Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; CHAPTER X CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EXILES Jeremiah 29:1-32 "Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire."- Jeremiah 29:22 NOTHING further is said about the proposed revolt, so that Jeremiah’s vigorous protest seems to have been successful. In any case, unless irrevocable steps had been taken, the enterprise could hardly have survived the death of its advocate, Hananiah. Accordingly Zedekiah sent an embassy to Babylon, charged doubtless with plausible explanations and profuse professions of loyalty and devotion. The envoys were Elasah ben Shaphan and Gemariah ben Hilkiah. Shaphan and Hilkiah were almost certainly the scribe and high priest who discovered Deuteronomy in the eighteenth year of Josiah, and Elasah was the brother of Ahikam ben Shaphan, who protected Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and of Gemariah ben Shaphan, in whose chamber Baruch read the roll, and who protested against its destruction. Probably Elasah and Gemariah were adherents of Jeremiah, and the fact of the embassy, as well as the choice of ambassadors, suggests that, for the moment, Zedekiah was acting under the influence of the prophet. Jeremiah took the opportunity of sending a letter to the exiles at Babylon. Hananiah had his allies in Chaldea: Ahab ben Kolaiah, Zedekiah ben Maaseiah, and Shemaiah the Nehelamite, with other prophets, diviners, and dreamers, had imitated their brethren in Judah; they had prophesied without being sent and had caused the people to believe a lie. We are not expressly told what they prophesied, but the narrative takes for granted that they, like Hananiah, promised the exiles a speedy return to their native land. Such teaching naturally met with much acceptance, the people congratulating themselves because, as they supposed, "Jehovah hath raised us up prophets in Babylon." The presence of prophets among them. was received as a welcome proof that Jehovah had not deserted His people in their house of bondage. Thus when Jeremiah had confounded his opponents in Jerusalem he had still to deal with their friends in Babylon. Here again the issue was one of immediate practical importance. In Chaldea as at Jerusalem the prediction that the exiles would immediately return was intended to kindle the proposed revolt. The Jews at Babylon were virtually warned to hold themselves in readiness to take advantage of any success of the Syrian rebels, and, if opportunity offered, to render them assistance. In those days information travelled slowly, and there was some danger lest the captives should be betrayed into acts of disloyalty, even after the Jewish government had given up any present intention of revolting against Nebuchadnezzar. Such disloyalty might have involved their entire destruction. Both Zedekiah and Jeremiah would be anxious to inform them at once that they must refrain from any plots against their Chaldean masters. Moreover the prospect of an immediate return had very much the same effect upon these Jews as the expectation of Christ’s Second Coming had upon the primitive Church at Thessalonica. It made them restless and disorderly. They could not settle to any regular work, but became busybodies-wasting their time over the glowing promises of their popular preachers, and whispering to one another wild rumours of successful revolts in Syria; or were even more dangerously occupied in planning conspiracies against their conquerors. Jeremiah’s letter sought to bring about a better state of mind. It is addressed to the elders, priests, prophets, and people of the Captivity. The enumeration reminds us how thoroughly the exiled community reproduced the society of the ancient Jewish state-there was already a miniature Judah in Chaldea, the first of those Israels of the Dispersion which have since covered the face of the earth. This is Jehovah’s message by His prophet:- "Build houses and dwell in them; Plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof; Marry and beget sons and daughters; Marry your sons and daughters, That they may bear sons and daughters, That ye may multiply there and not grow few. Seek the peace of the city whither I have sent you into captivity: Pray for it unto Jehovah For in its peace, ye shalt have peace." There was to be no immediate return; their captivity would last long enough to make it worth their while to build houses and plant gardens. For the present they were to regard Babylon as their home. The prospect of restoration to Judah was too distant to make any practical difference to their conduct of ordinary business. The concluding command to "seek the peace of Babylon" is a distinct warning against engaging in plots, which could only ruin the conspirators. There is an interesting difference between these exhortations and those addressed by Paul to his converts in the first century. He never counsels them to marry, but rather recommends celibacy as more expedient for the present necessity. Apparently life was more anxious and harassed for the early Christians than for the Jews in Babylon. The return to Canaan was to these exiles what the millennium and the Second Advent were to the primitive Church. Jeremiah having bidden his fellow countrymen not to be agitated by supposing that this much longed for event might come at any moment, fortifies their faith and patience by a promise that it should not be delayed indefinitely. "When ye have fulfilled seventy years in Babylon I will visit you, And will perform for you My gracious promise to bring you back to this place." Seventy is obviously a round number. Moreover the constant use of seven and its multiples in sacred symbolism forbids us to understand the prophecy as an exact chronological statement. We should adequately express the prophet’s meaning by translating "in about two generations." We need not waste time and trouble in discovering or inventing two dates exactly separated by seventy years, one of which will serve for the beginning and the other for the end of the Captivity. The interval between the destruction of Jerusalem and the Return was fifty years (B.C. 586-536), but as our passage refers more immediately to the prospects of those already in exile, we should obtain an interval of sixty-five years from the deportation of Jehoiachin and his companions in B.C. 601. But there can be no question of approximation, however close. Either the "seventy years" merely stands for a comparatively long period, or it is exact. We do not save the inspiration of a date by showing that it is only five years wrong, and not twenty. For an inspired date must be absolutely accurate; a mistake of a second in such a case would be as fatal as a mistake of a century. Israel’s hope is guaranteed by God’s self-knowledge of His gracious counsel:- "I know the purposes which I purpose concerning you, is the utterance of Jehovah, Purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you hope for the days to come." In the former clause "I" is emphatic in both places, and the phrase is parallel to the familiar formula "by Myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah." The future of Israel was guaranteed by the divine consistency. Jehovah, to use a colloquial phrase, knew His own mind. His everlasting purpose for the Chosen People could not be set aside. "Did God cast off His People? God forbid." Yet this persistent purpose is not fulfilled without reference to character and conduct:- "Ye shall call upon Me, and come and pray unto Me, And I will hearken unto you. Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, Because ye seek Me with all your heart. I will be found of you-it is the utterance of Jehovah. I will bring back your captivity, and will gather you from all nations and Places whither I have scattered you-it is the utterance of Jehovah. I will bring you back to this place whence I sent you away to captivity." As in the previous chapter, Jeremiah concludes with a personal judgment upon those prophets who had been so acceptable to the exiles. If Jeremiah 29:23 is to be understood literally, Ahab and Zedekiah had not only spoken without authority in the name of Jehovah, but had also been guilty of gross immorality. Their punishment was to be more terrible than that of Hananiah. They had incited the exiles to revolt by predicting the imminent ruin of Nebuchadnezzar. Possibly the Jewish king proposed to make his own peace by betraying his agents, after the manner of our own Elizabeth and other sovereigns. They were to be given over to the terrible vengeance which a Chaldean king would naturally take on such offenders, and would be publicly roasted alive, so that the malice of him who desired to curse his enemy might find vent in such words as:- "Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted alive." We are not told whether this prophecy was fulfilled, but it is by no means unlikely. The Assyrian king Assurbanipal says, in one of his inscriptions concerning a viceroy of Babylon who had revolted, that Assur and the other gods "in the fierce burning fire they threw him and destroyed his life" - possibly through the agency of Assurbanipal’s servants. One of the seven brethren who were tortured to death in the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes is said to have been "fried in the pan." Christian hagiology commemorates St. Lawrence and many other martyrs, who suffered similar torments. Such punishments remained part of criminal procedure until a comparatively recent date; they are still sometimes inflicted by lynch law in the United States, and have been defended even by Christian ministers. Jeremiah’s letter caused great excitement and indignation among the exiles. We have no rejoinder from Ahab and Zedekiah; probably they were not in a position to make any. But Shemaiah the Nehelamite tried to make trouble for Jeremiah at Jerusalem. He, in his turn, wrote letters to "all the people at Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah ben Maaseiah and to all the priests" to this effect:- "Jehovah hath made thee priest in the room of Jehoiada the priest, to exercise supervision over the Temple, and to deal with any mad fanatic who puts himself forward to prophesy, by placing him in the stocks and the collar. Why then hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who puts himself forward to prophesy unto you? Consequently he has sent unto us at Babylon: It (your captivity) will be long; build houses and dwell in them, plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof." Confidence in a speedy return had already been exalted into a cardinal article of the exiles’ faith, and Shemaiah claims that any one who denied this comfortable doctrine must be, ipso facto , a dangerous and deluded fanatic, needing to be placed under strict restraint. This letter travelled to Jerusalem with the returning embassy, and was duly delivered to Zephaniah. Zephaniah is spoken of in the historical section common to Kings and Jeremiah as "the second priest," { Jeremiah 52:24 ; 2 Kings 25:18 } Seraiah being the High Priest; like Pashhur ben Immer, he seems to have been the governor of the Temple. He was evidently well disposed to Jeremiah, to whom Zedekiah twice sent him on Important missions. On the present occasion, instead of acting upon the suggestions made by Shemaiah, he read the letter to Jeremiah, in order that the latter might have an opportunity of dealing with it. Jeremiah was divinely instructed to reply to Shemaiah, charging him, in his turn, with being a man who put himself forward to prophesy without any commission from Jehovah, and who thus deluded his hearers into belief in falsehoods. Personal sentence is passed upon him, as upon Hananiah, Ahab, and Zedekiah: no son of his shall be reckoned amongst God’s people or see the prosperity which they shall hereafter enjoy. The words are obscure: it is said that Jehovah will "visit Shemaiah and his seed," so that it cannot mean that he will be childless; but it is further said that "he shall not have a man to abide amongst this people." It is apparently a sentence of excommunication against Shemaiah and his family. Here the episode abruptly ends. We are not told whether the letter was sent, or how it was received, or whether it was answered. We gather that, here also, the last word rested with Jeremiah, and that at this point his influence became dominant both at Jerusalem and at Babylon, and that King Zedekiah himself submitted to his guidance. Chapters 28 and 29 deepen the impression made by other sections of Jeremiah’s intolerance and personal bitterness towards his opponents. He seems to speak of the roasting alive of the prophets at Babylon with something like grim satisfaction, and we are tempted to think of Torquemada and Bishop Bonner. But we must remember that the stake, as we have already said, has scarcely yet ceased to be an ordinary criminal punishment, and that, after centuries of Christianity, More and Cranmer, Luther and Calvin, had hardly any more tenderness for their ecclesiastical opponents than Jeremiah. Indeed the Church is only beginning to be ashamed of the complacency with which she has contemplated the fiery torments of hell as the eternal destiny of unrepentant sinners. One of the most tolerant and catholic of our religious teachers has written: "If the unlucky malefactor, who in mere brutality of ignorance or narrowness of nature or of culture has wronged his neighbour, excite our anger, how much deeper should be our indignation when intellect and eloquence are abused to selfish purposes, when studious leisure and learning and thought turn traitors to the cause of human well-being and the wells of a nation’s moral life are poisoned." The deduction is obvious: society feels constrained to hang or burn "the unlucky malefactor"; consequently such punishments are, if anything, too merciful for the false prophet. Moreover the teaching which Jeremiah denounced was no mere dogmatism about abstruse philosophical and theological abstractions. Like the Jesuit propaganda under Elizabeth, it was more immediately concerned with politics than with religion. We are bound to be indignant with a man, gifted in exploiting the emotions of his docile audience, who wins the confidence and arouses the enthusiasm of his hearers, only to entice them into hopeless and foolhardy ventures. And yet we are brought back to the old difficulty, how are we to know the false prophet? He has neither horns nor hoofs, his tie may be as white and his coat as long as those of the true messenger of God. Again, Jeremiah’s method affords us some practical guidance. He does not himself order and superintend the punishment of false prophets: he merely announces a Divine judgment, which Jehovah Himself is to execute. He does not condemn men by the code of any Church, but each sentence is a direct and special revelation from Jehovah. How many sentences would have been passed upon heretics, if their accusers and judges had waited for a similar sanction? Jeremiah 29:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. CHAPTER XXVI INTRODUCTORY "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."