priest and prophet or teacher of the people. So in the New Testament others are called God’s children, his servants, and his people, but ministers only are called God’s men. {#1Ti 6:11 2Ti 3:17}

Which was by the chamber of the princes.] Or, Of the prefects of the temple, that were next under the high priests.

Ver. 5. Drink ye wine.] It was a double temptation unto them: 1. To have pots and cups of wine set before them; 2. To be bid drink it by a prophet, and at prophet’s chamber. But they were resolved, in obedience to their father Jonadab, to forbear. Yet if Jeremiah had said, Thus saith the Lord, Drink wine, they ought to have done it; but this he did not.

Ver. 6. We will not drink wine.] This they were resolved on, not because they were persuaded, as Mohammed’s followers are, that in every grape there dwelt a devil, but because Jonadab, the son of Rechab, their progenitor, {#2Ki 10:15} had two or three hundred years before charged them to forbear; not thereby to establish any new arbitrary service, or any rule of greater perfection of life {a} (as the Papists misallege it in favour of monkery and other will worships and superstitious observances), but only as a civil ordinance about things external, the foundation whereof is laid in the Word, which commandeth modesty, humility, sobriety, heavenly mindedness, &c.

{a} Haec leges vitae potius eram honestatis quam salutis animae.

Ver. 7. Neither shall ye build house.] But be content and dwell in tents, as the ancient patriarchs were, and as your ancestors in Midian, removing from place to place, after the manner of the old nomades; so shall ye be the better prepared for a change in the state, which this good old man might foresee and foresignify to his nephews, enjoining them therefore to follow their shepherdy only, as men less addicted to the world, and bent for heaven.

That ye may live many days in the land.] While ye obey my charge. Long life is promised to children that obey their parents.

Where ye be strangers] The Rechabites were originally Midianites; but Jethro, of whom they came, was a famous proselyte in the Church; his son Hobab a guide to God’s people in the wilderness; and his posterity imped and incorporated into the body of God’s people. {#Jud 1:16} Nevertheless they counted and called themselves "strangers," alienigenae, as those that looked for a better country above. See #Heb 11:9.

Ver. 8. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab.] Obedience to parents, in things not unlawful, is very commendable. Aristotle saith, {a} It is not good for a man to dissent from the gods, from his father, and from his teacher. We read of a king of Poland who carried the picture of his father in a plate of gold about his neck, and when he was going about any great business, he would kiss that picture and say, God grant I may observe my father’s charge, and do nothing unworthy of him, &c.

We, our wives, our sons, and our daughters.] As themselves were obedient to their father, so had they their children obedient to them, whereas ill children are punished in their posterity. One complained that never father had so undutiful a child as he had. Yes, said his son, with less grace than truth, my grandfather had. {b}

{a} Μη καλον κρινειν εναντια τοις θεοις, πατρι και διδασκαλω.—Ar. Rhet.

{b} Fuller’s Holy State.

Ver. 9. Nor to build houses, &c.] Jonadab, being a prudent and withal a mortified man, might foresee that the Israelites, being so wicked a people, could not long continue. He knew also that wine was oft an occasion of drunkenness, trading in the world, of earthly mindedness; fair houses, of loathness to leave the world. Haec sunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori, as that emperor once said of stately buildings. He, therefore, for a quiet life, and for their souls’ health, forbade them the use of these lawful things, and they accordingly forbare them.

Ver. 10. But we have dwelt in tents.] And fed much upon dairy produce, as did Heber the Kenite, who was one of them, {#Jud 4:19} living in abstinence and bodily labour, that we might be free to divine contemplations.

Ver. 11. Come, and let us go to Jerusalem.] So then it was lawful for them to dispense with those their observances, in that inevitable necessity; like as also they might have drunk wine rather than have perished. But what can be reasonably pleaded for that man of sin, who taketh upon him to dispense with God’s holy law, and de iniustitia facere iustitiam, ex nihilo aliquid, ex virtute vitium, { a} to make righteousness of unrighteousness, vice of virtue, something of nothing?

So we dwell at Jerusalem.] But better they had kept out, and held to their old course; for so they might have escaped some way.

{a} Bellarm., De Pontif. Rom, lib. iv.

Ver. 12. Then came the word of the Lord.] Then, after this famous example of obedience thus proposed, an excellent way of teaching surely. Reason should rule, and therefore lodgeth in the brain; but when reason cannot persuade, example will.

Ver. 13. Will ye not receive instruction, to hearken to my words?] Quae est illa portentosa pertinacia? What a strange stiffness and obstinace in you is this! Am not I to be better esteemed and obeyed by you than Jonadab is by the Rechabites?

Ver. 14. The words of Jonadab, … not to drink wine, are performed.] So are the words of Mohammed to like purpose, to this day, by the Turks; so are the commands of the Popish padres to their young novices, though it be to make a voyage to China or Peru,

“ Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum.”

For unto this day they drink none.] Neither dwell in houses, as you do and may do, eating of the fat and drinking of the sweet without restraint, so that you keep within the bounds of sobriety. I command you nothing but what in reason should be done for a worldly good, as well as for a spiritual.

Rising early and speaking.] I began early with you, my law I gave you in Horeb, eight or nine hundred years since, and from that time to this I have constantly and instantly called upon you by my messengers for obedience, whereas it is not yet full three hundred years since Jonadab left this charge with his Rechabites, and, dying, left none to see it fulfilled, or to reprove them for their neglects.

Ver. 15. I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets.] But all to no purpose. See on #Jer 35:14.

Saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way.] And was this so great a matter, to part with that which profiteth you nothing, yea, which undoubtedly will undo you?

And go not after other gods.] For wherein can they bestead you?

And ye shall dwell in the land.] This was more thau ever Jonadab could promise, or promising perform, to his nephews.

But ye have not inclined your ear.] See #Jer 7:24,26,11:8,17:23 34:14.

Ver. 16. Because the sons of Jonadab.] This was a lively way of confuting their contumacy, far more convincing than that of the heathens not changing their gods, or the beasts knowing their owners, the birds their seasons.

But this people have not hearkened unto me.] Whereas, "if I be a father, where is mine honour? and if a master, where is mine obedience?" {#Mal 1:6} {See Trapp on "Mal 1:6"}

Ver. 17. Behold, I will bring upon Judah.] Aut poenitendum aut pereundum. Men must either repent, or perish; obey God’s law, or bear the penalty; no remedy. {#Heb 2:2 2Th 1:8}

Ver. 18. Because ye have obeyed the commandment.] Obedience to parents hath an ample recompense of reward, as that which is good and acceptable before God and men. {#1Ti 5:4}

Ver. 19. Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever, ] i.e., To be beloved by me, and to be in special favour with me, lifting up pure hands in all places of their abode. Captive they were carried among the Jews; but they returned also again with them (as appears #1Ch 2:55), erantque Deo cordi et curae and they were dear to God.

Chapter 36

Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the fourth year.] This whole chapter is historical and narrative, as also are some others besides this. Historias lege, ne fias historia.

Ver. 2. Take thee a roll {a} of a book, ] i.e., A volume. {as #Isa 8:1} {See Trapp on "Isa 8:1"}

And write therein.] Jeremiah had a command to write; so have not our empty scripturients, whose rapes on the innocence of paper, as one phraseth it, make the press almost execrable. Ista prurientis calami scabies potius est, quam scriptio. {a}

All the words that I have spoken unto thee.] The sum and substance of all thy sermons for these twenty-three years past. See #Jer 1:2 25:3.

{a} Olim liber erat instar mappae geographicae.

{b} Pineda.

Ver. 3. It may be that the house of Judah will hear, &c.] See here the utility of the Holy Scriptures, and the excellent use that may be made of reading them. A man may be thereby doubtless converted where preaching is wanting, as various were in Queen Mary’s days, when the Word of God was precious; {a} as Augustine was by reading Rom. 13., Fulgentius by the Frophet Jonah, Franciseus Junius by John 1., &c.; the eunuch, {#Ac 8:26-39} and those noble Bereans, {#Ac 17:11} were notably prepared for conversion by this ordinance.

That I may forgive their iniquity and their sin, ] i.e., Their sins of all sorts, giving them a free and full discharge.

{a} Foxe’s Martyrol.

Ver. 4. Then Jeremiah calIed Baruch, … and {a} Baruch wrote from the mouth.] Dictantis ab ore pependit. Jeremiah, it seemeth, had either not written his prophecies, or not so legibly, or in loose papers only; now he hath them fair written out into a book, making the same use of Baruch as afterward Paul did of Tertius, {#Ro 16:22} who himself wrote no very good hand, as some have gathered from #Ga 6:11; {See Trapp on "Ga 6:11"}

{a} Baruch iste notarius et diaconus Ieremiae, simulque propheta fuit. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 5. I am shut up.] Or, I am detained, or restrained; haply by some legal pollution that he had contracted, as by touching a dead carcase, &c.; or by some bodily infirmity, or by the lying in wait of his enemies, or by the Spirit of God, {as #Ac 16:6,7} for a punishment to the Jews by the prophet’s absence and silence, and for the safety of his servant in those perilous times.

Ver. 6. Therefore go thou, and read in the roll.] A minister, when he cannot himself officiate, must provide another in his stead.

Which thou hast written from my mouth.] And which the Holy Ghost hath put into my mouth, both matter and words.

Upon the fasting day.] A very fit time for the reading of the Scriptures, that the people then convened might hear and fear, and supplicate, and convert, and God might heal them. The fast here mentioned was not the ordinary yearly fast, called the day of expiation or atonement, but another that was conceptivum et liberum, kept on some special occasion for the averting of God’s judgment, such as was that at Nineveh. There was afterwards, indeed, a yearly fast kept in November, to bewail this wicked practice of King Jehoiakim in cutting and casting into the fire this blessed book. {a}

{a} Genebrard., Ex Menologio Hebraeor.

Ver. 7. It may be they will present their supplication.] Heb., Their supplication will fall before the Lord. Fasting of itself is but a "bodily exercise," and profiteth little. If the soul be not afflicted, rebel flesh tamed, prayers edged, and reformation effected, men fast to no purpose. {#Isa 58:3,5 Zec 5:5,7}

Ver. 8. And Baruch the son of Neriah did according, &c.] Nihil de sua saliva admiscens. He faithfully performed the prophet Jeremiah’s commands, not standing to cast perils, being thereunto heartened and hardened by Jeremiah {#Jer 45:5}

Ver. 9. They proclaimed a fast.] Haply for fear of the Chaldeans, who, having lately beaten Pharaohnecho, was like enough to invade Judea; or else, because of that great dearth. {#Jer 14:1,2,12 36:6}

Ver. 10. Then Baruch read in the book.] He read with a courage, verbis non solum disertis sed et exertis, out of a chamber window, that the people under him might the better hear.

In the chamber of Gemariah.] Who himself, it seemeth, was not present, but his son Micaiah was, and carried his father and the rest of the princes the news. {#Jer 36:12}

Ver. 11. When Micaiah the son of Gemariah had heard.] With what affection he heard the book read by Baruch is uncertain. We have many Herodian hearers before us a second time—such, I mean, as have a Herod’s heart toward the preacher, and little do we know who they are that sit before us; those precious balms we bring break their heads with a witness, and make the blood run about their ears.

Ver. 12. Then he went down into the king’s house.] For there was his father and the rest of the princes, suam aulam vel gulam confectantes, following their court delights, while the people were now humbling themselves before the Lord, and trembling at his Word. Great men are, many of them, of that Earl of Westmoreland’s mind, who profanely said, I need not pray to God, since having tenants enough to pray for me.

Ver. 13. Then Micaiah declared unto them.] See #Jer 36:11.

Ver. 14. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi.] Apparitorem regis, ut ex seguentibus constat. -Jun.

Ver. 15. And they said, Sit down now] {a} This was some courtesy and token of good respect to Baruch. These princes were not all out so bad as their king.

{a} Reverenter sedere iusserunt. -Oecol.

Ver. 16. They were afraid, both one and other, ]{ a} Expavescunt et sese mutuo respiciunt; they were afraid, and looked one upon another, being much distracted at this new and unexpected occurrence; neither wist they at first what to do, being affected after a sort, and smitten with the weightiness of the business.

We will surely tell the king.] They durst do no otherwise; for if these things should have come to the king’s ear, and they not first tell him, they might come into the danger of his displeasure.

{a} Alter alterum intuentes vel alloquentes. -Piscat.

Ver. 17. Tell us, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?] Praeposteram movent interrogationem; they put an odd question, saith one, when they should rather have bethought themselves of breaking off their sins by repentance. God loves obedience and not questioners, saith Luther.

Ver. 18. And Baruch answered them.] Answerably {a} to the question they asked him. {#Jer 36:17} Dignum patella operculum.

And I wrote them with ink in the book.] The use, then, of writing with pen and ink is ancient among the Hebrews.

{a} Hos fere simili responso eludere videtur sanctus Dei homo. -Zeged.

Ver. 19. Go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah.] This was well, but not all. They draw not Baruch before the king to answer what he had done; but why do they not take him to the king with his roll, and plead both for it and him too? Had they been true patriots and hearty friends to the truth, they would have done so; but they knew that this wicked king could not endure the prophets, {#Jer 26:21 36:26} and one of their company had been the king’s agent in bringing Uriah the prophet out of Egypt to be butchered by him. {#Jer 26:22}

Ver. 20. And they went in to the king.] God by his providence so disposed it, that both king and princes, whether they would or not, should hear their doom; and as for some of the princes, they seem to have some good affections wrought in them, but too weak to work unto true "repentance to salvation."

Ver. 21. So the king sent Jehudi.] See on #Jer 36:14.

Ver. 22. Now the king sat in the winter house.] There sat he, in that his stately and sumptuous palace built by iniquity, {#Jer 22:13,14} curans cuticulam ad focum, keeping himself warm in his winter chamber, and careless of calling upon God; while the people, cold and empty, were fasting and praying in the temple, and hearing the Word read by Baruch.

In the ninth month, ] sc., Of the sacred year, which month was part of our November and part of December, a cold season; but that thing of naught, his body, which he now made so much of, was shortly after to be cast out unburied, in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. {#Jer 36:30}

Ver. 23. When Jehudi had read three or four leaves.] Vespasian is said to have been patientissimus veri, { a} very patient of truth; so was good Josiah, whose heart melted at the hearing of the law; {#2Ch 34:27} but so was not this degenerate son of his, Jehoiakim, but more like Tiberius, that tiger, who tore with his teeth all that displeased him; or like Vitellius the tyrant, of whom Tacitus {b} saith, Ita formatae principis aures, ut aspera quae utilia: nec quidquam nisi iucundum et non laesurum acciperet, That his ears were of that temper that he could hear no counsel, though never so profitable, unless it were pleasant, and did suit with his humours.

He cut it with the penknife.] Why? what could he dislike in that precious piece? Of Petronius’s Satyricon one said well, Tolle obscaena et tollis omnia; of Jeremiah’s prophecies I may safely say, Tolle sancta, et tollis omnia. But this brutish prince could not away with downright truth, &c.

And cast it into the fire.] O stultitiam! quid innocentes chartae commeruerant? {c} O madness! what evil had those innocent papers deserved that they nmst die this double death, as it were? Those magical books at Ephesus were worthily burned; {#Ac 19:19} Aretine’s love-books are so lascivious that they deserve to be burned, saith Boissard, {d} together with their author; many seditious pamphlets are now committed to Vulcan to be corrected, and more should be; but, O sancta Apocalysis! as that martyr once said when he took up the book of the Revelation, cast into the same fire with himself; so, O holy Jeremiah! what hast thou said or written to be thus slashed, and then cast into the fire? Jehoiakim is the first we read of that ever offered to burn the Bible. Antiochus, indeed, did the like afterwards, and Dioclesian the tyrant, and now the Pope. But though there were not a Bible left upon earth, yet "for ever, O Lord, thy Word is stablished in heaven," saith David. {#Ps 119:89}

Until all the roll was consumed.] So far was he from repenting of his wickedness, that he fed his eyes with such a sad spectacle, and was ready to say, as Solon did when he burned the usurers’ bonds in Athens, that he never saw a fairer or clearer fire burn in all his life.

{a} Quintilian.

{b} Lib. iii. Hist.

{c} Oecolamp.

{d} Bois., Biblioth.

Ver. 24. Yet they were not afraid.] Ne paulum quidem perculsi sunt. The king and his servants, those court parasites, were not stirred at all at such a Bible bonfire, but jeered when they should have feared, &c.

Nor rent their garments.] Such was their stupor seu non-curantia, their security and insensibleness of that high offence, for which their posterity keep a yearly fast. See on #Jer 36:6. Rending of garments in token of grief was in use also among the heathens. Homer saith Priamus rent his clothes when he heard of the death of his son Hector. The like hath Virgil of his Aeneas:

“ Tum pater Aeneas humeris abseindere vestem

Auxilioque vocare deos.”

Suetonius {a} saith the like of Julius Caesar, &c.

{a} Pro concione fidem militum flens et veste a pectore discissa imploravit. -Suet., cap. 55.

Ver. 25. Nevertheless Elnathan.] Who had before been active for the king in apprehending and slaughtering the prophet Uriah, {#Jer 26:22} but now haply touched with some remorse for having any hand in so bloody an act.

Had made intercession to the king.] Verum frigide admodum, but very coldly; and such cold friends the truth hath still not a few, at kings’ courts especially.

Ver. 26. But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech.] Or, The king’s son, whom he might employ against these two servants of God; as once the King of France sent his son and heir with an army against the Waldenses. It is not for nothing, therefore, that the curse is denounced against Jehoiakim and his posterity. {#Jer 36:30,31}

But the Lord hid them, ] i.e., He provided for them a hiding place in some good man’s house, and there safeguarded them from these bloodhounds who hunted after their precious lives. There is no fence but flight, nor counsel but concealment, to secure an innocent subject against an enraged sovereign.

Ver. 27. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.] Jehoiakim took an ill course to free himself from trouble, as he counted it, by burning the roll; for God’s Word cannot be burnt, no more than it can be bound. {#2Ti 2:9} And "shall they thus escape by iniquity?" No, verily; for it followeth, and is not more votum than vaticinium, a wish than a prophecy, "In thine anger cast down the people, O God." {#Ps 56:7}

Ver. 28. Take thee again another roll.] Revertere, accipe. God’s ministers must be steadfast and unweariable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. {#1Co 15:58}

And write in it all the former words.] If all the tyrants on earth should fight against the very paper of the Scriptures, striving to abolish it, yet they could not possibly do it. There will be Bibles when they shall be laid low enough in the slimy valley, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them. {#Job 21:31,32}

Ver. 29. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, ] i.e., Add this doleful doom of his to the new written roll, and direct it to Jehoiakim. Some think the prophet told him these things to his face, like as Eliah presented himself to Ahab, whom before he had fled from, and dealt freely with him; but that is not so likely.