- Jeremiah 31:1 IN this third book an attempt is made to present a general view of Jeremiah’s teaching on the subject with which he was most preoccupied-the political and religious fortunes of Judah. Certain (30, 31, and, in part, 33) chapters detach themselves from the rest, and stand in no obvious connection with any special incident of the prophet’s life. These are the main theme of this book, and have been dealt with in the ordinary method of detailed exposition. They have been treated separately, and not woven into the continuous narrative, partly because we thus obtain a more adequate emphasis upon important aspects of their teaching, but chiefly because their date and occasion cannot be certainly determined. With them other sections have been associated, on account of the connection of subject. Further material for a synopsis of Jeremiah’s teaching has been collected from chapters 21-49, generally, supplemented by brief references to the previous chapters. Inasmuch as the prophecies of our book do not form an ordered treatise on dogmatic theology, but were uttered with regard to individual conduct and critical events, topics are not exclusively dealt with in a single section, but are referred to at intervals throughout. Moreover, as both the individuals and the crises were very much alike, ideas and phrases are constantly reappearing, so that there is an exceptionally large amount of repetition in the Book of Jeremiah. The method we have adopted avoids some of the difficulties which would arise if we attempted to deal with these doctrines in our continuous exposition. Our general sketch of the prophet’s teaching is naturally arranged under categories suggested by the book itself, and not according to the sections of a modern treatise on Systematic Theology. No doubt much may legitimately be extracted or deduced concerning Anthropology, Soteriology, and the like; but true proportion is as important in exposition as accurate interpretation. If we wish to understand Jeremiah, we must be content to dwell longest upon what he emphasised most, and to adopt the standpoint of time and race which was his own. Accordingly in our treatment we have followed the cycle of sin, punishment, and restoration, so familiar to students of Hebrew prophecy. NOTE SOME CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSIONS OF JEREMIAH This note is added partly for convenience of reference, and partly to illustrate the repetition just mentioned as characteristic of Jeremiah. The instances are chosen from expressions occurring in chapters 21-52. The reader will find fuller lists dealing with the whole book in the "Speaker’s Commentary" and the "Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges." The Hebrew student is referred to the list in Driver’s "Introduction," upon which the following is partly based. 1. "Rising up early": Jeremiah 7:13 ; Jeremiah 7:25 ; Jeremiah 11:7 ; Jeremiah 25:3-4 ; Jeremiah 26:5 ; Jeremiah 29:19 ; Jeremiah 32:33 ; Jeremiah 35:14-15 ; Jeremiah 44:4 . This phrase, familiar to us in the narratives of Genesis and in the historical books, is used here, as in 2 Chronicles 36:15 , of God addressing His people on sending the prophets. 2. "Stubbornness of heart" (A.V. imagination of heart): Jeremiah 3:17 ; Jeremiah 7:24 ; Jeremiah 9:14 ; Jeremiah 11:8 ; Jeremiah 13:10 ; Jeremiah 16:12 ; Jeremiah 18:12 ; Jeremiah 23:17 ; also found Deuteronomy 29:19 and Psalm 81:15 . 3. "The evil of your doings": Jeremiah 4:4 ; Jeremiah 21:12 ; Jeremiah 23:2 ; Jeremiah 23:22 ; Jeremiah 25:5 ; Jeremiah 26:3 ; Jeremiah 44:22 ; also Deuteronomy 28:20 ; 1 Samuel 25:3 ; Isaiah 1:16 ; Hosea 9:15 ; Psalm 28:4 ; and in slightly different form in Jeremiah 11:18 and Zechariah 1:4 . "The fruit of your doings": Jeremiah 17:10 ; Jeremiah 21:14 ; Jeremiah 32:19 ; also found in Micah 7:13 . "Doings, your doings," etc., are also found in Jeremiah and elsewhere. 4. "The sword, the pestilence, and the famine," in various orders, and either as a phrase or each word ocurring in one of three successive clauses: Jeremiah 14:12 ; Jeremiah 15:2 ; Jeremiah 21:7 ; Jeremiah 21:9 ; Jeremiah 24:10 ; Jeremiah 27:8 ; Jeremiah 27:13 ; Jeremiah 29:17-18 ; Jeremiah 32:24 ; Jeremiah 32:36 ; Jeremiah 34:17 ; Jeremiah 38:2 ; Jeremiah 42:17 ; Jeremiah 42:22 ; Jeremiah 44:13 . "The sword and the famime," with similar variations: Jeremiah 5:12 ; Jeremiah 11:22 ; Jeremiah 14:13 ; Jeremiah 14:15-16 ; Jeremiah 14:18 ; Jeremiah 16:4 ; Jeremiah 18:21 ; Jeremiah 42:16 ; Jeremiah 44:12 ; Jeremiah 44:18 ; Jeremiah 44:27 . Cf. similar lists, etc., "death . . . sword . . . captivity," in Jeremiah 43:11 : "war . . . evil . . . pestilence," Jeremiah 28:8 . 5. "Kings . . . princes . . . priests . . . prophets," in various orders and combinations: Jeremiah 2:26 ; Jeremiah 4:9 ; Jeremiah 8:1 ; Jeremiah 13:13 ; Jeremiah 24:8 ; Jeremiah 32:32 . Cf. "Prophet . . . priest . . . people," Jeremiah 23:33-34 . "Prophets . . . diviners . . . dreamers . . . enchanters . . . sorcerers," Jeremiah 27:9 . CHAPTER XXVII SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CORRUPTION "Very bad figs too bad to be eaten."- Jeremiah 24:2 ; Jeremiah 24:8 ; Jeremiah 29:17 PROPHETS and preachers have taken the Israelites for God’s helots, as if the Chosen People had been made drunk with the cup of the Lord’s indignation, in order that they might be held up as a warning to His more favoured children throughout after ages. They seemed depicted as "sinners above all men," that by this supreme warning the heirs of a better covenant may be kept in the path of righteousness. Their sin is no mere inference from the long tragedy of their national history, "because they have Suffered such things"; their own prophets and their own Messiah testify continually against them. Religious thought has always singled out Jeremiah as the most conspicuous and uncompromising witness to the sins of his people. One chief feature of his mission was to declare God’s condemnation of ancient Judah. Jeremiah watched and shared the prolonged agony and overwhelming catastrophes of the last days of the Jewish monarchy, and ever and anon raised his voice to declare that his fellow countrymen suffered, not as martyrs, but as criminals. He was like the herald who accompanies a condemned man on the way to execution, and proclaims his crime to the spectators. What were these crimes? How was Jerusalem a sink of iniquity, an Augean stable, only to be cleansed by turning through it the floods of Divine chastisement? The annalists of Egypt and Chaldea show no interest in the morality of Judah; but there is no reason to believe that they regarded Jerusalem as more depraved than Tyre, or Babylon, or