Ver. 30. He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, ] i.e., None to make any reckoning of, for his son Jeconiah reigned but three months and ten days. And Zedekiah is not looked upon as his lawful successor, because he was his uncle, and set up likely by Nebuchadnezzar for a reproach to Jehoiakim aud Jeconiah; and in as great spite as once Attilus, King of Suesia, made a dog king of the Danes, in revenge of a great many injuries received by them, appointing counsellors to do all things under his title.

And his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat.] This was that infamous burial of an ass wherewith he had formerly been threatened. {#Jer 22:19} His father Josiah was one of those few that lived and died with glory; but he did nothing less. Of Jehoiakim it may be said, as was afterwards of Ethelred, King of England, Eius vitae cursus saevus in principio, miser in medio, turpis in exitu asseritur. {a} It was said of his life that is was savage at the start, wretched in the middle and replusive at the end.

{a} Malms., lib. ii. cap. 10.

Ver. 31. And I will punish him and his seed.] See on #Jer 36:26. The like is threatened to Zedekiah, {#Jer 21:7} who was therefore the worse, because he should have been warned by his brother’s miseries.

And I will bring upon them.] See #Jer 35:17. Malis horrendis adobruentur omnes.

Ver. 32. Then took Jeremiah.] Who is therefore famous for his obedience; which is then only right, when it is prompt and present, ready and, speedy, without delays and consults, as here.

And there were added besides unto them many like words.] So little is gotten by relucting against the Word of God, and persecuting his messengers. What do wicked men hereby but entangle themselves more and more, as one that goeth among briers? {a} "Did not my word take hold of your fathers?" {#Zec 1:6} {See Trapp on "Zec 1:6"} What do they else, but as she in the history, who, disliking her looking glass for showing her truly the wrinkles in her old withered face, broke it in displeasure; and then she had for one glass many, every piece thereof presenting to her the decay of her beauty, which she was so loath to take notice of. The best way is to pass into the likeness of the heavenly pattern. See #Mic 2:7. {See Trapp on "Mic 2:7"}

{a} Oppressus Christi Spiritus robustior in se coactus exilit. -Oecolamp.

Chapter 37

Ver. 1. And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah.] This also and the next chapter are, as the former, historical, and so easily understood, that to set long notes upon them were, saith one, {a} rather to obscure them than to explain them.

{a} A Lapide.

Ver. 2. But neither he nor his servants did hearken.] And this was their undoing—scil., that they humbled not themselves before this holy prophet, speaking unto them from the mouth of the Lord. {#2Ch 36:12}

Ver. 3. Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.] This king would seem to have some more goodness in him than his brother and predecessor Jehoiakim; but he played the hypocrite exceedingly, as in other things, so in this, that he begged the prophet’s prayers, but would not obey his preaching. The like did Pharaoh, Saul, Simon Magus, &c. Hezekiah sent to the prophet Isaiah for prayers, but withal he humbled himself and lived holily, which Zedekiah did not.

Ver. 4. Jeremiah came in and went out.] He was yet at liberty; as the saints have some halcyons times, yet are never unexercised, as we see in the apostles, but especially in Paul. {#Ac 5:13}

For they had not put him in prison.] Not yet they had. It was in our late wars a like difficult thing to find a wicked man in the enemy’s prisons, or a godly man out of them.

Ver. 5. Then Pharaoh’s army was come out of Egypt.] This, then, seemeth to be the occasion that moved Zedekiah to send to the prophet for his prayers—viz., that God would be pleased to prosper the Egyptians coming to raise the siege, and to keep off the Chaldeans from returning to Jerusalem. But God had before signified his will to the contrary; and the Jews, trusting to human helps, took not a right course for their own preservation. See #Jer 34:17-22

Ver. 6. Then came the word of the Lord.] In answer to the messengers that came to request prayers.

Ver. 7. To inquire of me.] Or, To seek to me, to set me to work for you at the throne of grace.

Behold Pharaoh’s army, &c.] The Talmudists tale here of what frightened back the Egyptians is not worth the telling. It may be read in Corn. A Lapide upon #Jer 37:5.

Ver. 8. And the Chaldean shall return.] See #Jer 32:12,29.

Ver. 9. Deceive not yourselves.] As far too many do, qui praesumendo sperant, et sperando pereunt. hope beforehand and will die hoping.

For they shall not depart, ] scil., For altogether; not for any space of time, or to any purpose. Like hereunto is that in #Mt 9:24, "The damsel is not dead."

Ver. 10. For though ye had smitten.] Pro auxesi adiecit hyperbolen; he useth a hyperbolic supposition for illustration.

And there remained but wounded men among them.] God cannot be without a staff to beat a rebel. Virum malum vel mus mordet, saith the proverb; A mouse will bite a bad man. Milez Cobelitz, a Christian soldier, sore wounded and all bloody, seeing Amurath, the great Turk, viewing the dead bodies after a victory, rose up out of a heap of slain men, and making toward the conqueror, as if he would have craved his life of him, suddenly stabbed him in the bottom of his belly with a short dagger which he had under his coat, and so slew him. {a}

Yet should they rise every man in his tent.] It is God who strengtheneth or weakeneth the arm of either party. {#Eze 30:24} Those that fight against spiritual wickedness in their own strength are sure to be foiled; and although the unclean spirit may seem to be cast out, yet he will return to his old house, and bring seven worse with him. {#Mt 12:43-45}

{a} Turkish History, 200.

Ver. 11. For fear of Pharaoh’s army.] Or rather, Because of Pharaoh’s army, whom now they drew off to encounter.

Ver. 12. Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem.] Where he saw there was so little good to be done by his ministry. This, some think, was an infirmity in him. Mr Greenham, upon such a ground as this, was persuaded to leave his charge at Dry Drayton, in Cambridgeshire, and to go to live at London, where he died of the plague; and, as some reported, repented on his death bed of having so done.

To go into the land of Benjamin.] To Anathoth, his own home; and if he went thither for his own safety or convenience sake, why might he not?

To separate himself thence in the midst of the people.] Ut lubricificaret exinde in medio populi; { a} that he might slide or slip away thence in the throng undiscerned.

{a} Pagnin., Vatab.

Ver. 13. Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah.] Of that Hananiah, say the Rabbis whose death Jeremiah foretold. {#Jer 28:16,17} This Hierias ferox adogescens, as Josephus calleth him, a fierce young man, bearing Jeremiah a grudge, layeth hold on him in the gate, and layeth treachery to his charge; unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant. {a}

Saying, Thou fullest away to the Chaldeans.] Jeremiah had spoken much of the Chaldeans’ power, and foretold their victory. Hence he is here falsely accused of falling away to them, and being false to his country. Indeed, if the Chaldees could have fetched off Jeremiah, as the French King Louis did Philip de Comines from the Duke of Burgundy—whose affairs thereupon declined immediately—they might have made very good advantage of him; but he was far enough from any such compliance with them, and could better have said than ever Cicero did, Ne immortalitatem contra temp. aceiperem, I would not be false to my country for more than all this world’s good.

{a} Tacitus.

Ver. 14. Then said Jeremiah, It is false.] Satanae pectus mendaciis faecundissimum est. {a} It is no news for innocence to be slandered, and to go with a scratched face.

But he hearkened not unto him.] Right or wrong, he must come before the princes, who do also handle the good prophet very coarsely.

{a} Luther.

Ver. 15. Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah.] Upon the captain’s false suggestion, which they should better have sifted into first before they had believed it; for pellucet mendacium, nec per omnia quadrat, a lie is oft so thin, that it may be seen through and soon found out.

And smote him.] Perhaps with their own hands, as bloody Bonner buffeted some of the martyrs, pulling off part of their beards.

And put him in prison.] Causa nondum cognita; before they had heard his defenee. These princes were worse than Jehoiakim’s, {#Jer 36:19} or, if they were the same men, they were now grown worse; and here was, as Bernard {a} hath it, sedes prima, et vita ima; ingens authoritas, et nutans stabilitas.

In the house of Jonathan the scribe.] As bad as Lollard’s tower to our martyrs, or the Bishop of London’s coal house, which Mr Philpot thought to be the worst prison about London. {b}

{a} De Consider., lib. ii.

{b} Acts and Mon.

Ver. 16. When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon.] {a} Heb., Into a place or house of the pit or hole, where the prophet could neither walk nor handsomely lie down, when worse men a great deal had what liberty they listed.

And into the cabins.] Or, Cells, where they scarce put any but traitors, and similar foul offenders. Such they had at Athens, called barathrum, the infernal region, at Rome, tullianum, underground execution chamber, or profundum maris, &c., deep sea into which whosoever was put could hardly be put to more misery.

And Jeremiah had remained there many days.] Till the return of the Chaldees likely. Canes lingunt ulcera Lazari. Dogs licked the sores of Lazarus.

{a} In domum cisternae.

Ver. 17. Then Zedekiah the king.] Being now in distress because of the Chaldees come again, and willing to hear from the prophet some word of comfort, which yet might not be, unless he had been better. If comfort be applied to a graceless person, the truth of God is falsified.

Is there any word from the Lord?] Any new oracle, and different from that of destruction, which thou hast so often rung in our ears, ad ravim et nauseam usque?

And Jeremiah said, There is, ] scil., A word from the Lord, but the same as before; for thou must mend ere the matter will mend with thee.

Ver. 18. What have I offended against thee?] As I know mine own innocence, so I would thou shouldst know that I am no stoic, or stock, indolent, or insensible of my grievous sufferings through the cruelty of thy princes, who have committed me to this ugly prison.

Ver. 19. Where are now your prophets?] Let them appear now if you please, and upon trial made let truth take place. To this most equal motion when the king said nothing, the prophet proceedeth to move again for himself, that he might be removed at least to a more convenient place, unless they meant an end of him.

Ver. 20. Therefore hear now I pray thee, O my lord the king.] As stout as he was and impartial in delivering God’s message, in supplicating for himself he is very submiss and humble to his sovereign, not daring to "speak evil of dignities," though he had wrongfully suffered much from them.

Ver. 21. Then Zedekiah the king commanded.] For this courtesy of his to the prophet, God granted him a natural death, and an honourable burial in Babylon.

That they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison.] Where he might have more liberty and better accommodations, and where his friends, eum adire et audire possent, might come and hear him. See #Jer 22:2.

And that they should give him daily a piece of bread.] And a piece of a cake, we say, is better than no bread. I read of a gracious woman who said that she had made many a meal’s meat upon the promises when she wanted bread. But Jeremiah, besides the promises, {#Jer 1:8 and elsewhere} was here, by a sweet providence, sustained in the prison during that extreme famine in the city, whereof we read in the Lamentations, when it was no small mercy to have a morsel of bread to keep him alive. Sic amara interdum dulcescunt. Who would not trust so good a God?

Chapter 38

Ver. 1. Then Shephatiah.] Here was aliud ex alio malum, one affliction on the neck of another. Matters mend with us as sour ale doth in summer, said Bishop Ridley once, when he was prisoner. Poor Jeremiah might well have said so, if ever any, as appeareth by this chapter, where we find him in a worse hole than was that of Jonathan; but his extremity was God’s opportunity.

Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, &c.] These four princes here named to their eternal infamy were no small men, as appeareth in that the king was not he that could do anything against them. {#Jer 38:5} The grandees of the world are greatest enemies usually to the truth. Little they had to say against his doctrines; they quarrel with his affection, as a perturber of the public peace. {#Jer 38:4}

Ahab charged the like crime upon Elijah; the Jews upon Christ, and afterwards upon Paul; the heathen persecutors upon the primitive Christians; the heretics still upon the orthodox, that they were seditious, antimonarchical, &c.

Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in the city.] This is the self-same truth which he had preached before, and for the which he suffered. See #Jer 21:9. He is constant to his principles, and although it be commonly said and seen that he who receives a courtesy sells his liberty; yet it was not so with this holy prophet. He had received some enlargement, and care was taken by the king that a piece, or a roll of bread should be brought him daily to the prison out of the baker’s street: but that stoppeth not his mouth.

Ver. 3. Thus saith the Lord.] And as long as the Lord saith so, I must say so too, whatever come of it. {#Jer 1:9,10}

Ver. 4. For thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war.] Thus out of carnal policy is piety impugned. So #1Ki 12:27 Joh 11:48 Jer 38:1.

Ver. 5. Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand.] O nihil regem, qui ne verbulo quidem cruentis viris obluctatur! O king of clouts, saith one, who, knowing the prophet’s innocence and these princes’ blood thirstiness, durst not say a word for him or against them! This inconsistancy of his, and impotence of spirit, proceeded merely from diffidence and distrust in God.

Ver. 6. Then took they Jeremiah.] Whom the king had now (against his conscience, as afterwards Pilate dealt by Jesus), either through fear or favour, betrayed unto his deadly enemies; and so he was in a pitiful plight, in a forlorn condition. But Jeremiah, de profundis, out of the deep called upon God (whom he found far more facile than these princes did Zedekiah), "Thou drewest near," saith he, "in the day when I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not." {#La 3:57} I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.

And they let down Jeremiah with cords.] With a murderous intent there to make an end of him privily, ut ibi praefocatus moreretur; ille vero usque ad collum mersus ibi manebat, said Josephus, that he might there pine and perish; but God graciously prevented it.

And in the dungeon there was no water but mire.] A typical hell it was, worse than Joseph’s pit, {#Ge 37:24} or Heman’s lake, {#Ps 88:6} or any prison that ever Brown the sect master ever came into, who used to boast that he had been committed to thirty-two prisons, and in some of them he could not see his hand at noonday. He died at length in Northampton jail, A.D. 1630, whereto he was sent for striking the constable requiring rudely the payment of a rate. {a}

So Jeremiah sunk in the mire.] Up to the neck, saith Josephus, and so became a type of Christ. {#Ps 69:2}

{a} Fuller’s Church Hist., 168.

Ver. 7. Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian.] But a proselyte, and a religious prince; a stranger, but (as that good Samaritan in the Gospel) more merciful than any of the Jewish nation, who gloried in their privileges. See #Ro 2:26,27.

One of the eunuchs.] And eunuchs, say the Rabbis, are ordinarily more cruel than other men; but so was not this Cushite. Piety is the fountain of all virtues whatsoever.

Which was in the king’s house.] As Obadiah was in Ahab’s, Nehemiah in Artaxerxes’s; some good people in Herod’s; {#Lu 8:3} and Nero’s; {#Php 4:22} Cromwell and Cranmer in Henry VIII’s.

The king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin.] Sitting in judgment, where Jeremiah’s enemies had once apprehended him for a fugitive, but durst not try it out with him, though Ebedmelech there entreated with the king for him in the presence of some of them, as it is probable.

Ver. 8. Ebedmelech.] Not more the king’s servant (so his name signifieth) than God’s. Joseph of Arimathea was such another, who went boldly to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear.

Ver. 9. My lord the king, these men have done evil.] What a brave man was this, to oppose so many princes, and so potent that the king himself dared not displease them! It was God’s holy Spirit that put this mettle into him, and gave him the freedom of speech. {#Ps 119:46}

And he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is.] Or, Who would have died for hunger in the place where he was.

For there is no more bread in the city.] Cum panum annona sit pauca et parca. What need he to be doubly murdered?

Ver. 10. Then the king commanded Ebedmelech.] A sweet providence of God thus to incline the heart of this effeminate, cruel, inconstant, and impious king, to hearken to the motion, and to give order for the prophet’s deliverance from that desperate and deadly danger. A good encouragement also to men to appear in a good cause, and to act vigorously for God, notwithstanding they are alone, and have to encounter with divers difficulties.

Take from hence thirty men with thee.] Four or fewer might have done it; but perhaps the princes with their forces might have endeavoured to hinder them, but that they saw them so strong.

Ver. 11. So Ebedmelech took the men with him and went.] The labour of love that this Ethiopian performed to the man of God is particularly and even partly described, for his eternal commendation, and all men’s imitation.

Ver. 12. Put now these cast clouts.] Hence some gather that the prophet was put into this loathsome hole naked, or very ill clad at least. The fathers allegorise this story to set forth the vocaation of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews.

Ver. 13. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords.] And God was not unrighteous to forget this their work and labour of love. {#Heb 6:10 Jer 39:17,18}

And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.] Manacled and fettered, as some {a} gather from #Jer 40:4.

{a} R. David, Vatabl.

Ver. 14. Then Zedekiah…took Jeremiah into the third entry.] Which was right over against the king’s house. This wretched king was so overawed by his counsellors that he dared not advise with God’s prophet in their presence, or with their privity.

Ver. 15. If I declare it unto thee.] It is for the sins of a people that a hypocrite reigneth over them. {#Job 34:30} Such a one was Zedekiah; and the prophet here freely reproveth him for his hypocrisy.

And if I give thee counsel, will thou not hearken?] Or, And though I advise thee, thou wilt not hearken to me. Thou art set, and hast made thy conclusion beforehand.

Ver. 16. So the king Zedekiah sware secretly unto Jeremiah.] But what credit was to be given to his oath, who was notoriously known to be a perjured person, as having broken his oath of fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar?

As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul.] Hence the truth of that assertion is cleared up unto us, that men’s souls drop not down from heaven, nor are propagated by their parents, but are created by God, and infused into their bodies.

I will not put thee to death, neither will I, &c.] The former part of the prophet’s condition he sweareth to perform, but saith nothing to the latter, as having no such liking to it. So many come today to hear, who resolve to practise only so far as they see good.

Ver. 17. If thou wilt assuredly go forth.] Jeremiah was semper idem, one and the same still; no changeling at all, but a faithful and constant preacher of God’s Word.

Ver. 18. But if thou wilt not go forth.] See #Jer 32:39. Thus Zedekiah hath it both ways, that it may abide by him; but he was uncounselable and irreclaimable.

Ver. 19. Then Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews.] Thus hypocrites will at one time or other detect themselves, as Zedekiah here plainly declareth that he more feared the loss of his life, honour, wealth, &c., than of God’s favour and kingdom; so do the most among us. Pilate feared how Caesar would take it if he should release Jesus. Herod laid hold on Peter, after he had killed James, that he might please the people. The Pharisees could not believe, because they received glory from men. This generous king cannot endure to think that his own fugitives should flout him; but to be ruled by God, and his holy prophet advising him for the best, he cannot yield. Thus still vain men are niggardly of their reputation and prodigal of their souls. Do we not see them run wilfully into the field, into the grave, into hell? and all lest it should be said they have as much fear as wit.

Ver. 20. They shall not deliver thee.] This the good prophet speaketh from the mouth of the Lord, to cure him of that causeless fear, and to bring him to a better obedience; but it was past time of day with him to be wrought upon by anything that could be spoken, though never so well.

So it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.] This is also the voice of the gospel, and the result of all the promises.

Ver. 21. Bat if thou refuse to go forth.] Promises and threatenings make an excellent mixture; the tartness of the one giveth us better to taste the sweetness of the other.

Ver. 22. And, behold, all the women that are left.] These shall mock thee and make songs of thee, exagitantes regem socordissimum, for a simple and sorry man, who hath undone them altogether with himself, by listening to flatterers and false prophets.

Thy feet are sunk in the mire.] In the mire of misery, where the prophet’s unworthy usage in the miry dungeon is hinted, and the king twitted with it, as some hold. Some again think that Zedekiah in his flight did run into some quagmire, where he was taken.

And they are turned away backward.] Thy flatterers have now left thee in the lurch.

Ver. 23. So shall they bring out all thy wives and thy children.] Or, Thy women (whether wives or concubines, that crew of wanton creatures) and thy sons; for his daughters were left behind. {#Jer 41:10 43:6} If, therefore, thou hast any care of those that are, or ought to be, most dear unto thee, be ruled by me.

And thou shalt cause this city to be burnt with fire.] Heb., Thou shalt burn this city:

“ Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.”

Ver. 24. Let no man know of these words, ] Muliebriter deprecatur rex incredulus fidelem. Thus he who feareth not God, feareth his own servants and counsellors.

And thou shalt not die.] The crafty king would seem to be solicitous of the prophet’s safety, but mainly intendeth his own.

Ver. 25. But if the princes hear.] In such fear stood he of his princes, and might truly say, as the Assyrian once did, Are not my princes altogether kings? {#Isa 10:8} or as the Emperor of Germany did, I am king of kings, meaning that the princes of his empire would do what they wished for all him. Zedekiah was only an image of a king.

Ver. 26. Then shalt thou say unto them, I presented my supplication.] This was to tell part of the truth only (which might lawfully be done), and not to tell an officious, or at least an oblique lie, as some would make it to be.

Ver. 27. So they left off speaking with him.] Indigni utique qui ultra monerentur. The princes were far worse than the king, {a} who yet himself was one of the best. They therefore were slain by the Babylonian princes, when the king’s life was preserved, though with the loss of his eyes, which yet might be a means to open the eyes of his mind.

{a} In una impietate solum stabiles.

Ver. 28. So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison.] Which now God had made to him a sanctuary of safety, and a very Bethlehem, or house of bread. God can easily turn a prison into a paradise, and brown bread and water into manchet and wine, as he did to the martyrs. One of them dated his letter thus, From the delectable orchard of the Leonine prison.

Chapter 39

Ver. 1. In the ninth year of Zedekiah.] See on #2Ki 25:1.

Came Nebuchadnezzar.] He came to the siege in person, but soon after retired himself to Riblah, i.e., to Antioch in Syria, there to take his pleasure, and therehence to send supplies to his forces as need required.

Ver. 2. And in the eleventh year.] See on #2Ki 25:2. The sacking of Jerusalem occured four hundred and nineteen years after the building of the temple, (1004 to 588 BC) in the forty-seventh Olympiad, and when Tarquinius Priseus was king of Rome.

The city was broken up.] See on #2Ki 25:4.

Ver. 3. In the middle gate.] Called the second gate (#Zep 2:10; see #Jer 1:15). Jeremiah lived to see many of his prophecies fulfilled. Jerusalem was taken in or about the fortieth year of his prophesying, as it was afterwards by the Romans, in or about the fortieth year after our Saviour’s ministry started.

Even Nergalsharezer, Shamgarnebo.] Here we have a list of the Babylonian princes who first broke into the city. Their names are harsh and barbarous (such as are now to our ears the Turkish Bashaws, Beglerbegs, Sanzacks, &c.), but good enough for such to hear as would not yield to the sweet name and counsel of a gracious God. Those names that have Sar or Rab in them are deemed to be names of office; as Sarezer, master of the treasures; Rabinag, master of the magicians, &c.

Ver. 4. When Zedekiah the king saw them.] Not entered, but ready to enter. See #2Ki 25:4.

He went out the way of the plain.] Intending likely for Egypt; but his journey was shortened. So was Muliasses, king of Tunis, when fleeing from his son Amidas, he was discovered by the sweet perfumes he had about him; and being brought back, had, like Zedekiah, his eyes put out with a burning hot iron.

Ver. 5. But the Chaldeans pursued.] See on #2Ki 25:5.

Ver. 6. See on #2Ki 25:6,7.

Ver. 7. See on #2Ki 25:7.

Ver. 8. See on #2Ki 25:8.

Ver. 9. See on #2Ki 25:11,12.

Ver. 10. See on #2Ki 25:11,12. Sic vides miras rerum vices. See what a wonderful turn of things was here on the sudden, and how that of Seneca was here made good, Una dies interest inter magnam civitatem et nullam, There is but a day’s difference sometimes between a great city and no city. Josephus and some others say that the Rechabites, as men peaceable, and given much to contemplation, were also left in the land. This destruction of Jerusalem was, saith Oecolampadius, a kind of type of the general judgment. For like as in Jerusalem the wicked perished, but the poor and peaceable were not only spared, but enriched, so shall it be at that day.

Ver. 11. Now Nebuchadnezzar…gave charge, &c.] He had heard of Jeremiah and his preaching by those Jews that, by the prophet’s persuasion, fell to the Chaldees; and now that promise took place, I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well: {#Jer 15:11}

“ Tandem bona causa triumphat.”

Ver. 12. Take him, and look well to him.] A wicked man, we see, may be loving and liberal to a godly minister for self ends. Let no man, therefore, rest in it alone as a sure sign of an honest man.

Ver. 13. So Nebuzaradan, &c.] These, who before were so active in destroying the city, are now no less active in honouring the good prophet. All things work together for good to the godly: their greatest enemies shall one day do them honour.

Ver. 14. They sent and took Jeremiah.] But why did they not also loose him from his bonds? {#Jer 40:1}

And committed him unto Gedaliah.] Who being a chieftain among the Jews, fell to the Chaldees (as it may seem) before the city was taken, according to Jeremiah’s counsel, and is now set over the land, and hath the prophet Jeremiah committed to his care.

The son of Ahikam.] Who had rescued the prophet. {#Jer 26:24} {See Trapp on "Jer 26:24"}

Ver. 15. Now the word of the Lord.] Which is never bound, {#2Ti 2:9} but runneth and is glorified. {#2Th 3:1}

Ver. 16. Go and speak unto Ebedmelech the Ethiopian.] Who yet was an Israelite indeed by his faith and religion, as was likewise Jether the Ishmaelite. {#1Ch 7:17 2Sa 17:25}

Thus saith the Lord of hosts.] Who will not fail to give, unto him who showeth kindness to any prophet of his, a prophet’s reward. {#Mt 10:41,42}

Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil.] See #Jer 20:16 44:27.

And they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.] Thou shalt see it, but shalt survive it. And this prophecy may be unto us instead of a most certain history.

Ver. 17. But I will deliver thee in that day.] From the sword, the famine, and the pestilence. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee; only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked"; {#Ps 91:7,8} and that the Lord is sure, though slow, tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensans. {a}

And thou shalt not be delivered into the hands of those men.] Zedekiah’s courtiers, who do bear thee an aching tooth for thy kindness to my prophet, and have vowed revenge.

{a} Val. Max.

Ver. 18. For I will surely deliver thee.] Heb., Delivering, deliver thee. It would be a great stay of mind, if God should say the same to us in particular and by name, as he doth here to this Ethiopian. And yet he saith no less to us in the precious promises, which we are by faith to appropriate.

But thy life shall be for a prey unto thee.] Pro lucre cessura est. For saving my prophet’s life, thou shall have thine own; so sure a gain is godliness.

Because thou hast put thy trust in me.] What may not faith have at God’s hands? Those that trust him, do, after a sort, engage him to deliver them, and to do them good.

Chapter 40

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah.] This word, what it was, Jeremiah will show, {#Jer 42:7} after the circumstances of his enlargement related, and other matters of story premised. Vatablus rendereth it, Actio quam gessit Dominus cum Ieremiah.

After that Nebuzaradan had let him go from Ramah.] Which was the place of rendezvous, whither Jeremiah was also brought, with the rest of the captives, and manacled also—as he was found in the court of the prison—but soon set free and dismissed. A difference shall one day—at that great day especially—be discerned "between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not." {#Mal 3:18} Jeremiah is here, by some oversight of the officers, contrary to Nebuchadnezzar’s command, {#Jer 39:11,14} but not without a special providence of God, brought bound to Ramah, ad opprobrium gentis, et in gloriam suam: that the Jews, now captives, and to be carried to Babylon, might see their madness in persecuting so true a prophet, and persevering in their sinful practices, to their so utter undoing, against all admonition.

Ver. 2. And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah.] Took him and loosed him, as he should have done before.

Saying, The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.] Oratio militaris, sed bene theologica. A strange speech to come out of such a man’s mouth. How could the captives present hear it, and not be affected with it? Thus Balaam’s ass sometimes rebuked his master’s madness, but to little good effect.

Ver. 3. Now the Lord hath brought it, and done according.] A bad man, we see, may speak piously. Samuel himself could not have spoken more gravely, severely, divinely, than the fiend did to Saul. {#1Sa 28:13-20} Well then may lewd men be good preachers, &c.

Ver. 4. And now, behold, I loose thee.] I dismiss thee with all due honour, as a true prophet, however undervalued and afflicted by thine unworthy countrymen.

Come, and I will look well unto thee.] Heb., I will set mine eye upon thee, that is, I will give thee singular respect, and observe thee to the utmost.

Behold, all the land is before thee.] What could Pharaoh say more to Joseph? {#Ge 47:6} or Abraham to Lot? {#Ge 13:9}

Ver. 5. Now while he was not yet gone back.] But yet showed by his looks or otherwise, {a} that he was not willing to go to Babylon; Nebuchadnezzar, who had already set his eyes upon him, {as #Jer 40:4} perceiving it, said,

Go back unto Gedaliah.] Who shall both protect thee and provide for thee.

So the captain of the guard gave him victuals, ] i.e., Necessaries for his journey; for he came out of prison nudus tanquam ex mari, bare and needy.

And a reward.] Or, A present, fit for a prophet, donum honorarium, such as they used to give the seers, {#1Sa 9:8 1Ki 14:3} and such as he might safely and comfortably take, as from God himself, who had promised it. {#Jer 15:11}

{a} Ex ipso vultu vel silentio Ieremiae, &c.

Ver. 6. Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah.] Blessing himself from the Chaldeans’ proffered kindness (as Luther also did alate from the great Turk, who invited him to him, and promised him to be his good lord), he maketh Moses’s choice, {#Heb 11:25} and David’s, {#Ps 84:10} rather to abide with God’s poor people in the promised land, than to be great in the court of Babylon. How few at this day would have been of his mind!

Ver. 7. Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the fields.] The dispersed Jews, with their captains and centurions, such as had lain lurking during the siege, or had fled when Zedekias did, and escaped.

Heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah.] Whom they knew to be a pious and prudent man; and would be a father unto them instead of a king. Nebuchadnezzar might have set a Babylonian governor, who would have ruled them with rigour. But God, in mercy to his poor people, moved him to make choice of this man, famous for his mildness and integrity; to whom therefore they resort, but not all for the same good end, as the sequel showed; for Ishmael was a very Judas.

Ver. 8. Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah.] Where Samuel dwelt, {#1Sa 7:16,17} not far from Shiloh.

Even Ishmael.] Who was of the blood royal {#Jer 41:1} and envied Gedaliah his so great preferment, whom he looked upon for a transfuga, deserter and a traitor, for revolting to Nebuchadnezzar, which yet he did in obedience to God’s word by the prophet Jeremiah.

Ver. 9. And Gedaliah sware unto them, ] viz., That what he spake was from his heart, and out of good affection to them all.

Ver. 10. As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah.] To agitate for you, to the Chaldeans; and to secure you to mine utmost.

But ye, gather ye wine.] Humanissima haec sunt, pia, et utilissima Gedaliae verba ad populum. It was a wonder the Chaldees, after so long a siege, had left any fruits behind them. Soldiers today lay all waste mostly.

Ver. 11. Likewise when all the Jews.] Who had fled into foreign parts, for help and safety.

Ver. 12. And gathered wine and summer fruits very much.] So is God wont to reward those that love their country.

Ver. 13. Moreover Johanan came to Gedaliah to Mizpah.] Ishmael perhaps had solicited them to take part with him.

Ver. 14. That Baalis the king of the Ammonites.] Set on work by Beelzebub the prince of devils to hinder so good a work.

But Gedaliah believed them not.] No more did Julius Caesar those that forewarned him of the conspiracy against him. The Duke of Guise, the same day that he was slain by the command of Henry III, King of France, had a scroll laid under his napkin, as he sat at dinner, wherein was written, that his life was in danger; he underwrote: They dare not; and so threw it from him under the table. But it proved that they both dared to do it, and did do it, the same day. {a} Gedaliah, likely, thought that Ishmael dared not attempt anything against him, because of the Babylonians; besides, he knew his own innocence, and Ishmael’s pretended familiarity with him, which he might think the other captains envied. Sure it is, that good Gedaliah was too secure. Nam qui omnia credit, et qui nihil credit, ex aequo peccat. {b} It is no less a fault to believe nothing, than to believe everything; sine vano publica fama. Reports are neither to be overly heeded, nor overly slighted, especially where life is concerned.

{a} Speed, 1212.

{b} Seneca.

Ver. 15. Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael.] He offereth his service for the slaying of Ishmael, and it had been happy he had done it, sed immodico obsequio sibi fidem derogat, his forwardness rendereth him suspected. Gedaliah seemeth to have been of our Queen Elizabeth’s temper, who was heard to profess, that she could believe nothing of her people that parents would not believe of their children. {a}

{a} Camden.

Ver. 16. Thou shalt not do this thing.] This just man would not have any man die indicta causa, before his cause had been heard, were he never so wicked.

For thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.] So Gedaliah thought, but it proved otherwise. Ishmael is pleaded for, but without cause. Queen Elizabeth complained that in truth she had oft found treason; so shall all princes, who therefore had need to be very cautious, and yet not overly credulous. King’s craft is not easily learned.

Chapter 41

Ver. 1. Now it came to pass in the seventh month.] Within two or three months after the destruction of Jerusalem. So soon did this wicked wretch, so spurred on by ambition, which ever rideth without reins, renew the miserable fate of his forlorn country. And the like did Barcocab and his seditious complices after the last devastation, thereby bringing upon themselves again the Roman forces, who thereupon, under Adrian the emperor, utterly took away both their place and their nation.

That Ishmael of the seed royal.] And therefore affecting the kingdom, or at least the ruledom; and envying that Gedaliah—a new man, or mushroom rather, -should be preferred before him.

And the princes of the king.] Who had been princes and grandees, as the Hebrew hath it, in Zedekiah’s days, with whom likely they fled and escaped, stealing away by night, though he could not. {#2Ki 25:4}

Even ten men with him.] Whom Ishmael had promised probably to restore their principalities when he should be king, or viceroy at least under Baalis King of Ammon, the great engineer of all the ensuing mischief wrought by Ishmael and these ten desperadoes together with their retinue.

Came unto Gedaliah.] To whom before they had done homage, and now came pretending to give him a friendly visit.

“ Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen:

Tuta frequensque licet sit via, crimen habet.”

And there they did eat bread, ] i.e., They feasted. Much treachery and cruelty hath been exercised at feasts. Absalom slew Amnon at a feast; so did Zimri King Elah; so did Alexander Philotas; so doth the Great Turk many of his bashaws; the black gown is cast upon them as they sit with him at supper, and then they are strangled. {a}

{a} Turkish History.

Ver. 2. Then arose Ishmael.] Taking the opportunity when Gedaliah and his guests were mero graves, saith Josephus, merry with wine, and so less able to resist.

And the ten men that were with.] They and their followers being pugnaces et audaces, barbarous and brutish persons, skilful to destroy. {#Eze 21:31}

And smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.] See on #Jer 41:1.

And slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor.] Yea, for that very cause, per invidiam et libidinem regnandi. So true is that of the tragedian, {a}

“ Simul ista mundi conditor posuit Deus,

Odium atque regnum.”

{a} Sen. in Thebaide.

Ver. 3. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him.] Not the Chaideans only. His sword knew no difference; but, being fleshed in blood, he killed all that came in his way. And the rather that his wickedness might not be noticed— mortui non mordent -but that he might carry on his bloody design the better.

Ver. 4. And no man knew it.] Heb., A man knew not. See on #Jer 41:3.

Ver. 5. That there came certain from Shechem and from Shiloh.] Innocent men, qui ne verbulo quidem immanem bestiam offenderant, who had not so much as by the least word offended this brutish, butcherly man; but came in the simplicity of their hearts to worship God, and to wait upon Gedaliah by the way, which last seemeth to be Ishmael’s main quarrel against them. See here #Ec 9:12. {See Trapp on "Ec 9:12"}

Having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves.] These might be well minded men, though partly through ignorance of the law in those blind times, and partly through excess of passion, they went too far, heathen-like, in their outward expressions of sorrow {#Le 19:27 De 14:1} for the public calamity of their country.

To bring them to the house of the Lord, ] i.e., To the place where God’s house lately had been, though now razed and ruined, that there they might worship as they could, and bewail the desolation of the city and temple, as Jerome saith the Jews did yearly the destruction of the second temple, bribing the Roman soldiers that kept it to let them come to the place and weep over it.

Ver. 6. And Ishmael came forth of Mizpah to meet them.] This was another manner of meeting than that at Mizpah in Samuel’s days. {#1Sa 7:3-6} O tempora! O mores!

Weeping all along as he went.] Oh deep dissimulation and crocodile’s tears! {a} That creature, having killed some living beast, lieth upon the dead body, washeth the head thereof with her warm tears, which she afterwards devoureth together with the body. Tears, saith the author of the Turkish History, {b} speaking of Andronicus, another Ishmael, by nature were ordained to express the heaviness of the heart, flowing from the eyes as showers of rain from the clouds. In good men the most certain signs of greatest grief and sure testimonies of inward torment; but in Andronicus you are not so. You proceed of joy, you promise not to the distressed pity or compassion, but death and destruction. How many men’s eyes have you put out! How many have you drowned! How many have you devoured! Thus he; and much more to like purpose.

Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.] This he saith fraudulently, like Sinon in the poet, that he might fish and find out how they stood affected to Gedaliah, whom he so deadly hated, that he slaughtered these poor folk for once owning him, or owing him any service.

{a} Vide pessimum ingenium: luget ut lugentes perdat. -Oecolamp.

{b} Turkish History, fol. 56.

Ver. 7. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them.] This hell hound having once, as other hounds, dipped his tongue in blood, can put no period to his unparalleled cruelty.