Memphis. If a citizen of one of these capitals of the East visited the city of David he might miss something of accustomed culture, and might have occasion to complain of the inferiority of local police arrangements, but he would be as little conscious of any extraordinary wickedness in the city as a Parisian would in London. Indeed, if an English Christian familiar with the East of the nineteenth century could be transported to Jerusalem under King Zedekiah, in all probability its moral condition would not affect him very differently from that of Cabul or Ispahan. When we seek to learn from Jeremiah wherein the guilt of Judah lay, his answer is neither clear nor full: he does not gather up her sins into any complete and detailed indictment; we are obliged to avail ourselves of casual references scattered through his prophecies. For the most part Jeremiah speaks in general terms; a precise. and exhaustive catalogue of current vices would have seemed too familiar and commonplace for the written record. The corruption of Judah is summed up by Jeremiah in the phrase "the evil of your doings," and her punishment is described in a corresponding phrase as "the fruit of your doings," or as coming upon her "because of the evil of your doings." The original of "doings" is a peculiar word occurring most frequently in Jeremiah, and the phrases are very common in Jeremiah, and hardly occur at all elsewhere. The constant reiteration of this melancholy refrain is an eloquent symbol of Jehovah’s sweeping condemnation. In the total depravity of Judah, no special sin, no one group of sins, stood out from the rest. Their "doings" were evil altogether. The picture suggested by the scattered hints as to the character of these evil doings is such as might be drawn of almost any Eastern state in its darker days. The arbitrary hand of the. government is illustrated by Jeremiah’s own experience of the bastinado { Jeremiah 20:2 ; Jeremiah 37:15 } and the dungeon, (chapters 37, 38) and by the execution of Uriah ben Shemaiah. { Jeremiah 26:20-24 } The rights of less important personages were not likely to be more scrupulously respected. The reproach of shedding innocent blood is more than once made against the people and their rulers; { Jeremiah 2:34 ; Jeremiah 19:4 ; Jeremiah 22:17 } and the more general charge of oppression occurs still more frequently. { Jeremiah 5:25 ; Jeremiah 6:6 ; Jeremiah 7:5 } The motive for both these crimes was naturally covetousness; { Jeremiah 6:13 } as usual, they were specially directed against the helpless, "the poor," { Jeremiah 2:34 } "the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow"; and the machinery of oppression was ready to hand in venal judges and rulers. Upon occasion, however, recourse was had to open violence-men could "steal and murder," as well as "swear falsely"; { Jeremiah 7:5-9 } they lived in an atmosphere of falsehood, they "walked in a lie." { Jeremiah 23:14 } Indeed the word "lie" is one of the keynotes of these prophecies. The last days of the monarchy offered special temptations to such vices. Social wreckers reaped an unhallowed harvest in these stormy times. Revolutions were frequent, and each in its turn meant fresh plunder for unscrupulous partisans. Flattery and treachery could always find a market in the court of the suzerain or the camp of the invader. Naturally, amidst this general demoralization, the life of the family did not remain untouched: "the land was full of adulterers." { Jeremiah 23:10 ; Jeremiah 23:14 } Zedekiah and Ahab, the false prophets at Babylon are accused of having committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives. { Jeremiah 29:23 } In these passages "adultery" can scarcely be a figure for idolatry; and even if it is, idolatry always involved immoral ritual. In accordance with the general teaching of the Old Testament, Jeremiah traces the roots of the people’s depravity to a certain moral stupidity; they are "a foolish people, without understanding," who, like the idols in Psalm 115:5-6 , "have eyes and see not" and "have ears and hear not." In keeping with their stupidity was an unconsciousness of guilt which even rose into proud self-righteousness. They could still come with pious fervour to worship in the temple of Jehovah and to claim the protection of its inviolable sanctity. They could still assail Jeremiah with righteous indignation because he announced the coming destruction of the place where Jehovah had chosen to set His name. (chapters 7, 26) They said that they had no sin, and met the prophet’s rebukes with protests of conscious innocence: "Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?" { Jeremiah 16:10 } When the public conscience condoned alike the abuse of the forms of law and its direct violation, actual legal rights would be strained to the utmost against debtors, hired labourers, and slaves. In their extremity, the princes and people of Judah sought to propitiate the anger of Jehovah by emancipating their Hebrew slaves; when the immediate danger had passed away for a time, they revoked the emancipation. (Chapter 34) The form of their submission to Jehovah reveals their consciousness that their deepest sin lay in their behaviour to their helpless dependents. This prompt repudiation of a most solemn covenant illustrated afresh their callous indifference to the well-being of their inferiors. The depravity of Judah was not only total, it was also universal. In the older histories we read how Achan’s single act of covetousness involved the whole people in misfortune, and how the treachery of the bloody house of Saul brought three years’ famine upon the land; but now the sins of individuals and classes were merged in the general corruption. Jeremiah dwells with characteristic reiteration of idea and phrase upon this melancholy truth. Again and again he enumerates the different classes of the community: "kings, princes, priests, prophets, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem." They had all done evil and provoked Jehovah to anger; they were all to share the same punishment. { Jeremiah 32:26-35 } cf. "Characteristic Expressions." (chapter 3) They were all arch rebels, given to slander; nothing but base metal; corrupters, every one of them. { Jeremiah 6:28 } "The universal extent of total depravity is most forcibly expressed when Zedekiah with his court and people are summarily described as a basket of "very bad figs, too bad to be eaten." The dark picture of Israel’s corruption is not yet complete-Israel’s corruption, for now the prophet is no longer exclusively concerned with Judah. The sin of these last days is no new thing; it is as old as the Israelite occupation of Jerusalem. "This city hath been to Me a provocation of My anger and of My fury from the day that they built it even unto this day"; from the earliest days of Israel’s national existence, from the time of Moses and the Exodus, the people have been given over to iniquity. "The children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil before Me from their youth. { Jeremiah 32:26-35 } Thus we see at last that Jeremiah’s teaching concerning the sin of Judah can be summed up in one brief and comprehensive proposition. Throughout their whole history all classes of the community have been