He, and the men that were with him.] His slaughter slaves, his assassins to help him; for he alone could not have done this bloody execution, unless he had taken as much time thereunto as that Popish villain did in doing to death those poor Protestants of Calabria, A.D. 1550. For as Ishmael here brought these eighty innocent men into the midst of the city as into a pound, and there slew them, so eighty-eight poor professors of the truth according to godliness, being all thrust up in one house together, as sheep in a fold, the executioner comes in, saith Mr Foxe, and among them takes one and blindfolds him with a muffler about his eyes, and so leads him forth to a larger place, where he commandeth him to kneel down, which being done, he cutteth his throat, and so leaving him half dead, and taking his butcher’s knife and muffler all of gore blood, cometh again to the rest, and so leadeth them one after another till he had despatched them all. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon., 859.

Ver. 8. But there were ten men found among them.] Qui miro astu sibi ab indigna morte provident, who pleaded for their lives, were spared.

Slay us not, for we have treasures in the field.] And these we will willingly part with for the redemption of our lives. They knew that soldiers would do much for money, and what is wealth in comparison with life? Wicked worldlings would say the like to death, if their tale might be heard. Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester, and Chancellor of England, in the reign of Henry VI, perceiving that he must die, murmured at death, that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time. {a}

So he forbare, and slew them not.] Ambition covetousness strove for mastery in this man, and here covetousness conquereth cruelty. This also was it that put him upon carrying his poor countrymen captive, as hoping to make prize of them.

{a} Foxe’s Mart., vol. i. p. 925

Ver. 9. Now the pit…was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha.] He had made it for some unknown use in the wars, and now it was filled with the dead bodies of men; for a punishment, say some, of his confederating with Benhadad King of Syria. Ut semper impiorum foedera et consilia nobis sint suspecta.

Ver. 10. Then Ishmael carried away captive.]

“ Auri sacra fames quid non mortalia cogit Pectora?”

Even the king’s daughters.] His own kinswomen, whom the Babylonian had spared. It may be he meant to marry one of them, as our Richard III would have done his niece Elizabeth, and so to have reigned in her right.

And all the people that remained in Mizpah.] Who found less favour from a false brother than they had done from a professed enemy; so hath the Church ever done from heretics than from heathens.

Ver. 11. But when Jehanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains, heard of all the evil.] Ishmael did what he could to conceal the wickedness till he had gotten away with his prize; but rumour outran him, even

“ Fama, malum quo non aliud velocius ullum.”

Ver. 12. Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael.] This act of theirs carrieth the commendation of fortitude, of charity, and of piety. Like as did that of Abraham in rescuing Lot; of Gideon and Jehoshaphat in delivering the Israelites from their barbarous and blood-thirsty enemies; of Scanderbeg, Hunniades, Gustavus King of Sweden, &c. Unless Ishmael and Johanan did as Ishmael the Persian King of Selymus, and the Great Turk, who, fighting for the empire of the East, masked their aspiring thoughts under the veil of zeal to their religion. {a} It well appeareth now to the world that neither of them were right, whatever they pretended.

And they found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.] Where, in David’s days, those youngsters of Helkathhazzurim had sheathed their swords in their fellows’ bowels. {#2Sa 2:16}

{a} Turkish History, 515.

Ver. 13. Then they were glad.] God, when he pleaseth, can suddenly, and beyond all hope, exhilarate men in the midst of miseries, and give deliverance. The like hereunto befell the poor Christian captives when Hunniades had overthrown Mesites, the Turkish general. {a}

{a} Ibid., 269.

Ver. 14. So all the people cast about and returned.] Their hearts were with Johanan before the battle, as the Athenians’ were with Flaminius the Roman general, who came to rescue them, though their bodies were detained by the tyrants within the walls of their city.

Ver. 15. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped.] But with what honour, with what conscience could this Judas live among the Ammonites? Surely this defeat could not but be more shame to him before the King of Ammon, and more vexation to his proud heart, than death itself. The like befell Stukely, the English traitor, in Spain.

Ver. 16. Then took Johanan all the remnant.] This evil act of theirs doth quite overturn the glory of the former; while against the ancient command of God, the covenant made with the Chaldees, and the consent of the prophets, they will needs down to Egypt, to lean upon that broken reed that never did them good, but evil.

Ver. 17. And they departed.] They rolled from place to place; but being out of God’s precincts they were also out of his protection, and could expect no good.

And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem.] Where it seemeth that David, or Solomon, {#1Ki 2:7} had given him some lands, which he called by his own name, as men love to do, {#Ps 49:11} Goruth Chimham. Josephus saith there is a village near Bethlehem that is still so called. See #2Sa 19:38.

To go to enter into Egypt.] This was to go out of God’s blessing, as we use to say, into the world’s warm sunshine; this was to put themselves into the punishing hands of the living God.

Ver. 18. Because of the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them.] But they should rather have "sanctified the Lord God in their hearts, and made him their dread." {#Isa 8:13} "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." {#Pr 29:25} {See Trapp on "Pr 29:25"}

Because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah.] And together with him many Chaldeans, whom Johanan and his captains should have cautioned and better guarded; as the king of Babylon would better tell them, they thought, and with it to punish them for their neglect. {a}

{a} Ob incastodiam.

Chapter 42

Ver. 1. Then all the captains of the forces and Johanan.] Or, Even Johanan; he among the rest, and above the rest. Ille huic negotio non interfuit modo, sed etiam praefuit.

And Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah.] Brother, belike, to that Azariah, {#Jer 43:2} a noble pair of brethren in evil.

And all the people.] Who follow their rulers; as in a beast the whole body followeth the head.

Drew near.] They came as clients use to do for counsel.

Ver. 2. Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee.] Here they seem to humble themselves before Jeremiah the prophet; which, because King Zedekiah did not, he came to ruin. {#2Ch 36:12}

And pray for us unto the Lord thy God.] Good words may be found even in a hellish mouth sometimes. Who would think but these men had spoken what they did unfeignedly, and from their very hearts? whenas it soon after appeared that all was no better than deep dissimulation. They had made their conclusion beforehand to go down to Egypt, only in a pretence of piety, and for greater credit, they would have had God’s approbation; which, since they cannot, they will go on with their design however, fall back, fall edge. O most hateful hypocrisy! O contumacy worthy of all men’s execration!

Ver. 3. That the Lord thy God may show us the way.] But they had set themselves in the way to Egypt before they came with this request to the prophet: why went they else to Goruth Chimham, the road toward Egypt? {#Jer 41:17} why were they also so peremptory, when they knew God’s mind to the contrary? {#Jer 43:7}

And the thing that we may do.] Good words all along; but those, we say, are light cheap: Quid vero verba quaero, facta cum videam? They were as forward to speak fair, as their ancestors were in the wilderness; but oh that there were a heart in this people, saith God, to do as they have said!

Ver. 4. I have heard you; behold, I will pray.] The wisdom from above is persuasible, easy to be entreated, {#Jas 3:18} and good men are ready to every good work. {#Tit 3:1} Jeremiah hoped they might speak their whole hearts, and promiseth to do his best for them, both by praying and prophesying.

Whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare.] Sic veteres nihil ex se vel potuerunt, vel protulerunt. The prophets spake as they were inspired by the Spirit of truth. Christ spake nothing but what was consonant to the Holy Scriptures. The apostles delivered to the churches what they had received of the Lord. {#1Co 11:23} Polycarp told the churches that he delivered nothing to them but what he had received of the apostles. {a}

{a} Irenaeus, lib. iii.; Eccles. Hist., lib. iv. cap. 14.

Ver. 5. The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us.] Did these men know what it was so solemnly to swear a thing? Or were they stark atheists, thus to promise that with an oath which they never meant to perform?

“ At sperate Deum memorem fandi atque nefandi.”

Their king, Zedekiah, paid dearly for his perjury to God and men.

Ver. 6. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, ] i.e., Whether it please us or cross us. Veniat, veniat verbum Domini: et submittemus ei, sexcenta si nobis essent colla, said a good man once—that is, Let God’s Word come to us once and he shall be obeyed, whatever come of it. These in the text seem to say as much, but they say it only; neither was it much to be liked that they were so free of their promises, and all in their own strength, without any condition of help from heaven: as if the matter had been wholly in their own hands, and they had free will to whatsoever good purpose or practice.

“ O caecas mentes hominum!”

“O the blind mind of men”

We will obey the voice of the Lord.] Yes, as far as a few good words will go.

“ Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest.’’—Ovid.

Ver. 7. And it came to pass that after ten days.] So long God held his holy prophet in request; and so he doth still his best servants many times, thereby tying, as it were, the sacrifice to the horns of the altar. How impatient those wretched roysters were of such a delay, we may well imagine (the Chinese use to whip their gods when they will not hear and help them forthwith); but God held them off as unworthy of any answer, and seemed by his silence to say unto them, as in #Eze 20:3, "Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord, I will not be inquired of by you."

Ver. 8. And all the people, from the least unto the greatest.] For the Word of God belongeth to all of all sorts; and as the smaller fish bite first, so the poor are evangelized {#Mt 11:5} when the richer stand off.

Ver. 9. Unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication.] Heb., To make your supplication fall in his presence. This I have not ceased to do ever since, but had no answer till now; and it may be that now you may the better regard it. Cito data eito vilescunt. Soon given, soon worthless.

Ver. 10. Then will I build you.] Promittitur felicitatio; parabola ab architectura et agricultura desumpta. God promiseth to bless and settle them by a twofold similitude, used also by the apostle, {#1Co 3:9} "Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building." See #Jer 24:6.

For I repent me of the evil.] A term taken from men, {#Ge 6:6} though repentance in men is a change of the will; but repentance in God is only the willing of a change, mutatio rei, non Dei. See #Jer 18:8.

Ver. 11. Fear not the king of Babylon.] See on #Jer 41:18.

For I am with you to save you.] Not only to protect you from the Babylonian, but also to incline his heart to clemency toward you. {#Jer 42:12}

Ver. 12. And I will shew mercies unto you.] Tender mercies, such as proceed from the heart, and of a parent, nay, a mother. This was more than all the rest.

Ver. 13. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land.] Because more barren than Egypt, and besides beset with many and mighty enemies

Neither obey the voice of the Lord your God.] Which you ought to do, whatever come of it, since rebellion is as witchcraft. {#1Sa 15:22,23}

Ver. 14. Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt.] Infamous for idolatry, luxury, and the oppression of your ancestors there, besides God’s express prohibition and {#De 17:16} commination of it, as the last and greatest plague. "The Lord shall bring thee unto Egypt." {#De 28:68}

And there will we dwell.] The prophet now, by their looks, or some other way, perceived their purpose so to do, whatever they had promised. {#Jer 42:5,6}

Ver. 15. If ye wholly set your faces.] As now I see ye do, and shall therefore tell you what to trust unto; with the froward God will wrestle. {#Ps 18:26}

Ver. 16. Then it shall come to pass, that the sword which ye feared shall overtake you there.] Categorice intonat propheta. God hath long hands; neither can wicked men anywhere live out of the reach of his rod.

And the famine whereof ye were afraid.] Egypt was very fertile, the granary of the world, and yet God could cause a famine there; he hath treasures of plagues for sinners, and can never be exhausted.

Ver. 17. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.] Three threats, answerable to those three promises, {#Jer 42:10-12} in case of their obedience.

Ver. 18. As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth, ]{ a} scil., Like scalding lead or burning bell-metal, {b} which runneth fiercely, spreadeth far, and burneth extremely.

Upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem.] Out of which fire I have late pulled you as a brand; the smell thereof is yet upon your clothes, as it were: Cavete. Beware.

{a} Metaph. a metallis.

{b} The substance of which bells are made; an alloy of copper and tin, the tin being in larger proportion than in ordinary bronze.

Ver. 19. Go ye not into Egypt.] Be ruled, or you will rue it when you have learned their evil manners, and shall perish in their punishments. It is better for you to be in cold irons at Babylon than to serve idols in Egypt at never so much liberty. Your fathers brought a golden calf thence; Jeroboam brought two.

Ver. 20. For ye dissembled in your hearts.] Heb., Ye seduced in your souls or in your minds. The Vulgate hath it, You deceived your souls, and not God, by playing fast and loose with him, by dealing with him ac si puer esset, scurra, vel morio, and if he sould be a boy, a baffoon or an idiot.

Ver. 21. But ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord.] Nay, you take a clean contrary course, as if ye would despitefully spit in the face of Heaven, and wrestle a fall with the Almighty.

Ver. 22. Now, therefore, know certainly that ye shall die.] In running from death ye shall but run to it, as Jonah did.

“ Quo fugis, Encelade? quaseunque accesseris orss,

Sub Iove semper eris.”

Chapter 43

Ver. 1. And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end, &c.] See here how wicked men, and hypocrites especially, grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Balaam being resolved to curse, however, went not as at other times but set his face toward the wilderness. {#Nu 24:1,2} Now he would build no more altars, but curse whatever came of it; so would these refractories, without God’s good leave, go down to Egypt, putting it to the venture. Jeremiah’s sweet words were even lost upon them.

Ver. 2. Then spake Azariah.] See on #Jer 42:1.

And all the proud men.] Pride is the root of rebellion. See #Jer 13:15. These men’s pride budded, {as #Eze 7:10} and as the leprosy, brake forth in their foreheads. See #Ho 7:1. {See Trapp on "Ho 7:1"}

Saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely.] By this foul aspersion, not proven at all, they seek to discredit his prophecy, like as the Jews do to this day the New Testament, and the Papists the Book of Martyrs and other monuments of the Church, saying of them, So many lines, so many lies.

Ver. 3. But Baruch, the son of Neriah, setteth thee on against us.] A likely matter. What should Baruch gain by that? but malice careth not how truly or rationally it speaketh or acteth, so it may gall or kill Jeremiah and Baruch must be said to be in league together, and to collude for a common disturbance, like as the Papists say Luther and Zuinglius did; whereas they knew nothing one of another for a long time after that they began to stickle against Popery in several climates; and when they did hear of one another, they differed exceedingly, in the doctrine of the sacrament especially.

Ver. 4. So Johanan the son of Kareah, &c.] Nothing is more audacious and desperate than a hypocrite when once discovered. Now these subdoli show themselves in their colours, appear in their likeness, going on end with their work.

Ver. 5. But Johanan…took all the remnant of Judah.] Whose preservation had been but a reservation to further mischief, a just punishment of their incorrigibleness.

Ver. 6. And Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.] This was not without a special providence of God, that these desperadoes might still have a prophet with them, for the making of them the more inexcusable. If it befall any of God’s faithful servants to be hurried whither they would not, as it did Jeremiah and Baruch here, Paul also and Peter, {#Joh 21:18} Ignatius, Polycarp, and other prisoners and sufferers for the truth in all ages, let them comfort themselves with these examples.

Ver. 7. Thus came they even to Tahpanhes.] A chief city of Egypt, called also Hanes. {#Isa 30:4} Jerome calleth it Tunis, and Herodotus, Daphnis Pelusiae.

Ver. 8. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying.] And although many more words besides came to him while he was there, and many remarkable passages happened, yet the Holy Ghost has recorded no more thereof than what we find in this and the next chapter.

Ver. 9. Take great stones in thine hand.] Bricks, wherewith Egypt abounded, as being much of it muddy by reason of the inundation of the river Nile; hence also their chief city was called Pelusium, or Daphnis Pelusiae. See #Jer 43:7. It is ordinary with Jeremiah to join paradigms with his prophecies, as here, that they might be the more evident, and take the deeper impression.

Ver. 10. Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar.] By a secret instinct put into his heart.

And will set his throne upon these stones.] This was dangerous for Jeremiah to say at the court gate, and in the hearing of so many disaffected Jews, who would be ready enough to make the worst of everything. Some say they stoned him with brickbats {a} for this very prophecy.

{a} A piece or fragment of a brick; properly, according to Gwilt, less than one half of its length. It is the typical ready missile, where stones are scarce.

Ver. 11. And when he cometh.] Being sent and set on by God.

He shall smite the land of Egypt.] As for their idolatry, &c., so especially for harbouring these perfidious Jews, whom divine vengeance still pursues hot foot, and will not allow them to live anywhere, since they would not be persuaded to live in God’s good land, and by his good laws.

Ver. 12. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt.] Goodly gods they were, that could not keep their temples from burning! Diana, said one jestingly, was so busy at the birth of great Alexander that she could not for some while be at Ephesus, where her stately temple was at the same time set on fire by Herostratus.

And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment, ] i.e., Easily and speedily shall he carry away the spoil of that rich country, there being none there to hinder him, either in taking them or carrying them away:

“ Pastor enim secure portat tectumque, laremque.”

Ver. 13. He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh.] Or, Heliopolis, where the sun was worshipped with great superstition, as Herodotus {a} writeth. The Hebrews also called this city On, or Aven—that is, vanity or iniquity—as well they might, for the abominable idolatry there committed. Josephus {b} saith, that five years after this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar, who had Egypt given him as pay for his pains at Tyre, invaded Egypt; and the king thereof being slain, he set up another there, and took the Jews that remained alive away into Babylon.

{a} Lib. ii.

{b} Antiq., lib. x. cap. 11.

Chapter 44

Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah.] No word of comfort—how could it be, as long as they lived in open rebellion against the Lord?—but all of reproof and threatening. For what reason? they were obdurate and obstinate, and did daily proficere in peius, grow worse and worse.

Which dwell at Migdol.] To these chief cities Jeremiah resorted to speak unto them. Noph, alias Moph {#Ho 9:6} is held to be Memphis, now Alcair.

Ver. 2. Ye have seen all the evils that I have brought upon Jerusalem.] And should have been warned by this exemplum terrificum, dreadful instance of mine indignation. They that will not take example, are worthily made examples.

Ver. 3. Because of their wickedness.] That root of all their wretchedness.

Ver. 4. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants.] Here the badness of men and goodness of God come equally to be considered.

Saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate.] It were happy if this saying of God were always shrilly sounding in our ears, whenever we are about to do anything that is evil; it would surely be a notable retentive from vice.

Ver. 5. But they hearkened not.] See #Jer 7:24,26.

Ver. 6. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth.] A metaphor from metals. See #Jer 42:18.

Ver. 7. Wherefore commit you this evll against your souls?] This land desolating, soul destroying sin of idolatry.

Ver. 8. In that ye provoke me to wrath.] This is a most pithy and piercing sermon all along, not unlike that preached by Stephen, for the which he was stoned, {#Ac 7:54,57,58} and likely enough that this was Jeremiah’s last sermon also.

Ver. 9. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers?] Mira hic verborum apparet emphasis. What a powerful and pressing discourse is this! Sed surdis fabulam, but they were as a stake in the water that stirreth not.

Ver. 10. They are not humbled.] Not tamed, not affected with attrition, much less with contrition for their sins. This I tell thee, Jeremiah, for to them I am weary with talking to so little purpose. Plectuntur sed non flectuntur: corripiuntur sed non corriguntur.

Ver. 11. Behold, I will set my face against you for evil.] I will be implacable, as you are irreclaimable.

Ver. 12. That have set their faces.] I also will set my face against such, {#Jer 44:11} and they shall all be consumed and fall. Oh what work hath sin made in the world!

Ver. 13. For I will punish them.] Let them never think that they shall one day be settled again in their own country; they could easily come down into Egypt.

“ Sed revocare gradum,” &c. “Hic labor,” &c.

I will watch them for ever going back again; let them set their hearts at rest for that matter, it will never be.

Ver. 14. For none shall return, but such as shall escape, ] sc., From these fighters against God, Johanan and his complices. The Talmudists tell us—but who told them?—that Nebuchadnezzar, at his conquest of Egypt, sent back into Judea Jeremiah and Baruch, &c.

Ver. 15. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incense.] And by suffering them so to do had consented to what they had done; for qui non, cum potest, prohibet, iubet.

And all the women that stood by.] Mulieres quicquid volunt valde volunt. Women, as they have less of reason than men, so more of passion, being wilful in their way, and oft carrying their men along with them. {a}

“ Sicut ferrum trahit magnes:

Sic masculum suum trahit Agnes.”

Answered Jeremiah, saying.] One of the women speaking for the rest; and that might well be one of Zedekiah’s daughters, the men conniving, and well content therewith. See #Jer 44:19.

{a} Omne malum ex Gynaecio, All evil is from the women’s apartments.

Ver. 16. As for the word which thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.] This is just woman-like. See #Jer 44:15. When man lost his freewill, saith one, woman got it; and whereas there came twelve kabs (measures) of speech at first down from heaven, women ran away with ten of them, say the Rabbis merrily. Here they are very talkative and peremptory; in some there is a strong inclination, a vehement impetus, to whoredom, which the prophet Hosea calleth a spirit of whoredom. Such there was in these women to idolatry; they were fully set upon it.

Ver. 17. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth.] Heb., We will doing do every word that hath gone forth from our mouth; that we may be dicti nostri dominae, as big as our words, our vows especially, {as #Jer 44:25} which we made to worship the queen of heaven, in case we came safe into Egypt.

To burn incense to the queen of heaven.] See #Jer 7:18.

As we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes.] Antiquity is here pleaded, and authority, and plenty and peace. These are now the Popish pleas, and the pillars of that rotten religion. It is the old religion, say they, and hath potent princes for her patrons, and is practised in Rome, the mother Church, and hath plenty and peace where it is professed, and where they have nothing but mass and matins. These are their arguments, but very poor ones, as were easy to evince. But as women, counted the devouter sex, have always carried a great stroke with their husbands, as did Eve, Jezebel, Eudoxia, &c., the women of Antioch could much against Paul and Barnabas; {#Ac 13:50} so the people are indeed a weighty but unwieldy body, slow to remove from what they have been accustomed to. {a} The Irish will not be persuaded to put gears and harness on their horses, but will have the plough still tied to their tails as they have been; neither in matters of religion will they be drawn to leave their old mumpsimus {b} for the new sumpsimus, { c} so powerful is usage, and so sweet our present though perverse opinions and persuasions.

For then had we plenty of victuals.] Just so doth the Church of Rome borrow her mark from the market’s plenty or cheapness of all things. But one chief reason of that is the scarcity of money that was in our fathers’ days, and the plenty thereof that is in ours, by means of the rich mines in the West Indies, not discovered till the days of Henry VII. Holinshed saith that some old men he knew who told of times in England when it was accounted a great matter that a farmer could show five shillings or a noble together in silver.

And were well, and saw no evil.] Ubi utilitas ibi pietas, saith Epictetus; and deos quisque sibi utiles cudit, saith another: for profit men will be of any religion. If the belly may be filled, the back fitted, &c., modoferveat olla, so the pot may boil, much will be yielded to. {d} It is well observed that the Papists are most corrupt in those things where their profit, ease, or honour is engaged. In the doctrine of the Trinity, and other points that touch not upon these, they are sound.

{a} Plus valet malum inclitum quam bonum insolitum.

{b} One who obstinately adheres to old ways, in spite of the clearest evidence that they are wrong; an ignorant and bigoted opponent of reform.

{c} A correct expression taking the place of an incorrect but popular one

{d} ’ Οπαυ το συμφερον εκει το ευσεβες. Si ventri bene, si lateri. -Horat.

Ver. 18. But since we have left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, we have wanted all things.] This was non causa pro causa. Not unlike hereunto was that gross mistake of certain Lutheran ministers, who not long since, consulting at Hamburg about the causes and cure of Germany’s calamities, concluded it was because their images in churches were not adorned enough, which therefore they would procure done. {a}

{a} Burroughs on Hos., tom. i. p. 465.

Ver. 19. And when we burnt incense to the queen of heaven.] So the Papists also call the Virgin Mary, and idolise her, as the word here rendered to worship her doth properly signify: Idoli reiectitii appellationem in eam transferentes.

Did we make her cakes without our men?] i.e., Without our husbands’ privity and approbation. But is that a sufficient excuse? Should not God be obeyed rather than men? A wife is not to perform such blind obedience to her husband as Plutarch prescribeth, when he layeth it as a law of wedlock on the wife to acknowledge and worship the same gods, and none else, but those whom her husband honoureth and reputeth for gods. {a}

{a} Plutarch. Moral., 318.

Ver. 20. Then Jeremiah said unto all the people.] The prophet, without any special command from God, moved with a spirit of zeal, confuteth that blasphemy of theirs, and showeth plainly that idolatry maketh no people happy, but the contrary; though this be an old plea, or rather cavil, answered fully long since by Cyprian against Demetrian, Augustine De Civit. Dei, and Orosius.

Ver. 21. Ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes.] This was another thing they stood much upon, that their fathers had done it: so had their grandees. If men can say, "We have sinned with our fathers," they think it is enough. The heretic Dioscurus cried out, I hold with the fathers, I am cast out with the fathers, &c. Yea, Jerome once desired leave of Augustine to err with seven fathers whom he found of his opinion. But what saith the Scripture? "Be not ye the servants of men." {#1Co 7:23} And what said a great politician? I will not live by example, but by rule; neither will I pin my faith on another’s sleeve, because I know not whither he may carry it.

Did not the Lord remember them?] When you thought he had forgot them. Sin may sleep a long time, like a sleeping debt, not called for of many years, &c.

Ver. 22. So that the Lord could no longer bear.] His abused mercy turned into fury. See #Jer 15:6.

Ver. 23. Because ye have burnt incense, &c.] See #Jer 42:21 43:7.

Ver. 24. Hear the word of the Lord.] Not my word only. See on #Jer 44:20.

Ver. 25. Ye and your wives.] Who ought to be the better, but are much worse the one for the other, the devil having broken your head with your own rib.

We will surely perform our vows.] A little better than many Popish votaries (and others also not a few) do today; not unlike him in Erasmus, who in a storm promised the Virgin a picture of wax as big as St Christopher, but when he came to shore would not give a tallow candle. {a}

{a} Erasm. Col. in Naufr.

Ver. 26. Behold, I have sworn by my great name.] Jehovah, my incommunicable name, my proper name, or by myself, and that is no small oath.

Ver. 27. Behold, I will watch over them for evil.] I will watch them a shrewd turn, as we say. I will take my time to hit them when I may most hurt them.

Ver. 28. Yet a small number.] Methe mispar, men of number, a poor few: still God reserveth a remnant for royal use.

Shall know whose word shall stand.] Because they are so peremptory and resolute, I shall try it out with them. I shall be as cross as they, yet still in a way of justice.

Ver. 29. That I will punish you in this place.] Which you looked upon as a place of surest security and safeguard, and would not hearken to me opening my bounties bosom to you at home.

Ver. 30. Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra.] Called also Vaphres, and by Herodotus, Apries, being nephew to Necho, who slew Josiah. A very proud prince he saith Apries was, slain by Amasis, who succeeded him. But others gather from this text, and from #Eze 29:19 31:11,15,18, that he was slain by Nebuchadnezzar. Josephus {a} also and Jerome say as much. {b}

{a} Antiq., lib. x. cap. 11.

{b} Jerome in Thren., cap. 4.

Chapter 45

Ver. 1. The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch.] It is thought that Jeremiah preached his last when he prophesied in the foregoing chapter the destruction of Pharaohhophra, and together with him of the Jews that were found in Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. Lapides loquitur. He seemed to them to speaking stones, as the proverb hath it; and therefore they stoned him to death, as Epiphanius and others report. This word that he spoke to Baruch belongeth to #Jer 36:32, and should have been annexed unto it in a natural order, as appeareth both by the date and by the matter. Baruch had, with much pains and patience, first written out Jeremiah’s prophecies, and then read them to the people, and afterwards to the princes. For this piece of work he expected belike some good piece of preferment, as the apostles also did for their forsaking all and following Christ. {#Mt 18:1-4 19:27-30 20:21-29, &c.} Thus flesh will show itself in the best, and in many things we offend all. But instead of any such thing, Baruch, together with his master, Jeremiah, was sought for to be slaughtered; and besides, he meets with here a contrary prophecy, whereby, before he is comforted, he is sharply reproved, 1. For a dastardly despondency of mind, because his rising expectation, it seems, was frustrated; 2. For a vain, ambitious self-seeking, which was not hid from God.

Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch.] Whom he knoweth by name, and for whom he hath in store an ample recompense of reward; for never yet did any one do or suffer aught for God’s sake, that complained of a hard bargain.

Ver. 3. Thou didst say, ] i.e., Thou didst think, like a poor pusillanimous creature as thou art. But Jeremiah could pity him in this infirmity, because it had sometime been his own case, {#Jer 15:10} and may befall the best. Pray for me, I say, pray for me, said Father Latimer, for sometimes I am so fearful and faint hearted that I could even run into a mouse hole.

For the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow.] So do we oft complain, non quia dura sed quia molles patimur, without cause, through feeblemindedness. And when we speak of our crosses, we are eloquent oft beyond truth; we add, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, as here.

Ver. 4. Behold, that which I have built, &c.] A metaphor, as is before noted, ab architectura et agricultura. I am turning all upside down, and wouldst thou only go free and untouched of the common calamity? It is no whit likely; thou must share with the rest.

Ver. 5. And seekest thou great things for thyself?] This is, saith one, as if a man should have his house on fire, and instead of seeking to quench his house, should go and trim up his chambers; or as if, when the ship is sinking, he should seek to enrich his cabin.

Seek them not.] For what so great felicity canst thou fancy to thyself in things so fading, as the case now stands especially?

But thy life will I give thee for a prey.] Which, in these killing and dying times, in such dear years of time, is no small mercy.

Chapter 46

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles.] God had at first set him over the nations and over the kingdoms—as a plenipotentiary—"to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant." {#Jer 1:10} This power of his the prophet had put forth and exercised against his own nation of the Jews, whom he had doomed to destruction, and lived to see execution done accordtngly. Now he takes their enemies, the neighbour nations, to do, telling them individually what they shall trust to. And this indeed the prophet had done before in part, and in fewer words, under the type of a cup of wine to be divided among and drunk up by the nations, {#Jer 25:15-33} but here to the end of Jer. 51. more plainly and plentifully. Isaiah had done the same in effect (Isa. 13-24), Ezekiel also, from Eze. 25-33, that by the mouth of three such witnesses every word might stand, and this burden of the nations might be confirmed. Jeremiah beginneth fitly with the Egyptians, who besides the old enmity, had lately slain good King Josiah, with whom died all the prosperity of the Jewish people, who were thenceforth known, as the Thebans also were after the death of their Epaminondas, only by their overthrows and calamities.

Ver. 2. Against Egypt.] First, That the Jews might not rely on that broken reed, as they did to their ruin, because they would never be warned.

Against the army of Pharaohnecho.] Who had beaten Nebuchadnezzar Priscus at Carchemish, and gotten all the country from Egypt to Euphrates; but was afterwards himself beaten out again, by Nebuchadnessar II, surnamed Magnus, in the first year of his reign, which was the fourth year of Jehoiakim, who also was glad to become his tributary. {a} Now this overthrow of the Egyptian, who was driven out of all Syria, as far as Pelusium, by the Babylonian, is here foretold.

{a} Joseph., lib. x. cap. 7.

Ver. 3. Order ye the buckler and shield.] So Pharaoh is brought in bespeaking his forces, when he was going to fight against Nebuchadnezzar. Or so the prophet bespeaketh the Egyptians ironically, {a} and by way of scoff; q.d., Do so, but all shall be to no purpose, {b} See the like #Isa 8:9. Congregamini et vincemini. We are assembled and will be conquered. Yea, though upon Pharaoh’s shield should be the same inscription that was once upon Agamemnon’s, This is the terror of all mortal wights. {c}

{a} Hypotuposis ironica.

{b} State galeati, loricati, lanceati: sed frustra.

{c} Ουτος μεν φσβος εστι βροτων.—Pausan.

Ver. 4. Harness the horses.] Those warlike creatures, but yet vain things for safety. {#Ps 33:17 Pr 21:31} Egypt was famous for the best horses; {#De 17:16 1Ki 10:26,28} but the Lord delighteth not in the strength of a horse, &c. {#Ps 147:10,11}

Ver. 5. Wherefore have I seen them dismayed?] Surprised with a panic terror.

And are fled apace.] Heb., Fled to flight.

For fear was round about.] A proverbial form. {#Jer 6:25}

Ver. 6. Let not the swift fly away, ] i.e., Think to save themselves by flight.

Nor the mighty man escape, ] i.e., Think to save himself by his might, be he never so stout hearted.

Toward the north, ] i.e., Toward Carchemish, the stage of the war, where Pharaohnecho had beaten Nebuchadnezzar the elder, and is now beaten in the same place by Nebuchadnezzar the younger, alterna victoria in another victory. {a}

{a} Herod., lib. ii., αλλοπροσαλλος.

Ver. 7. Who is this that cometh up like a flood?] Pharaoh with his forces is here notably described, vivo sermonum colore, and compared to an impetuous river, that threateneth to overflow and swallow up all. See #Isa 8:7.

Ver. 8. Egypt riseth up like a flood.] Like the Nile. The Egyptians were an ancient, proud, luxurious people.

And he saith, I will go up and cover the earth.] See the like vain vaunts of this proud people, #Ex 15:9,10.

Ver. 9. Come up, ye horses, ] i.e., Ye horsemen, all the cavalry of Egypt. {as #Ex 14:7}

And rage.] Or, Bestir yourselves as if ye were wild or mad: instar furiarum discurrite per campos.

The Ethiopians and the Lybians.] The Africans that were confederates and auxiliaries to the Egyptians.

Ver. 10. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts.] See #Isa 34:5-8.

Ver. 11. Go up unto Gilead, and take balm.] See #Jer 8:22 cf. Ge 37:25; q.d., Thy calamity is no less incurable than ignominious.

Ver. 12. The nations have heard of thy shame.] Of the shameful defeat given thee; so that thou who wast once a terror to them art now a scorn.

For the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty.] And this is the sum of the talk that goeth of thee.

Ver. 13. The word that the Lord spake.] Another prophecy, but against Egypt also. God had yet a further quarrel to that country for the death of good Josiah; their delivering up Uriah, God’s faithful servant, to the sword of Jehoiakim; their idolatry, pride, perfidy, &c.

How Nebuchadnezzar…should come and smite the land of Egypt.] In the twentieth-fifth year of his reign, as Jeremiah also had set forth by a sign. {#Jer 44:30}

Ver. 14. Publish in Noph, and in Tahpanhes.] See #Jer 44:1.

For the sword shall devour roundabout thee.] Egypt was no whit amended by the former discomfiture at Carchemish; therefore is now wholly subdued by the Babylonian conqueror, about three and twenty years after. And the like befell the Greek empire, overturned by the Turks.

Ver. 15. They stood not, because the Lord did drive them.] He struck a panic terror into them; and then no wonder that men flee at the noise of a shaken leaf.

Ver. 16. Yea, one fell upon another.] See #Jer 46:12. In a confused flight it is wont so to be.

And they said.] The auxiliary and stipendiary soldiers said so, when once they saw that there was no good to be done for the Egyptians, Nebuchadnezzar having so wasted all.

Ver. 17. Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise, ]{ a} A mere flash, one that vaunteth and vapoureth, and that is all. So of Charles VIII, King of France, Guicciardini saith, that in his expedition to Naples he came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a snuff; more than a man at first, and less than a woman at last.

He hath passed the time appointed.] He let slip his best opportunity, which, in giving battle, is sometimes the loss of all. Charles, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, was for this fault called Carolus Cunctator, i.e., The Delayer.

{a} Strepitus est.

Ver. 18. As I live.] Formula iurandi elliptica, et Deo propria. Let none presume to swear in that sort.

Surely as Tabor is among the mountains.] As Tabor surmounts and commandeth the little hills round about it, and Carmel the adjoining sea, over which it hangeth a promontory, so shall Nebuchadnezzar come into Egypt and subdue the whole country.

Ver. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt.] But not likely to dwell long there.

Furnish thyself to go into captivity.] Heb., Make thee instruments or implements of captivity. Sarcinis reculisque collectis, prepare to be packing.

Ver. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer.] Vitula elegans, a trim bullock; {a} worshipping Apis the bull and Mnevis the cow, and unaccustomed to the yoke of subjection, {as #Ho 10:11} but I shall bring her to it.

Destruction cometh.] Or, Excision from the north cometh, cometh, certo, cito, penitus venit {#Eze 7:6} There come those that shall cut up this fair heifer or fat calf.

{a} Iuvenca petulca.

Ver. 21. Also her hired men in the midst of her like fatted bullocks.] Heb., Bullocks of the stall, not like to do much good service in respect of their luxury and petulancy; fat Eglon had but sluggish soldiers. Campania with her delicacies marred Hannibal’s forces. These mercenaries carried themselves as if hired non ad militiam sed saginam. not to fight, but to fat themselves

Ver. 22. The voice thereof (of Egypt) shall go like a serpent.] {a} Submissa voce loquetur. She shall hiss and whisper, as being daunted and damped, scarce able to mutter or utter aught for fear. {#Isa 29:4}

{a} Vox trepida et prae metu instar serpentum stridula.

Ver. 23. They shall cut down her forest, ] i.e., Her many cities. Herodotus telleth of one thousand and twenty cities that were in the land of Egypt in the days of King Amasis.

Because they are more than the grasshoppers.] The Babylonian sellers are; and those many hands will make light work. {a}

{a} Lib. ii.; Diodor., lib. i. cap. 31.