wholly given over to every kind of wickedness. This gloomy estimate of God’s Chosen People is substantially confirmed by the prophets of the later monarchy, from Amos and Hosea onwards. Hosea speaks of Israel in terms as sweeping as those of Jeremiah. "Hear the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they cast off all restraint, and blood toucheth blood." As a prophet of the Northern Kingdom, Hosea is mainly concerned with his own country, but his casual references to Judah include her in the same condemnation. Amos again condemns both Israel and Judah: Judah, "because they have despised the law of Jehovah, and have not kept His commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers walked"; Israel, "because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes, and pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor and turn aside the way of the meek." { Amos 2:4-8 } The first chapter of Isaiah is in a similar strain: Israel is "a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers"; "the whole head is sick, the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." According to Micah, "Zion is built up with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money." { Micah 3:10-11 } Jeremiah’s older and younger contemporaries, Zephaniah and Ezekiel, alike confirm his testimony. In the spirit and even the style afterwards used by Jeremiah, Zephaniah enumerates the sins of the nobles and teachers of Jerusalem. "Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolvesHer prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law." { Zephaniah 3:3-4 } Ezekiel 20:1-49 traces the defections of Israel from the sojourn in Egypt to the Captivity. Elsewhere Ezekiel says that "the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence"; ( Ezekiel 7:23 :; Ezekiel 7:9 ; Ezekiel 22:1-12 ) Jeremiah 22:23-30 he catalogues the sins of priests, princes, prophets, and people, and proclaims that Jehovah "sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." We have now fairly before us the teaching of Jeremiah and the other prophets as to the condition of Judah: the passages quoted or referred to represent its general tone and attitude; it remains to estimate its significance. We should naturally suppose that such sweeping statements as to the total depravity of the whole people throughout all their history were not intended to be interpreted as exact mathematical formulae. And the prophets themselves state or imply qualifications. Isaiah insists upon the existence of a righteous remnant. When Jeremiah speaks of Zedekiah and his subjects as a basket of very bad figs, he also speaks of

Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent. Jeremiah 29:1 Messages to exiles S. Thodey. I. THE VERY FACT THAT A MESSAGE WAS SENT TO THEM UNDER AN EXPRESS DIVINE APPOINTMENT WAS CONSOLATORY. Wherever God's children are scattered, the written Word is to them a source of permanent encouragement. In the severest ways of justice God does not forget His own children, but has in reserve ample consolations for them, when they lie under the common judgment II. THE PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE OF GOD, APPEARING ON THEIR BEHALF UNDER ALL THEIR CALAMITIES, WAS A SOURCE OF CONSOLATION. 1. He is the Lord of hosts, of all the armies above and below, and yet is the God of Israel; and though He permits their captivity, He does not break His relation to them — their covenant-God still, though under a cloud. 2. He assumes the active agency in their dispersion. "I have caused them to be carried away." Certainly it must be a great sin which induces a loving father to cast his child out of doors. But sin is a great scatterer, and is always followed by a driving away and a casting out. Yet the fact of God's being the agent in their dispersion is referred to as a ground of consolation; since it reconciles us to our troubles to see the hand of God in them, and to trace an all-gracious and merciful design in them. III. THE PROMISE OF THE STABILITY AND SECURITY OF THEIR SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC INTERESTS WAS GIVEN. IV. THE PROSPECT OF A CERTAIN AND FAVOURABLE ISSUE TO THEIR TRIALS (ver. 11). ( S. Thodey. ) Seek the peace of the city. Jeremiah 29:7 The best Christians the best citizens Naegelsbach. 1. They know that the prosperity of the whole is their own prosperity. They o not, therefore, selfishly seek their own advantage. 2. They actually labour with all diligence for the furtherance of the common good. 3. They employ for this end the power of Christian prayer. ( Naegelsbach. ) The duties of Christians to their country Samuel Baker, D. D. I. WHAT ARE THE THINGS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY AND PROSPERITY, THE TRUE GLORY AND HAPPINESS, OF OUR COUNTRY? 1. The true honour of a nation, like that of the individual, lies in character. 2. The security and prosperity of our nation are inseparably associated with the advancement of religion among the people. II. WHAT ARE THE BEST MEANS FOR SECURING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL TO OUR COUNTRY'S HIGHEST WELFARE? 1. General diffusion of education. "Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army." 2. Equally essential that the people be virtuous. Knowledge is power, but unsanctified power is power for evil. 3. The general distribution of the Bible — the great instrument for enlightening the conscience and purifying the heart. 4. Preaching the Gospel Our nature is a wreck, a chaos, which the Cross of Christ alone can adjust. 5. Prayer ( 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14 ; Psalm 106:23 ; Exodus 32:10 ). III. WHAT ARGUMENTS MAY ENFORCE THE DUTIES OF PERSONAL AND COMBINED ACTIVITY IN SEEKING THE HIGHEST GOOD OF OUR LAND? 1. Because our own individual good is intimately connected with its general happiness and prosperity. "For in the peace thereof ye shall have peace." 2. We shall thereby recommend the religion we profess. 3. The work of supplying our land with the preached Gospel, and with religious institutions, is the most important work to which Christians can devote their energies. ( Samuel Baker, D. D. ) The civil obligations of Christian people W. Jay. When a man becomes a Christian does he cease to be a member of civil society? Allowing that he be not the owner of the ship, but only a passenger in it, has he nothing to awaken his concern in the voyage? If he be only a traveller towards a better country, is he to be told that because he is at an inn which he is soon to leave, it should not excite any emotion in him, whether it be invaded by robbers, or consumed by flames before the morning? "In the peace thereof ye shall have peace." Is not religion variously affected by public transactions? Can a Christian, for instance, be indifferent to the cause of freedom, even on a pious principle? Does not civil liberty necessarily include religious, and is it not necessary to the spreading of the Gospel? ( W. Jay. ) I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:8-13 The thoughts of God to His people, peace and not evil J. Stratten. These words were addressed to the Jews, when they were captives in Babylon. It is very delightful when we have kind thoughts of our fellow-men; for suspicion is always a great misery. But it is especially delightful to have kind thoughts of God, when we possess enlarged and noble conceptions of His excellency and glory. I. THE GROUND AND REASON OF OUR SUSPICION RESPECTING GOD, THAT HE HAS UNKIND INTENTIONS OR EVIL THOUGHTS TOWARDS US. The chief, if not the only cause, is sin. Wicked men know that the wages of sin is death; that sin must be cancelled, or God is against them, and they are ruined. But what is the evil which men anticipate from God, and in respect to which they entertain suspicions? There is the evil of affliction. This is the sense in which the text is to be taken. It relates to temporal evil, the evil of calamity, losses, changes, and disasters. And why should men fear or anticipate evil in this form? We are not to forebode anything. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Take no thought for the morrow. We hear often of pleasures disappointed, and of hopes unrealised. Might we not speak of evils anticipated which never come? Then there is an ulterior evil; that which is far off, or apparently more remote. Are you afraid of death, or of dying? Are you afraid, when Christ has said, He that believeth in Me shall never die; I am the resurrection and the life; I will raise you up at the last day? Are you afraid of eternity, of which we hear so much, and know so little? I ask, is the bird afraid, when the shell opens, and he begins to feel the soft sweet plumage grow? Is the newborn child afraid, when it comes into this world of sin and sorrow? And shall you be afraid to awake and emerge, anywhere in God's great empire, anywhere or at anytime, in His unbounded and infinite dominion? Are we afraid of the love of God? God is love. Christ is love. God invites you and me in love. He says, Come, and I will bless you. Come, and I will pour My Spirit upon you. Come, and I will make you happy, and call you sons and daughters. Come, and I will save you, and I will soon put you in possession of heaven. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT PLEASES GOD TO CONTRADICT THESE SUSPICIONS, AND TO DENY THAT THERE IS ANY TRUTH IN THEM. Suppose you are a wicked man: what does God say? Forsake your evil ways. I will multiply to pardon. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn and live. God thinks no evil: if so, could He not crush and extinguish thee, O man, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye? His thoughts towards thee are thoughts of peace, and not of evil. Then to the backsliders He says, Return, O backsliding children; I will receive you graciously, and love you freely. Are you penitent? He will give you beauty for ashes; the oil of joy for mourning; the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. You say that you are sinful, and not worthy of being called a child. What does God say? Bring the best robe. Take off the filthy garments. Put the fair mitre on his head. O God of peace! how peaceful, how pacific Thou art! You may have had changes. You may have passed through storms; but the darker the cloud, the brighter is the rainbow of promise that is stretched across it. And God intends to give His people everlasting peace. III. THE EXPECTED END. What is it? To the Jews in Babylon, it was restoration to the temple and the altar, to the priests, and to the sacrifices; and by the Jews this "end" was realised. To the Hebrews of later times, the expected end is recovery to greater blessings. They are forsaken for a small moment; but with great mercy they will be gathered in again. The expected end, both to Jews and Gentiles, is the millennial light, repose, and happiness. The expected end is the end of all sin. It is to endure no more conflicts, to undergo no more labours; to be wise by intuition; to possess boundless knowledge, and perfect purity, derived immediately from Him who is the source and fountain of all purity and all perfection. They who go in, shall never go out again. ( J. Stratten. ) God's thoughts of peace, and our expected end I. THE LORD'S THOUGHTS TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE. 1. It is noteworthy that He does think of them, and towards them. Observe that this Scripture saith not, "I know the thoughts that I have thought toward you." It would be possible for you to have thought out a plan of kindness towards a friend, and you might have so arranged it that it would henceforth be a natural fountain of good to him without your thinking any more about it; but that is not after the method of God. His eye and His hand are towards His people continually. It is true He did so think of us that He has arranged everything about us, and provided for every need, and against every danger; but yet He has not ceased to think of us. His infinite mind, whose thoughts are as high above our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth, continues to exercise itself about us. "The Lord hath been mindful of us," and He is still mindful of us. The Lord not only thinks of you, but towards you. His thoughts are all drifting your way. This is the way the south wind of His thoughts of peace is moving: it is towards you. A person may happen to do you a good turn; but if you are sure that he did it by accident, or with no more thought than that wherewith a passing stranger throws a penny to a beggar, you are not impressed with gratitude. But when the action of your friend is the result of earnest deliberation, and you see that he acts in the tenderest regard to your welfare, you are far more thankful: traces of anxiety to do you good are very pleasant. Have I not heard persons say, "It was so kind and so thoughtful of him"? Do you not notice that men value kindly thought, and set great store by tender consideration? Remember, then, that there is never a thoughtless action on the part of God. His mind goes with His hand: His heart is in His acts. 2. The thoughts of God are only perfectly known to Himself. It would be a mere truism for God to say, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you." Even a man usually knows his own thoughts; but the meaning is this: when you do not know the thoughts that I have towards you, yet I know them. "Truly the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." God alone understands Himself and His thoughts. We stand by a powerful machine, and we see the wheels moving this way and that, but we do not understand its working. What does it matter? He who made the engine and controls it, perfectly understands it, and this is practically the main concern; for it does not matter whether we understand the engine or not, it will work its purpose if he who has the control of it is at home with all its hands and wheels. Despite our ignorance, nothing can go wrong while the Lord in infinite knowledge ruleth over all. The child playing on the deck does not understand the tremendous engine whose beat is the throbbing heart of the stately Atlantic liner, and yet all is safe; for the engineer, the captain and the pilot are in their places, and well know what is being done. Let not the child trouble itself about things too great for it. Leave you the discovery of doubtful causes to Him whose understanding is infinite; and as for yourself, be you still, and know that Jehovah is God. 3. The Lord would have us know that His thoughts toward us