Ver. 24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded.] This is, in plain terms, the sum of all that had been said before. {a}

{a} Subiungit epiphonema.

Ver. 25. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith.] And shall he say and not do? {#Nu 23:19} Shall the word of God be broken {#Joh 10:35}

Ver. 26. Behold, I will punish the multitude of No.] Called populous No, {#Na 3:8} populous as Nineveh; so Galilee of the Gentiles. Some render it nourishing No. {a}

And their kings.] Here Calvin conjectureth that Pharaoh had made many of his princes kings for his greater magnificence; but this came down soon after. A bulging wall is near unto a downfall.

And Pharaoh.] Hophra. {#Jer 44:30}

And all them that trust in him.] As the Jews in Egypt did.

And afterward it shall be inhabited.] Forty years after {#Eze 29:13} -sc., in the days of Amasis, whom Cambyses the Persian conquered, after which it remained subject to the Persian monarchs one hundred and fifty years, saith Eusebius, being but a base and tributary kingdom.

{a} Hodie dicitur Alexandria. Today it is called Alexandria.

Ver. 27. But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob.] If Egypt find so much favour, {as #Jer 46:26} what mayest not thou hope for? See the same, #Jer 30:10.

Ver. 28. Fear thou not, O Jacob, &c.] See #Jer 30:11.

But correct thee in measure, &c.] God dealeth much otherwise with his own people than he doth with unbelievers, whose prosperity, as it is full of thorns, so their adversity is but a foretaste of eternal torment; whereas "all things," even afflictions also, "work together for good to them that love God."

Chapter 47

Ver. 1. Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.] Called also Gazer and Gazera, having its name not from the Persian Gaza, signifying wealth or treasure, but from a Hebrew word signifying strength. It was first smitten by Pharaoh at his return from Carchemish likely, after he had slain Josiah, and afterwards worsted the Babylonian at Euphrates. Next by Nebuchadnezzar; this and the four other satrapies of the Philistines were overrun then when he came against Egypt. After that it was besieged and taken by Alexander the Great, who laid it waste. Yet was it built again and called Constantia, after the name of Constantine the Great’s sister, being one of the chief cities in Syria, and having received the faith. {a}

{a} Euseb., De Vit. Constant., lib. iv.

Ver. 2. Behold, waters rise up out of the north.] The Chaldean, as a mighty torrent, shall overflow the whole country, and bury all as it were in one universal grave of waters, as once at the deluge. So #Isa 8:7. This seemeth to have been done somewhat before Egypt was destroyed, when Moab, Ammon, and Syria, and therein Palestine, drank of the same cup.

Ver. 3. The fathers shall not look back to their children.] Though never so dear to them—φιλτατα the Greeks call them, and the Latins have their filius of φιλος—but shall be solicitous of their own lives only. Qui de Deo ne tantillum quidem fuerant solliciti.

For feebleness of hands.] Through fear and fail of vital spirits, so as to forget natural affection also.

Ver. 4. Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines.] God will find a time of vengeance to fall upon the wicked enemies of his people, though he bear long with them. Patientia Dei quo diuturnior, eo minacior. "The wicked practiseth against the just, and guasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming." {#Ps 37:12,13}

And to cut off from Tyrus and Sidon.] The inhabitants whereof were the Philistines’ kinsmen and confederates, but could not rescue them or deliver themselves from the Chaldean conqueror.

The remnant of the country of Caphtor.] These Caphtorim were neither the Cappadocians, the Cyprians, nor the Colchians, as sundry make them; but as of the same lineage with the Philistines, {#Ge 10:13,14} so their complices and confederates, with whom therefore they were to fare alike.

Ver. 5. Baldness is come upon Gaza, ] i.e., Extreme grief, which might have been prevented, had she profited by her former calamity. {#Jer 47:1} But till God come in with sanctifying grace, afflictions, those hammers of his, do but beat upon cold iron. {#Le 19:27,28 Jer 16:6}

Ashkelon is cut off.] Or, Is silenced; which was wont to be full of singing, dancing, and loud luring. Here was born, they say, Herod the infanticide, surnamed therefore Ascalonita. {a}

With the remnant of their valley.] Palestine lay most of it low, and was yet to be laid lower.

{a} Adrichom.

Ver. 6. O thou sword of the Lord.] So called because whencesoever it cometh it is bathed in heaven. {#Isa 34:5} See #Jer 25:29 Jud 7:18,20.

How long will it be ere thou be quiet?] Erisne in opere semper? Wilt thou ever be eating flesh and drinking blood? War, the shorter the better. Of the pirates’ war, as the Romans called it, Augustine {a} reporteth to the just commendation of Pompey, that it was by him incredibill celeritate et temporls brevitate eonfectum, quickly despatched and made an end of.

{a} Aug., De Civit. Dei.

Ver. 7. How can it be quiet?] Heb., How shalt thou be quiet? Here the prophet quieteth himself howsoever by a humble submission to his holy will, who had put the sword in commission. God’s will is the rule of right, neither can force or entreaty prevail aught against it in this world, much less in the world to come, where each one must hold him to his doom, which is irreversible.

Chapter 48

Ver. 1. Against Moab.] That bastardly brood, infamous for their inveterate hatred of God’s Israel, at whom they were anciently irked, fretted, vexed, though no way provoked, {#Nu 22:3} whom also they outwitted, by the counsel of Balaam, in the business of Baal-peor, {#Nu 25:1-3,16-18} had been plagued and judged by the kings of Israel, by David especially, as also by Sennacherib, {#Isa 15:1-16:14} but were no whit amended; and are therefore here, and #Eze 25:9, threatened with utter destruction by the Chaldeans, and that very much in a scoffing way; like as they were a proud, petulant, scornful people, despisers of all other nations, but especially of the Jews, their near neighbours and allies.

Woe unto Nebo.] Their oracular city, as it may seem by the name. See #Isa 15:2.

Kiriathaim is confounded.] It is of a dual form, and so seemeth to have been Bipolis, a double city; as was of old Jerusalem, and as are now Rome, Prague, Craeovia.

Misgab is confounded.] It signifieth the high place, and is the same, say some, with Bamoth, {#Nu 21:20} and Selah. {#Isa 16:1}

Ver. 2. There shall be no more praise of Moab.] This may be taken either of a city so called, {a} or of the whole country, as now Muscovia is oft put for all Russia.

In Heshbon they have devised evil against it.] Or better thus, De Heshbone, &c. As concerning Heshbon, they, the Chaldees, have devised evil against it. There is an elegant allusion in the original to the names of the places both in Heshben and in Madmen. {b}

{a} Ariopolis dicta.

{b} Alludit fere propheta ad singularum civitatum nomina. -Jun.

Ver. 3. A voice of crying.] They would not cry for their sins: they shall therefore cry for their miseries with desperate and bootless tears, and yet worse one day.

Ver. 4. Moab is destroyed, ] i.e., Shall be shortly.

Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.] While they either are forsaken of their parents, {as #Jer 47:3} or else see them to be slain or carried away captives.

Ver. 5. Continual weeping shall go up.] Heb., Weeping with weeping shall go up—i.e., they shall weep abundantly.

Ver. 6. Flee, save your lives.] Whatever else ye lose.

And be like the heath in the wilderness.] Which is little worth. See #Jer 17:6. Sit there sad and solitary.

Ver. 7. For because thou hast trusted in thy works.] Thy creature confidence and thine idolatry have undone thee.

Chemosh shall go forth into captivlty.] Chemosh— unde Κωμος—was the Moabites’ god, and is thought to be the same with Bacchus or Priapus. He is here called Chemosh by way of contempt.

Ver. 8. And the spoiler shall come, ] i.e., Nebuchadnezzar.

As the Lord hath spoken.] Who hath given him a commission, and made him his executioner.

Ver. 9. Give wings unto Moab.] Let him flea his utmost— addat timor alas: but the Chaldean eagle will easily overcatch him.

Ver. 10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully.] Or, Slackly, or hastingly, to the halves: Late pater haec sententia. The work of destroying Moab is here mainly meant. But the text taketh in all lawful employments; these are God’s works, and must be done vigorously, with all our might, in obedience to God, and for his greatest glory. Not soldiers only that have a good cause and in a good calling must likewise take a good courage, and do execution lustily, but magistrates also, who are keepers of both tables of the law, must do right to all without partiality, accounting it better to be counted a busy justice than an honest gentleman. Ministers must look to the ministry which they have received of the Lord, to fulfil the same. {a} Every man in his particular place and station must be "not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord": non tanquam canis ad Nilum, sed ut Cygnus ad Thamesin: in God’s immediate service especially men must stir up themselves to take hold of him, minding the work, and not doing it in a customary, formal, bedulling way. A very heathen {b} could say, Ignavia in rebus divinis est nefaria, Dulness in divine duties is abominable. And Numa, king of the Romans, made a law that none should be careless or cursory in the service of God; and appointed an officer to cry oft to the people at such a time, Hoc agite, Mind what ye are about, and do it to your utmost. He that is ambitious of God’s curse, let him do otherwise.

{a} "Verbi minister es; hoc age": Perkinsi hoc erat symbolum.

{b} Aristides.

Ver. 11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth.] And his ease hath destroyed him. {as #Pr 1:32} He dwelleth near the mare mortuum, and is become a very mare mortuum, i.e., a dead sea. Because he hath had no changes, therefore he feareth not God. {#Ps 55:19} Sibi constat in facultatibus, &c., he is rich and testy. Here is good booty for the soldiers, who should therefore bestir them.

And he hath settled on his lees.] As having never been turned out of his country, which may well be called his mother, as the lees are called the mother of wine. But now his time is come to be transvasated, to be emptied from vessel to vessel, to be carried captive.

Ver. 12. That I will send him wanderers.] Peregrinantes qui peregre agant eum; the Chaldean vagrants, as he proudly calleth and counteth them; but they shall make a vagrant of him in good earnest.

And shall empty his vessels, &c.] Moab abounded with the best wine; but dwelling so near Sodom, his grapes also became grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah: his manners were Sodomitish too. It was but time therefore to send those that should empty his vessels and break his bottles, carry him into another country, where he might get a new taste, and his scent be changed.

Ver. 13. As the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel.] When their golden calf was carried into captivity.

Ver. 14. How say ye, We are mighty?] q.d., Ye have great cause to crack, and to stand upon your pantofle. {a} {as #Jer 48:2,29,30}

{a} A slipper or sandle.

Ver. 15. Moab is spoiled.] Quae hucusque, eadem maiore cum luce repetit. The same again, but with more exornations.

Ver. 16. The calamity of Moab is near to come.] See on #Jer 48:15.

Ver. 17. All ye that are about him, bemoan him.] And that ye may not want a form, say ye, How is the strong staff broken!

Ver. 18. And sit in thirst, ] i.e., In want of all things.

Ver. 19. Stand by the way and espy, &c.] What brave rhetoric is here? Tenendum quidem, prophetas et apostolos non affectasse artem dicendi: vide tamen quanta etoquentia peroret Spiritus, Sanctus. {a}

{a} Egregia est prosopopoeia.

Ver. 20. Moab is confounded.] See on #Jer 48:15.

Tell it in Arnon.] In the cities standing upon that river.

Ver. 21. And judgment is come upon the plain country.] Such as the most part of Moab was.

Ver. 22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo.] These cities beyond Jordan belonged to Israel; but Moab had seized them, and now God’s judgment cometh upon them.

Ver. 23. And upon Kiriathaim.] See on #Jer 48:1.

And upon Bethmeon.] "Baiith" Isaiah calleth it. {#Jer 15:2}

Ver. 24. And upon Bazrah.] Called also Bezer. {#Jos 21:36}

Ver. 25. The horn of Moab is cut off, ] i.e., His strength, power, glory, kingdoms; his sultans and princes, saith the Chaldee.

Ver. 26. Make ye him drunk.] Ebrietas modis omnibus maledicta. But here is meant a dry drunkenness with the fierce wrath of God. Most things here spoken are to be found in Isaiah, but here more clearly expressed. See #Jer 25:17,21.

Moab also shall wallow in his vomit.] As once he did when drunk with wine to the derision of others, so now he shall when drunk with wrath. It will be a woe time with drunkards one day doubtless.

Ver. 27. For was not Israel a derision unto thee?] sc., When he was carried captive by Shalmaneser, didst not thou make thyself merry in his misery, and compose comedies out of his tragedies?

Was he found among thieves?] Was he therefore obnoxious because religious? What reason hadst thou to shout after him, as one would do after a thief that is taken stealing?

Thou skippest for joy.] Thou shakest thyself, that is, thy head; or thou laughest till thou art ready to break thy midriff; {a}

“ Petulanti splene cachinnas.”

{a} Impotentissime cachinnaris

Ver. 28. And be like the dove.] That is glad to creep in at any cranny of the craggy rock, to be hid from the hawk.

Ver. 29. We have heard the pride of Moab.] See #Isa 16:6. Proud he was then, and the same he is still; no changeling is he.

Ver. 30. I know his wrath.] Passion is the eldest daughter of pride. See #Isa 16:6.

His lies shall not so effect it.] Heb., His bars. Lies were his refuge, his strength, the bars he trusted to and leaned on.

Ver. 31. Therefore will I howl.] #Isa 16:7 15:5.

Ver. 32. I will weep with thee for the weeping of Jazer.] Or, More than the weeping of Jazer—i.e., saith Junius, more largely and lamentably than Isaiah bewailed Jazer. {#Isa 16:8,9}

Ver. 33. And joy and gladness is taken.] See #Isa 16:10.

Their shouting shall be no shouting.] Their cheer shall be changed, their note altered from what it was wont to be at their gathering in the vintage. So it shall one day fare with the drunkards and belly gods, whose laetitia vertetur in luctum, plausus in planctum, &c., mirth shall be turned into mourning, clapping of hands into wringing of hands, hallooing into howling.

Ver. 34. From Heshbon even unto Elealeh.] See #Isa 15:4,5,9.

As a heifer of three years old.] Which at that age beginneth to low after the bull.

Ver. 35. Moreover I will cause to cease.] Such a scarcity there shall be of people. See #Jer 48:7 Nu 21:28.

Ver. 36. Therefore my heart.] See #Isa 15:5 16:11.

Ver. 37. For every head shall be bald.] This was the doings among the Easterlings, in times of mourning.

Ver. 38. There shall be lamentation.] See #Isa 15:3.

Like a vessel wherein is no pleasure.] See #Jer 22:28.

Ver. 39. How hath Moab turned the back with shame?] Heb., Neck.

“ Submisit tristi colla superba iugo.”

Ver. 40. Behold, he shall fly as an eagle.] To an eagle Nebuchadnezzar is compared, for his strength, swiftness, and ravenousness.

Ver. 41. Kerioth is taken.] Of this city, some say, was Judas Iscariot.

As the heart of a woman in her pangs.] Which is very low: neither is such a one in case to defend herself.

Ver. 42. Because he hath magnified himself against the Lord, ] i.e., Against his people, who are as the apple of his eye.

Ver. 43. Fear and the pit.] See #Isa 24:17.

Ver. 44. He that seeth.] See #Isa 24:18.

Ver. 45. Stood under the shadow of Heshbon.] As thinking they had had a good bush on their backs.

But a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon.] As once before it did, {#Nu 21:28,29} and became a proverb.

Of the tumultuous ones.] Of those revelling gallants.

Ver. 46. Woe be unto thee, O Moab.] See #Nu 21:29.

Ver. 47. Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab.] Laetiora demum annuntiat. But because this was never that we find fulfilled in the letter, therefore it was a presage of the calling of the Gentiles to an interest in Christ, and benefit by him.

Chapter 49

Ver. 1. Concerning the Ammonites.] Who are taxed in Scripture for their pride, petulance, and contempt of God’s Israel, whom they had always infested, and now grossly injured, by encroaching upon part of their country, which they had seized on, as if Israel had been heirless, and themselves next of kin, which was nothing so. See #Zep 2:8.

Hath he no heir.] Yes, Judah and Benjamin, not yet captivated.

Why then doth their king inherit gad?] i.e., Gilead (Gad’s portion beyond Jordan), because it lieth convenient to him. This they would have done long before—viz., in Jephtha’s days: but then it would not be. Afterwards, Saul and David subdued them; but in Jehoshaphat’s time they came again, together with the Moabites, and the men of Mount Seir, to make a disturbance; but were defeated. {#2Ch 20:1,22-24} Now, when those Israelites beyond Jordan were carried away, and their land desolated, first by the Syrians, {#2Ki 10:32,33} and afterwards by the Assyrians, {#2Ki 15:29} then in likelihood it was that the Ammonites thus invaded the country, and laid it to their own, {cf. #Am 1:13} that they might dwell alone in that part of the earth.

Ver. 2. Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, ] scil., After the subversion of the Jewish nation {#Eze 21:25-27} For judgment commonly beginneth at the house of God.

And I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah.] Megalopolis, the metropolis of the Ammonites; it was afterwards called Philadelphia, from Ptolemy Philadelph, who re-edified it.

And it shall be a desolate heap.] Hob., A hillock of desolation.

And her daughters.] The neighbour towns and villages.

Then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs.] It hath been often observed, that God loveth to retaliate. How this was fulfilled, see #/APC 1Ma 5:6, and Joseph., lib. xiii. cap. 21.

Ver. 3. Howl, O Heshbon.] A city of the Gadites, but seized upon, it seemeth, first by the Ammonites, and then by the Moabites. {#Jer 48:2,24,25}

For Ai is spoiled.] Not that Ai, #Jos 7:1, but another of that name beyond Jordan—Gaja, Ptolemy calleth it.

And run to and fro by the hedges.] Hide you behind the hedges.

For their king.] Or, Malcham their idol—as Chemosh. {#Jer 48:7}

Ver. 4. Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys?] Because fat and fertile, as being near to Sodom and Gomorrah, that pleasant plain. {#Ge 13:10}

O backsliding daughter.] {a} Or, Untoward and refractory. Sept., Thou daughter of rashness, or of impudence, quae ita lascivis sicut puella quae libidinatur, et virum quaerit, saith Oecolampadius.

That trusted in her treasures.] Never yet true to those that trusted them. {#1Ti 6:17 Ps 52:7}

Who shall come unto me?] Or, Who can come at me?

{a} Appellat homines regni erroneos filiam vagam.

Ver. 5. Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee.] Panicum vel bellicum. Panic or war.

Ver. 6. I will bring again the captivity.] Then, when Christ shall come, the Gentiles also shall be freed from the tyranny of sin, and terror of hell.