are settled and definite. Sometimes a man may hardly know his own thoughts, because he has scarcely made up his mind. The case is far otherwise with the only wise God. The Lord is not a man that He should need to hesitate; His infinite mind is made up, and He knows His thoughts. With the Lord there is neither question nor debate. "He is in one mind, and none can turn Him." His purpose is settled, and He adheres to it. He is resolved to reward them that diligently seek Him, and to honour those that trust in Him. 4. God's thoughts toward His people are always thoughts of peace. He is at peace with them through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. He delights in them; He seeks their peace, He creates their peace, He sustains their peace, and thus all His thoughts toward them are peace. Note well the negative, which is expressly inserted. It might have appeared enough to say, "My thoughts are thoughts of peace." Yes, it would be quite sufficient, when all things are bright with us; but those words, "and not of evil," are admirably adapted to keep off the goblins of the night, the vampires of suspicion which fly in the darkness. 5. The Lord's thoughts are all working towards "an expected end," or, as the R.V. has it, "to give you hope in your latter end." Some read it, "a future and a hope." Goal is working with a motive. All things are working together for one object: the good of those who love God. We see only the beginning; God seeth the end from the beginning. He regardeth not only the tearing up of the soil with the plough, but the clothing of that soil with the golden harvest. He sees the after consequences of affliction, and He accounts those painful incidents to be blessed which lead up to so much of happiness. Let us comfort ourselves with this. II. THE PROPER ATTITUDE OF GOD'S PEOPLE TOWARDS THEIR LORD. 1. You will all agree with me when I say that our attitude should be that of submission. If God, in all that He does towards us, is acting with an object, and that object a loving one, then let Him do what seemeth Him good. 2. Next, let our position be one of great hopefulness, seeing the end of God, in all He does, is to give us "a future and a hope." We are not driven into growing darkness, but led into increasing light. There is always something to be hoped for in the Christian's life. 3. Our relation to God should, next, be one of continual expectancy, especially expectancy of the fulfilment of His promises. "I will perform My good Word toward you." His promises are good words: good indeed, and sweetly refreshing. When your hearts are faint, then is the promise emphatically good. Expect the Lord to be as good as His good Word. 4. Again, our position towards God should be one of happy hope, as to blessed ends being answered even now. Affliction is the seal of the Lord s election. I remember a story of Mr. Mack, who was a Baptist minister in Northamptonshire. In his youth he was a soldier, and calling on Robert Hall, when his regiment marched through Leicester, that great man became interested in him, and procured his release from the ranks. When he went to preach in Glasgow, he sought out his aged mother, whom he had not seen for many years. He knew his mother the moment he saw her; but the old lady did not recognise her son. It so happened that when he was a child, his mother had accidentally wounded his wrist with a knife. To comfort him she cried, "Never mind, my bonnie bairn, your mither will ken you by that when ye are a man." When Mack's mother would not believe that a grave, fine-looking minister could be her own child, he turned up his sleeve and cried, "Mither, mither, dinna ye ken that?" In a moment they were in each other's arms. Ah, the Lord knows the spot of His children. He acknowledges them by the mark of correction. What God is doing to us in the way of trouble and trial is but His acknowledgment of us as true heirs, and the marks of His rod shall be our proof that we are not bastards, but true sons. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) God's thoughts Thomas Spurgeon. I. GOD THINKS OF HIS PEOPLE. That seems a very simple thing to say, does it not? It is as sublime as it is simple! God thinks of His people. Though so occupied — I had almost said, "though so busy," — God finds time and opportunity to give thought to His children. He numbers the hairs of our head; He knows every inch of our path; our sorrows and our joys are all calculated and catalogued by Him. He knows our uprising and our downsitting, our going out and our coming in. What is there of which He has not perfect cognisance? What is there in which He is not interested? Oh, wonder of wonders, that this busy God of ours knows us, loves us, cares for us, enters into the petty details of our fleeting life, and counts no grief too slight for us to take to Him in prayer. The current of His thoughts sets our way. Like a great warm gaff-stream, the loving thoughts of God lave the shores of every believing soul, and bring life and verdure to the full, by means of their helpful influences. 1. This is the more wonderful, when we remember how sinful we are. He sees and knows all about you, and you He loveth still. 2. I learn hence, also, that God thinks very definitely and deliberately about His people. 3. Best of all is it He thinks so tenderly about us. "Thoughts of peace." It is He who has made peace possible 'twixt God and man, for He longs to have us reconciled to Him. It is Jesus who has made peace by the death of His Cross. It is the Holy Ghost who speaks peace to troubled hearts and consciences. It is His kind providence that keeps us in perfect peace, our minds being stayed on Him. II. GOD'S THOUGHTS CONCERNING HIS PEOPLE ARE OFTEN OF A PRIVATE NATURE. The emphasis of this verse should come upon the personal pronoun. "I know the thoughts that I think towards you." They are hidden from you. "My way," says God, "is not yet discovered." My purposes remain unrevealed. None can know perfectly the mind and will of God. How can we reach to such an awful height? How can we plunge into such abysmal depths? 1. Let the fact that God Knows His thoughts satisfy our curiosity. It is childish in the extreme to lift the plant that has been lately put into the ground, and it will fail to grow if treated thus. It is childish — is it not? — to break the drum-bead, in order to discover whence the music comes. But we are not less childish who want to know what God has not revealed, and who are not content to do His bidding without saying, "But why?" The why and the wherefore may not concern us. But the duty does concern us. Let us hasten in the way of His commandment. 2. This, also, should calm our restlessness. Let the spirit of patience possess you. Wait, wait, wait, till God sees fit to bless. 