Ver. 7. Is wisdom nowhere in Teman?] The Edomites, and especially the Temanites (of whom Eliphaz, Job’s friend, was one), were famous for wisdom, {#Ob 8} which although it be of excellent use for putting things to the best, yet without the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, {#Pr 1:7} and his blessing, it proveth not only unprofitable, but pernicious also. It is, saith James, "earthly, sensual, and devilish." See what the Scripture speaketh of it. {#Job 12:2,12,13 1Co 3:18-21}

Ver. 8. Dwell deep.] Hide yourselves in holes of the earth, grots in the ground, clefts of the rocks, where you may best secure yourselves from the pursuing enemy.

Ver. 9. If grape gatherers, &c.] See on #Ob 5.

Ver. 10. I have uncovered his secret places.] Where he had hid himself, or his treasures, those sinews of war.

And he is not, ] scil., Any more a state or a people. Time shall triumph over him, so that he shall but live by fame.

Ver. 11. Leave thy fatherless children, &c.] Thus God speaketh to the profane Edomites in derision, but to all true Israelites in serious sadness: and so it is very comfortable, and must needs be a good stay of mind to a dying saint, as it was to Claviger, a dutch divine {a} He was held happy of whom Cassiodore saith, So many sons, so many counsellors to the state, {b} but he is happier that can say, So many children, so many of God’s clients, heaven’s heirs, &c.

{a} Selnec., Paedag. Christ., par. 2. p. 379.

{b} Quot dedit familiae iuvenes, tot reddidit Curiae consulares.

Ver. 12. Behold they whose judgment, &c.] See #Jer 25:29 Ob 19.

Ver. 13. I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord.] Because it seemed incredible that Bozrah should be beaten down; as also to show how exceedingly God was incensed against the Edomites, to whom therefore also no comfort is spoken, as is to Ammon and Moab in later times.

Ver. 14. I have heard a rumour from the Lord.] See on #Ob 1:1.

Ver. 15. For, lo, I will make thee.] See on #Ob 2, whence Jeremiah took this, and more besides, or else Obadiah from him.

Ver. 16. Thy terribleness, ] i.e., Thine insolence and cruelty wherewith thou frighten folk. Or thine idol, that terrible business, so called in contempt.

Though thou shouldest make thy nest.] See #Ob 4.

Ver. 17. And Edom shall be a desolation] Heb., For a desolation. See on #Jer 49:13.

Ver. 18. As in the overthrow of Sodom.] See #Ge 19:24,25.

And the neighbour cities.] Whereof see #De 29:23.

No man shall abide there.] As little as in the Dead Sea, where no creature can live.

Ver. 19. Behold, he shall come up.] Nebuchadnezzar shall.

Like a lion from the swelling of Jordan.] As lions at such a time are forced to quit their dens near Jordan.

Against the habitation of the strong, ] i.e., Against Idumaea.

But I will suddenly make him run away from her.] As having soon conquered her; or rather, I will suddenly make him overrun it—i.e., get above it, and become master of it.

And who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her?] Or, For I will give charge to him that is a choice one against her, i.e., to Nebuchadnezzar.

For who is that shepherd that will stand before me?] q.d., There is no standing before God, and his lion sent by him.

Ver. 20. Therefore hear the counsel.] Now by counsel things are established.

And his purposes.] Or, Contrivements that he hath contrived. {a}

Surely the least of the flock.] The meanest of Nebuchadnezzar’s men shall drag them out of their shelters, as dogs do a dead carcase.

{a} Ανθρωποπαθεια.

Ver. 21. In the Red Sea, ] i.e., A long way off; yet not so far as the doting Talmudists say the serpent’s cry was heard (when the angels came down and cut off his legs, according to that doom passed on him, #Ge 3:14), viz., all the world over.

Ver. 22. Behold, he shall come up and fly.] See #Jer 48:40,41.

Ver. 23. Concerning Damascus.] The chief city of Syria, so pleasantly situated, so rich and luxurious, that one compareth it to Corinth or Ephesus. Julian the emperor, in his Epistles, calleth it the city of Jupiter, and the eye of the whole East. Tamerlane would not come into it, lest he should be detained there by the delights and delicacies of it. He destroyed it in a displeasure, and built three towers with the skulls of those he had there slain (for a trophy) with singular skill. It was built again by the Soldan of Egypt, and is now possessed by the Turks.

There is sorrow on the sea: it cannot be quiet.] Or, There is sorrow as upon the sea, which cannot rest.

Ver. 24. And fear hath seized on her.] Horrorem febrilem apprehendit; { a} she shaketh as in a fit of an ague.

{a} Piscat.

Ver. 25. How is the city of praise not left?] Why is so praiseworthy and renowned a city so demolished? See #Jer 49:23. Cause enough there was, because it was a valley of vanity, {#Am 1:3-5} and Comus, Venus, and Bacchus there made their dividend, and shared their devotes.

Ver. 26. Therefore her young men.] Or, Surely.

Ver. 27. And I will kindle a fire.] See on #Am 1:4.

Ver. 28. Concerning Kedar.] These Kedarenes, the offspring of Kedar, Ishmael’s son, {#Ge 25:13} dwelt, or rather abode for most part, in Arabia the stony, or desert. Hagarenes they were also called, and afterward Saracens, of Sarah, their chief city, saith Stephanus; {a} or of Sarach, for more credit sake, as others hold. Of this people came Mohammed, that grand impostor, and the Turks, who have now gotten into their hands so great a part of the habitable world. A rude people they were in Jeremiah’s days, and uncivilised; yet because wicked, they are here doomed.

And concerning the kingdoms of Hazor.] Their head city.

{a} Lib. de Urbib.

Ver. 29. Their tents and their flocks.] For which they were termed scenitae and nomades, as living a pastoral life in tents.

And they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.] Magormissabib might be their word, wherewith, loudly uttered, they might frighten and overcome these enemies; like as the Britons, our ancestors, once overcame a mighty army of Saxons and Picts in this land, by ringing out the word Hallelujah with a courage among the mountains near where the enemy had camped. {a}

{a} Ussier., De Brit. Eccles. Primord.

Ver. 30. Flee, get you far off.] See on #Jer 49:8.

Ver. 31. Arise, go you up into the wealthy nation.] Or, Quiet nation, that dwelleth without care. Heb., In confidence: but such a security doth not secure any, but oft betrayeth. Infelix felicitas quae non est in Domino, saith Oecolampadius here: There is no true happiness or safety but in God.

Ver. 32. Them that are in the uttermost corners.] Or, That have the corners of their hair cut. See #Jer 9:26 25:23.

Ver. 33. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons.] See #Jer 9:11 10:22 51:37.

Ver. 34. Against Elam, ] i.e., The Medes, say some; the Persians, say others; or a people between both, whose head city was that Susa where Alexander found fifty thousand talents of gold, besides silver. Aristagoras also thus cheered up his soldiers that besieged it: This city if you can but take, cum Iove de divitiis licet certetis, you may vie with Jove himself for wealth. These Elamites joined with the Chaldees against the Jews when they first wasted Judea, and carried away Jehoiakim. Hence they are here so threatened for their cruelty then.

Ver. 35. Behold, I will break the bow of Elam.] In the use whereof they excelled, being very skilful archers. {#Isa 22:6} Guns today carry it as bows of old.

Ver. 36. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds, ] i.e., Great concussions, enemies on all sides, Scythians and Sarmatians especially out of the north. Calvin thinks this prophecy was fulfilled after Alexander’s death, when his captains strove most fiercely for the kingdoms of the earth which he had subdued.

Ver. 37. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed, ] q.d., They trust in their great strength, and hold themselves insuperable; but I can easily dispirit (and so destroy) them. See #Jer 49:5,14,29.

Ver. 38. And I will set my throne in Elam, ] i.e., I will solemnly execute my judgments upon these people, as if I sat in my judgment seat in a public court in the midst of them. {a}

{a} Diod.

Ver. 39. I will bring again the captivity of Elam.] Principally by bringing them to Jesus Christ. And so we read {#Ac 2:9} of Parthians, Medes, and Elamites among those first and best believers. Eusebius {a} also telleth us that in the Council of Nice there was a bishop from Persia; and Theodoret, a very good man, in addition a great writer, served the churches of the Elamites. {b}

{a} In Vit. Constant.

{b} Claruit Theod., A.D. 390.

Chapter 50

Ver. 1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon.] Which was built by Nimrod, as Nineveh was afterwards by his nephew Ninus. {#Ge 10:11} Of the greatness of this city, besides what we read in holy writ, much may be read in Herodotus and Pliny. It was the head city of the Assyrian and Chaldean monarchy, which lasted above seventeen hundred years, till Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom. Isaiah prophesied against it in several chapters. Habakkuk maketh it his whole business. Jeremiah had set forth how Sheshach, that is, Belshazzar, should drink the dregs of the cup of God’s wrath. {#Jer 25:26} Here, and in the next chapter, he discourseth it more at large, showing how it was that Babylon was to drink of that cup; and for more certainty, it is spoken of in this prophecy as already done.

Ver. 2. Declare ye among the nations.] Let all take notice of the good news; there shall be a general jail delivery, sing therefore Io triumphe.

Say, Babylon is taken.] So #Isa 21:9.

Bel is confounded.] This Bel was Nimrod, whose nephew Ninus set him up for a god. Merodach (a restorer of their empire, {a} whereof Nimrod had been founder) was likewise idolised. They are called "dirty deities"— foedites et stercora, a name good enough for them—and said to be confounded. See #Isa 46:1. "Sorrows" also; because "their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God." {#Ps 16:4}

{a} Merodach σκηπρουχος sive Sceptrifer Chaldaica appellatione.

Ver. 3. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, ] i.e., Out of Media and Persia, which lay northward from Chaldea. The Jews had their bane out of the north (as had been foretold, #Jer 1:14,15), scil., from Babylon. And now Babylon is to be baned from the same quarter. This was some comfort, doubtless, to the poor Jews in captivity.

Which shall make her land desolate.] This was not fulfilled till many years after. Cyrus indeed began it, but Seleucus Nicanor finished it, by building near unto it another great city called Seleucia. {a}

{a} Plin., lib. vi. cap. 26.

Ver. 4. In those days, and at that time.] Destructio Babel salus est populo Dei; so shall it be at the ruin of Rome.

The children of Israel shall come, and the children of Judah together.] In better times they could not agree; but when they were both in a weeping condition, misery bred unity, as it did also between Hooper and Ridley, when they were both in prison for the truth.

Going and weeping.] Tears of sorrow for their sins, and tears of joy for their deliverance by Cyrus, but especially by Christ.

They shall go and seek the Lord their God.] Whom they had long been without, and do now long and linger after.

Ver. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, ]{ a} As intent upon it, and minding nothing else in comparison. It is good for a man to have his face set towards heaven, and to make religion his business, looking at other things by the by, and out at the eye’s end, as it were.

Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord.] Be so joined to the Lord, so glued unto him, as to be one spirit with him in a conjugal perpetual covenant. {b}

{a} Accurate sciscitabuntur.

{b} Indivulse adhaerebunt Domino.

Ver. 6. My people have been lost sheep.] Per avis peccatorum aberrantes; lost in the maze of sin and misery.

Their shepherds have caused them to go astray.] True also of Papists and sectaries, miserably misled by their pretended pastors—impostors rather.

Ver. 7. All that found them have devoured them.] As ravenous creatures do wandering sheep. Stragglers are a fit prey for seducers.

And their adversaries said, We offend not, ] i.e., God will have it so; {#Jer 40:2} but this was no good plea. {#Jer 2:3}

The habitation of justice.] Or, In the habitation of justice; in a land of uprightness have they dealt unjustly, {#Isa 26:10} which was no small aggravation of their sin.

Even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.] But these, as degenerate children, have no such hope.

Ver. 8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon.] "Ho, ho, come forth." {as #Zec 2:6} "Away, this is not your rest, for it is polluted." {#Mic 2:10} See #Isa 48:20 Re 18:4.

Be as the he-goats.] That lead the flocks, generose et festinanter, freely and readily. Sheep are fearful, and therefore go behind; goats are not so, and therefore go before. There is good hope, saith one, that we are going out of Babylon, when the he-goats go before the flock; when men of public place and authority are active for reformation.

Ver. 9. From the north country.] See on #Jer 50:3.

Their arrows shall be as a mighty expert man.] Or, Of a potent prosperous man, that can hit where he pleaseth, and that without fail.

None shall return in vain.] No shaft shall, or no soldier shall miss of booty; for whereas Babylon, like a sea, had taken in the wealth of all nations, so it was meet that it should be exhausted, like as Rome was by the Goths and Vandals, and as Constantinople was by the Turks and Tartars.

Ver. 10. And Chaldea shall be a spoil.] See on #Jer 50:9.

Ver. 11. Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, ]{ a} scil., In a thing of naught, {as #Am 6:13} and in the miseries of my people ye were madly merry; therefore shall ye be let bleed in the vena cava, hollow vein.

Because ye are grown fat.] Ye have laughed yourselves fat, you have fatted yourselves as in a day of slaughter or of good cheer. It was at a feast that Babylon was taken.

And bellow as bulls.] Or, Neigh as steeds, lusty steeds.

{a} Causam ponit petulantiam et dicacitatem. -Oecol.

Ver. 12. Your mother shall be sore confounded, ] i.e., Babylon, your mother city, or Babylonia, your country; or your monarchical greatness, which being in the last place laid waste after other nations, {as #Jer 25:25,26 was foretold} shall with shame cry out, Heu tam cito me quae primas obtinebam, &c. How is it that I, who was the head of nations, am now the tail, &c.

Ver. 13. It shall not be inhabited, but be wholly desolate.] Babylon standeth not now in the same place as of old, nor is there hardly any ruins of the old city remaining, as travellers tell us. Pausanias saith that in his time there was nought to be seen of it but the walls only; and Jerome saith {a} that in his it was turned into a park for deer. Omne in medio spatium solitude est. See on #Jer 50:3.

{a} Lib. viii. in Isa. xiii.

Ver. 14. For she hath sinned against the Lord.] Yea, she is a sink of sins, the contagion of the world, the shop of Satan, the adversary of the saints, &c. So, and much more than so, is spiritual Babylon, Cito itidem casura, ei essetis viri (said Petrarch long since), that groaneth for a downfall.

Ver. 15. Shout against her round about.] As they did once at Jericho; she shall come down assuredly.

She hath given her hand, ]{ a} i.e., She hath yielded, and cried quarter; add hereunto that two princes of Babylon, being displeased by Belshazzar, sent for Cyrus to take the city, and showed him how he might best do it. This was "giving the hands" saith Calvin.

As she hath done, do unto her.] Neque enim lex iustior ulla est. See #Jud 1:5. {See Trapp on "Jud 1:5"}

{a} Deditionis est signum. Dare manus est fateri ae victum.

“ Victum tendere palmas

Ausanii videre.’’—Virg.

Ver. 16. Cut off the sower.] Leave not so much as a husbandman alive, who yet are generally spared, as harmless and useful; they were left and let alone by the Chaldeans when they carried away the Jews. {#2Ki 25:12} But here is enjoined a more severe execution.

Ver. 17. First the king of Assyria hath devoured him.] Many Assyrian kings successively, but especially Sennacherib.

Hath broken his bones.] Heb., Hath boned him hath left nothing of him but the bare bones.

Ver. 18. As I have punished the king of Assyria.] And accordingly so he did; for as Sennacherib first lost his army, and then his life, and then soon after that monarchy was dissolved; so after that Belshazzar was slain, the empire was translated unto the Persians.

Ver. 19. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation.] Or, To his fold, or his pastures. See #Jer 50:6,17.

Ver. 20. The iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for, and there shall be none.] Because to the justified no sin is imputed. Nihil oblivisci solet praeter iniurias. He forgetteth nothing but injuries only, said Cicero of Caesar, flatteringly, say we of God truly. This to have known is to feed in those soul fatting pastures. {#Jer 50:19}

For I will pardon them whom I reserve.] Tegam quod fuit; quod erit, regam. I will cover what was; which will be, for I will rule.

Ver. 21. Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the inhabitants of Pekod.] Two Babylonian provinces. {#Eze 23:23} Calvin rendereth it, The land of exasperators, and the inhabitation of visitation, i.e., that deserve to be punished. This is God’s commission to Cyrus.

Utterly destroy after them, ] i.e., Their posterity. {as #Da 4:11}

Ver. 22. A sound of battle is in the land.] Barrites militaris; this is, not the joyful, but the woeful sound; for war is a woe which no words, however wide, can sufficiently set forth. {a}

{a} Sequitur executio. -Oecol.

Ver. 23. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder!] Babylon was the maul or hammer of many nations, Nimrod began it, and his successors took after him. Charles Martel, King of France, was so called for like cause. Augustine also was worthily styled Haereticorum malleus, the hammer of heretics; and Mr Arthur Hildersam, Schismaticorum malleus, the maul of schismatics.

Ver. 24. I have laid a snare for thee.] Thou wild bull. {#Jer 50:27} Babylon was unexpectedly taken by a stratagem, while they were in the midst of their revels.

And thou wast not aware.] The palace was suddenly seized upon; but some parts of the city knew not that the enemy was entered till three days after; for it was the greatest city that ever the sun beheld, saith Pausanias, {a} and the most suddenly surprised.

Because thou hast striven against the Lord.] Heb., Hast mingled thyself with the Lord, in certamen scilicet, to wrestle a fall with him, and to try masteries.

{a} Aristot., Polit., Paus., Arcad.

Ver. 25. The Lord hath opened his armoury.] Heb., Treasury. Now God’s armoury is omne id sub coelo, usque ad diabolos; all things, both in heaven and under the cope of heaven, as far as the very devils, whereby he is able to subdue his enemies, and to bring them to nothing. Out of this treasury God took Darius and Cyrus, with their forces, and set them upon this expedition.

Ver. 26. Come against her.] This he speaketh to the Medes and Persians, who, though they were farther remote than they that could hear the prophet, yet God, who spake by him, could and did speak home to their hearts, stirring them up by a secret instinct to do this execution.

Ver. 27. Slay all her bullocks.] Heb., Sword them, sheath your swords in their sides. See #Jer 50:24.

Ver. 28. The vengeance of his temple.] Spoiled and burnt by the Chaldeans, those wasters, as their name also signifieth. Woe, then, to such as destroy God’s living temples!

Ver. 29. According to all that she hath done.] See #Jer 50:15.

For she hath been proud against the Lord.] Who setteth himself in battle array against the proud. {#1Pe 5:5}

Ver. 30. Therefore shall her young men.] See on #Jer 49:26.

Ver. 31. Behold, I am against thee, O most proud.] Heb., O pride, in the abstract—i.e., O Belshazzar; as of a certain Pope was said,

“ Conditur hoc tumulo et scelus et vitium.”

Ver. 32. And the most proud shall stumble.] Heb., Pride, or that man of pride. Praefractarius ille, so Oecolampadius rendereth it, that stubborn man, who will do wickedly against conviction of conscience.

Ver. 33. The children of Judah and the children of Israel were oppressed together.] Or, Were oppressed alike—scil., in their several deportations; and God, mindful of his covenant, showeth himself sensible of it, though for the present he seemed not to care what became of either of them; —

“ Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox.”

Ver. 34. Their Redeemer is strong.] Or, But their strong avenger, whose name is the Lord of hosts; he shall thoroughly plead their cause—i.e., right their wrongs.

That he may give rest to the land.] See on #2Th 1:8,9.

Ver. 35. A sword is upon the Chaldeans.] Those sworn swordsmen of the devil.

Ver. 36. A sword is upon the liars, ] i.e., The prognosticators and wizards. Mendaces nominat divines, as it was wont here to be said—a friar, a liar.

Ver. 37. A sword is upon their horses.] Upon all their military preparations; whereof see Herodot., lib. i.

They shall become as women.] Elumbes, cowardly and crest fallen.

A sword is upon her treasures.] Which bow inestimable they were, see Strabo, lib. xv., and Plin., lib. xxxiii, cap. 3.

Ver. 38. A drought is upon her waters.] Which Cyrus did so drain by many outlets, that without any great difficulty he took the city, assaulting it on two sides. Frontinius saith, {a} that thrice Babylon was taken by this stratagem; (1.) By Semiramis; (2.) By Cyrus; (3.) By Alexander the Great.

And they are mad upon their idols.] {b} Deos terrificos et truces, statues of their kings and worthies, which were of a huge, vast stature. See #Da 3:1.

{a} Lib. iii. c. 7. s. 4.

{b} ειδωλομανεις.

Ver. 39. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert.] See #Isa 13:21.

Ver. 40. As God overthrew Sodom.] See #Isa 13:19 Jer 49:18.

Ver. 41. Behold, a people shall come from the north.] As #Jer 50:3,9 6:22.

Ver. 42. Against thee, O daughter of Babylon.] In like sort as thou didst once against God’s Israel. {#Jer 6:23} Now thou shalt meet with thy match.

Ver. 43. The king of Babylon, &c.] See #Jer 6:24 Da 5:6.

Ver. 44. Behold, he shall come up.] See #Jer 49:19.

Ver. 45. See on #Jer 49:20.

Ver. 46. See on #Jer 49:21.

Chapter 51

Ver. 1. Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst, ] scil., Of the land of Chaldea, in the royal seat and centre of that great monarchy.

A destroying wind.] {a} Blasting and boisterous. See #Jer 4:11,12.

{a} Ventum pestilentem. -Vulg, υβριστας.—Septuag.

Ver. 2. And I will send unto Babylon farmers.] Who shall make as clean work as they once did in Judea, disperse her inhabitants, and dissipate her riches.

Ver. 3. Against him that bendeth.] Periphrasis Babylonii, omnibus gentibus infesti.

Ver. 4. Thus the slain shall fall.] Both within the walls and without, των φονων ουτ αριθμος ουθ ορος, there shall be neither measure nor end of manslaughter, as Plutarch saith of Rome in Sulla’s time.

Ver. 5. For Israel hath not been forsaken.] Heb., Widowed.

Though their land was filled with sin.] Heb., Guilt, or delinquency, or devastation. The Scripture hath been fully made good to us of this nation, while the fulness of sin in us hath not yet abated the fulness of grace in God toward us. See those four gracious yets, #Zec 1:17. {See Trapp on "Zec 1:17"}

Ver. 6. Flee out of the midst of Babylon.] See #Jer 1 8. So, in the Hew Testament, we are called upon to flee and avoid the corruptions of the world and of Antichrist. {#1Jo 2:7,8 Eph 5:6 Re 14:3-5 18:4}

For this is a time, &c.] As #Jer 50:15,25,27,28 46:10.

Ver. 7. Babylon hath been a golden cup.] See #Jer 25:15 Re 17:4.

In the Lord’s hand, ] i.e., Oeconomia et dispensatione eius: He had the mixing and distributing of it.

Ver. 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen.] #Jer 50:2. So ruet alto a culmine Roma So Rome will be destroyed from its highest heights. {#Re 14:8 18:2,10}

If so be she may be healed, ] q.d., Try you may, but it is to no purpose. See #Jer 46:11.

Ver. 9. We would have healed Babylon.] Say the foreign nations that came to help her, or the people of God, {a} say others, that were kept captive by her, as Daniel and the rest.

But she is not healed.] Or, She could not be healed. See #Ho 7:1.

For her judgment reacheth unto heaven.] It coelo clamor, proportionable to her sin. {#Re 18:5}

{a} Vox electorum. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 10. The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness, ] i.e., Our just cause, and the righteousness of our religion, derided by the Babylonians.

Ver. 11. Make bright the arrows, ] q.d., Do so, O Chaldeans, if ye think it will boot you anything at all for the shoring up of your tottering state, whereas the Lord is resolved to bring it down.

Ver. 12. Set up the standard.] An irony all along, {a} as #Jer 51:11.

{a} Hortatio ironica. -Piscator.

Ver. 13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters.] Euphrates and Tigris especially, famous rivers running from Babylonia into the Persian Sea. Hence most geographers hold, and not improbably, that that land was a part of the garden of Eden; fruitful it was beyond credulity.

Thine end is come, and the measure (Heb., the cubit) of thy covetousness.] Cuius avaritiae totus non sufficit orbis. The covetous cormorant’s mouth, with his Give, give, shall shortly be stopped with a spadeful of mould, and his "never enough" quit with fire enough in the bottom of hell.

Ver. 14. Surely I will fill thee with men as with caterpillers.] So they shall seem both for multitude and humming noise, barritu militari.

They shall lift up a shout against thee.] As peasants did at their harvest home. See #Jer 48:33.

Ver. 15. He hath made the earth by his power.] And can therefore easily and quickly unmake this great monarchy. See #Jer 10:12. {See Trapp on "Jer 10:12"}

Ver. 16. When he uttereth his voice, &c.] See #Jer 10:13.

Ver. 17. Every man is brutish.] See #Jer 10:14.

Ver. 18. They are vanity.] See #Jer 10:15.

Ver. 19. The portion of Jacob, &c.] See #Jer 10:16.

Ver. 20. Thou art my battle axe, and weapon of war.] Cestra fuisti mihi, Thou hast been my pole axe, such as horsemen use to batter their enemies’ helmets and other harness.

Ver. 21. And with thee.] O Babylonian king.

Will I break in pieces.] Or rather, Have I broken in pieces. And hence thy perdition.

Ver. 22. With thee also will I break (or, By thee have I broken) in pieces man and woman.] But especially my people of the Jews, whom I more valued than all the men and women in the world besides.

Ver. 23. The shepherd and his flock, the husbandman and his yoke, &c.] This particular enumeration is very emphatic. {so #Jer 50:35,37,38}

Ver. 24. And I will render unto Babylon.] See #Jer 50:15,29 Isa 47:6,8 10:5,6,12.

In your sight.] You, my prisoners of hope, shall live to see it. {#Ps 79:10}

Ver. 25. O destroying mountain.] O Babylon, thou that art amplitudine et altitudine instar montis; for thy large command and lofty buildings like a mountain, and that dost abuse thy power to other men’s destruction.

And will make thee a burnt mountain.] A great heap of ashes and rubbish, such as burned and ruined cities are.

Ver. 26. And they shall not take of thee a stone.] Thou shalt never be re-edified. So it is foretold of Rome,

“ Tota eris in cineres quasi nunquam Roma fuisses.”

Ver. 27. Set up a standard.] Thus God the great Induperator bespeaketh the Medes and Persians as his field officers.

Prepare the nations against her.] Heb., Sanctify, call them together to wage this sacred war against Babylon.

Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, ] i.e., Of both the Armenias and of Aseania, subdued by Cyrus before he marched against Babylon. {a} Vatablus will have Ashchenaz to be Gothland; the Jews, Germany; but these were too far remote.

{a} Xenoph., Cyrop., lib. vii.

Ver. 28. Prepare against her.] Heb., Sanctify. {as #Jer 51:27}

With the kings of the Medes.] Darius and Cyrus.

Ver. 29. And the land shall tremble and sorrow.] As a travailing woman, so shall it be pained.

Ver. 30. The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight.] At Cyrus’s first coming they gave him battle; but being worsted, they from thenceforth remained in their holds till Babylon was taken.

Their might hath failed.] Or, Their courage is shrunk, as Jacob’s sinew did. {#Ge 32:32}

They became as women.] See #Jer 50:37.

Ver. 31. One post shall run to meet another.] Observe how punctually all things were foretold in the several circumstances more than fifty years before.

At one end, ] sc., Where Euphrates had run, till diverted and dried up by Cyrus. See on #Jer 50:38.

Ver. 32. And that the passages are stopped.] Or, Taken, seized, surprised. {as #Jer 48:41}

And the reeds.] Or, Marshes, made by Euphrates overflowing. It is well observed that the Babylonians might by this prophecy have been forewarned and forearmed against Cyrus’s stratagem; but they slighted it, and never inquired after it likely.

Ver. 33. The daughter of Babylon.] Proud of her wealth and strength, as young maids many are of their beauty.

And the time of her harvest shall come.] When God shall put in his sickle, and cut her down, being ripe and ready. See #Re 14:16 Ge 15:16.

Ver. 34. Nebuchadnezzar…hath devoured me, he hath crushed me.] A graphical description of the Babylonian cruelty.

He hath cast me out.] He hath gorged himself with me, and laid up his gorge.

Ver. 35. The violence done to me and to my flesh.] Torn and tossed as carrion by that ravenous beast; the Lord look upon it and requite it.

Ver. 36. Behold, I will plead thy cause.] Not so much verbally as really. Here is a present answer to Israel’s cry.

Ver. 37. And Babylon shall become heaps.] See #Jer 50:39.

Ver. 38. They shall roar together like lions.] When hunger bitten. The Babylonians terrified, and the Persians tumultuating together. The old Latin version hath it, They shake their shaggy hair.

Ver. 39. In their heat I will make their feasts.] Or, I will dispose their drinkings—that is, I will pour into their cups the wine of my wrath. Now, poison mixed with wine worketh the more furiously. God can punish one kind of drunkenness with another worse.

That they may rejoice.] That they may revel it and sleep their last; and so they did, as being slain in a night of public solemn feasting and great dissoluteness, which was soon turned in moerorem et metum, into heaviness and horror. Ecce, hic compotationum est finis. Behold this is the end of the party.

And not wake.] Till awakened by the sound of the last trump. The Chaldee here hath it, They shall die the second death, and not be quickened in the world to come—sc., unto life everlasting.

Ver. 40. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter.] All that which followeth here to the end of this oration is no less easy than elegant in holding forth the power, justice, and truth of God in fulfilling this prophecy exactly, though serveral years after.

Ver. 41. How is Sheshach taken?] i.e., How is Babylon destroyed beyond all expectation? See #Jer 25:26.

Ver. 42. The sea is come up upon Babylon.] A sea of hostile forces; what wonder, therefore, though she be taken?

Ver. 43. Her cities are a desolation.] See #Jer 2:6 9:12.

Ver. 44. And I will punish Bel in Babylon.] Nimrod was after his death called the Babylonian Saturn; Belus, who succeeded him, the Babylonian Jupiter, as Berosus testifieth. This idol of massy gold, and of a huge size, was carried away by Cyrus; thus Bel was punished.

And I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up.] Bolum ex ore Bell. Such an elegance there is also in the original. {a} Of the rich presents, spoils, costly furniture found in Bel’s temple, see Diodore, lib. ii. Those taken from God’s temple at Jerusalem, and laid up in his, {#2Ch 36:7} he was forced to regurgitate. {#Ezr 1:7 5:14 Job 20:12,15}

Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.] Which yet was strong to a miracle, as being two hundred cubits high—of the king’s cubits, which were larger than ordinary—and fifty cubits thick, having a hundred brazen gates, and many stately towers, &c.; all shall down, saith the prophet.

{a} Plotinus ap August., De Civit. Dei, lib. ix. cap. 16.

Ver. 45. My people, go ye out of the midst of her.] This is much pressed, {#Jer 48:6} and it was but need; for many of the Jews were as hardly drawn to depart thence as a dog, ab uncto corio, from a fat morsel.

Ver. 46. And lest your heart faint.] Or, And let not your hearts faint.

And ye fear for the rumour, ] sc., Of Cyrus’s coming. Fear it not, all is for the best to you; your redemption draweth nigh.

A rumour shall both come one year, ] sc., Of Cyrus’s preparation, and then another of his expedition toward Babylon.

Ruler against ruler, ] i.e., Cyrus against Belshazzar; so Constantine against Maxentius, Maximinus, Lucinius, &c.; this was for the best to the poor Church of Christ.

Ver. 47. I will do judgment, &c.] See #Jer 43:12,13 Ex 12:12.

And all her slain shall fall.] Her dancers, one rendereth it; their merry dance shall end in a miserable downfall.

Ver. 48. Then the heaven and the earth, &c., shall sing.] Est hyperbolica prosopopoeia. This is an exagerated personification. There shall be, as it were, a new face set upon the world, and all the creatures shall appear to be well paid at the downfall of Babylon, under the oppressions whereof they even groaned and laboured. See what a similar general joy there will be at the ruin of Rome! {#Re 18:20}

Ver. 49. So at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.] Or rather, Of all the land—i.e., of all Babylon, or Assyria. When God once cometh to make inquisition for the blood of his saints, woe to the wicked, &c.

Ver. 50. Ye that have escaped the sword, ] sc., Of the Medes and Persians, who at the taking of the city killed all promiscuously.

Go away, stand not still.] Haste home to your own country, for therefore hath the Lord delivered you from so many deaths and dangers. See #Jer 51:25.

Remember the Lord afar off.] Should not we mind heaven, and hasten thither? If a heathen could say, ought we not much more, Fugiendum est ad clarissimum patriam; ibi Pater, ibi omnia, Haste we home to heaven; there is our Father, there are all things.

Ver. 51. We are confounded, because we have heard reproach.] This is the Jews’ lamentation, as in the next verse we have the answer to it.

Ver. 52. Wherefore, behold, the days come.] So soon is God up at the cry of his poor people. {#Ps 12:5}

I will do judgment.] See #Jer 51:37,49.

Ver. 53. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven.] As her walls are said to have been of an incredible height (see on #Jer 51:44), and her tower to have been little less than four miles high, threatening heaven, as it were.

Ver. 54. A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon.] See #Jer 48:3.

Ver. 55. Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon.] Heb., Is spoiling. For it was long in doing; but as sure as if done together, and at once. In like sort many of the promises are not to have their full accomplishment till the end of the world; as those about the full deliverance of the godly, the destruction of the wicked, the confusion of Antichrist, &c.

And destroyed out of her the great voice.] Of the revellers and roaring boys; or of their enemies, as some rather sense it, breaking in upon them.

Ver. 56. For the Lord God of recompenses.] Princeps ille et arbiter iustae talionis. God, who loveth to retaliate.

Ver. 57. And I will make drunk.] See #Jer 51:39.

Ver. 58. The broad walls of Babylon.] See on #Jer 51:44. Or, The walls of broad Babylon, that greatest of all cities, saith Strabo; {a} the compass whereof within the walls was near upon seventy miles, saith Pliny. {b}

{a} Lib. xvi.

{b} Lib. vi. cap. 26.

Ver. 59. The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah.] This is now the last part, viz., a type used for confirmation of this long time preceding prophecy, uttered at Jerusalem haply in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first of Nebuchadnezzar, and now to be read at Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiah, which was seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and above sixty years before the destruction of Babylon. God loveth to foresignify, but Babylon would not be warned, which was a just both desert and presage of her ruin.

When he went with Zedekiah.] In company with him, say some, out of the Jews’ chronicle. At which time Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him king, took an oath of him to be true to him, which he afterward brake, and was punished accordingly. {#2Ch 36:13} Others think that Seraiah went not with Zedekiah, but for him, and from him, with a present to Nebuchadnezzar, that he might keep his favour, or that he might he reconciled unto him after his revolt from him. {#2Ki 24:20}

And this Seraiah was a great prince.] One that opposed the rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, or a peace maker at court, or the great chamberlain. Heb., A prince of rest; or, Prince of Menucha, a place so called, {#Jud 20:43} or a quiet, honest, and humble prince; otherwise he would not have been thus commanded by a poor prophet, especially in a matter of so great danger, as it might have proved if publicly noticed.

Ver. 60. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil.] For Babylon’s commination, if at least the book were read publicly, as some hold it was, and the Jewish captives’ consolation.

Ver. 61. When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, ] sc., The sinfulness as well as the stateliness of that city.

And shalt read all these words.] Or, Then shalt thou read all these words. They who hold he did it publicly, extol the authority of the prophet, the boldness of Seraiah, and the mildness of the King of Babylon, somewhat like that of the King of Nineveh; {#Jon 3:6-9} but the most think he read it privately, yet not in some closet apart by himself, but in some private house to his countrymen who came unto him.

Ver. 62. Then shalt thou say, O Lord, &c.] The promises are to be prayed over, and then we may expect their accomplishment. Prayer also added to the outward sign, according to God’s holy Word, maketh it a sacramental sign.

Ver. 63. Thou shalt bind a stone to it.] See the like symbol or chria, #Re 18:21, where, by the mighty angel, Alcazar understandeth the prophet Jeremiah.

Ver. 64. Thus shall Babylon sink.] Ceremonies are to little purpose unless they have divine expositions annexed unto them.

And they shall be weary.] That seek either to save it or to restore it.

Thus far the words of Jeremiah, ] sc., Concerning Babylon. See the like concerning Moab. {#Jer 48:47}

Chapter 52

Ver. 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old, &c.] For the exposition of this whole chapter, see the notes on #2Ki 24:17-25:30 2Ch 36:11-21 Jer 39:1-3, &c. It is altogether historic, and set here fitly by Ezra, or some other prophet, as an appendix to the foregoing prophecy, and as a preface to the Book of the Lamentations, which is nothing else but Jeremiah’s elegy over their doleful captivity—not over King Josiah’s death, as Jerome would have it; nor yet is it that book that Jehoiakim cut, and afterwards cast into the fire, {#Jer 36:22,23} as some of the Jewish doctors have noted. The Septuagint have set this title upon it: And it came to pass after that Israel was carried captive, and Jerusalem laid waste, the prophet Jeremiah sat weeping, and wailing, and bitterly lamenting the case of his people. Thus they knit together this chapter and the ensuing Lamentations, which the Jews also are still said to read together in their synagogues on the ninth day of the month Ab, which answereth to our July, because that on that day the city was taken and destroyed by the Chaldeans. {#Jer 52:7} {a}

{a} A Lapide Proleg. in Thren. ex Petro a Figneiro.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52