3. Meanwhile, let there be no distrust. It is fear that misconstrues the purposes of God. It is unbelief that misinterprets the words and ways of Jehovah. Even when things appear to be against us, let us trust and not be afraid. III. WHEN GOD THINKS, HE THINKS TO PURPOSE. "To give you an expected end." God always works to an end, and with a motive. Here He speaks about the people's dreams. They were mere dreams — "the baseless fabric of a vision." But God has no dreams. His thoughts are honest, earnest, fruitful, resultful. Moreover, His works ever agree with the thoughts from which they spring. God does not leave His people to haphazard, nor does He do anything by halves. Trust Him in all His works and ways, and you will see that "as for God, His way is perfect." When He sets Himself to make a world, He rests not till He has made it perfectly, and can pronounce it good. When He sets Himself to destroy sinful men, He makes a clean sweep of them, whether it be with flood or flame. And when He comes from heaven to redeem a sinful race of men, His tears do not stop, nor does His blood cease flowing, till He can cry, "It is finished." ( Thomas Spurgeon. ) God's thoughts H. J. Bevis. God's thoughts are like God, — they are wonderful as Himself, and worthy of Himself. His ways are the results of His thoughts, and their revelation to us. Creation, in all its vastness and completeness, is the thought of God, — a thought that embraced not only the great outlines, but all the details of the work of His Word, — a thought that did not require to be supplemented or enlarged. Providence, in its heights and depths, its lengths and breadths, is His thought, — a thought that takes in the entire history of our race, and is ever at work to bring about one great purpose, one glorious design. Redemption, in all its surpassing glory, is His thought,-a thought of which the whole Gospel is the revelation. I. GOD'S THOUGHTS MUST BE REVEALED. They are known only to His Spirit, "for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." These deep things are known to us, for God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. We are permitted to know the thoughts of God that have had reference to ourselves; we are assisted in our conceptions of these thoughts, and it is wonderful to be told that they come into our minds, that they dwell in our hearts, and that we have communion with the thoughts of God. God is ever at work in the world, not only on its great stage, but on the narrow platform of our own dwellings; and we are permitted, in our brief lives, to see the impressions that are thrown off from the mind of God, the thoughts of God, in the dispensations of His providence. "Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward." God has spoken to man. He spake unto the fathers by the prophets, but He hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. All that God has to say cannot be spoken; all that He has to reveal cannot be told us in words. We must have the death as well as the life of Jesus. II. GOD'S THOUGHTS ARE REVEALED, AND THEY ARE THOUGHTS CONCERNING US. However wonderful these thoughts, they might not concern us, they might not be about us; they might be about angels, and not about men, — about other worlds, and not this small province in God's empire. But these thoughts become to us of the greatest moment, when we are told that they are about us — that God thought of us long ago — that before the world began, the thoughts of God were concerning us. How is man magnified by this very fact! III. WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF THESE THOUGHTS CONCERNING US 1. Sometimes we think God's thoughts towards us are evil, because His ways are so full of mystery. We see the means to the end — we do not see the end. But the way to it is dark and sorrowful, and the events by which it is to be brought about, we baptise by the name of evil. 2. God's thoughts are eminently practical They are thoughts to an end. God is "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." God alone could originate the thoughts that fill His mind; He only can accomplish them. He does not merely think, — He speaks, He works, and fulfils His designs. IV. GOD HAS THE MOST PERFECT ACQUAINTANCE WITH HIS OWN THOUGHTS, AND WITH THEIR CHARACTER. 1. "I know the thoughts that l, think toward you." The Infinite Mind knows no change. God's thoughts are the same to-day as yesterday; and hence His promises are like thoughts that have just been breathed in our world; and His gifts and calling are without repentance. 2. Let us acquaint ourselves with these thoughts. We have the record. We have the words of Him who spake as never man spake. Let us get these Divine thoughts into our minds, that our thoughts may be quickened and strengthened, that we may think the thoughts of God, that we may have communion with the mind of God. V. IF GOD HAS PLACED HIS THOUGHTS BEFORE OUR MINDS, LET US PLACE OUR THOUGHTS BEFORE GOD. Let us not only think about Him, but to Him. Let us thus have fellowship with Him. VI. LET US SO ACT AND LIVE, AS TO CARRY OUT AND EXEMPLIFY GOD'S THOUGHTS. "The grace of God has appeared to us, teaching us that we should deny ungodliness." Let us profit by its teaching; let us act out its teaching by living Godlike. ( H. J. Bevis. ) To give you an expected end. God's future and hope for human race Z. Mather. I. THE HUMAN RACE IS UNDER DIVINE TRAINING FOR A BLESSED AND GLORIOUS FUTURE. God cannot create a single creature to hate and to leave in sin and misery, and if He could, how could He be God? II. LET US WITH REVERENCE AND HUMILITY TRY TO LEARN SOMETHING OF GOD'S GREAT THOUGHTS RESPECTING THE FUTURE OF FALLEN MEN. Try to think of the future of God's lost children in the light of what He has done for them. If we consider it in the light of the Incarnation of the Son, His heavenly teaching, His mighty works, and His voluntary sufferings, we shall never despair. Think further of what God is doing through His Spirit; for He is through His Spirit enlightening men's minds, leading them to the truth, convincing them of sin, and purifying the nature and perfecting the character of believers. If earthly fathers are so anxious for making a worthy and honourable future for their children, is it likely that the Divine Father will be heedless about the future of His children? No; that cannot be. In all the sufferings, trials, and discipline of the present, He has their future perfection, happiness, and glory in view. 1. Holiness of nature. 2. Perfection of character. 3. Perfection of service. 4. Perfection of joy. ( Z. Mather. ) Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. — Divine purposes fulfilled in answer to prayer Anon. I. A CERTAIN DANGER DECLARED (vers. 8, 9). We have here the same caution which the Redeemer subsequently gave, to "beware of false prophets." In all ages have they appeared, and most disastrous have been the effects produced by their teaching ( Ezekiel 13:10-14 ). II. A BLESSED DELIVERANCE PROMISED. 1. The grounds on which it rested. "For thus saith the Lord." 2. The time of their return is expressly declared (ver. 10). God's time is always the best. 3. In their restoration the Divine faithfulness would be strikingly manifested. "I will visit you," &c. 4. The procuring cause of their deliverance was the boundless compassion of Jehovah (ver. 11). III. AN IMPORTANT DUTY ENJOINED. Prayer. 1. It is a duty Divinely ordained. 2. It is a duty to the observance of which the greatest encouragement is afforded. "I will hearken unto you." 3. This duty, in order to be successful, must not be attended to in a formal and lifeless manner. ( Anon. ) Captivities and how to improve them W. M. Taylor, D. D. I. WE MAY DESCRIBE EVERY REAL AFFLICTION WHICH COMES UPON THE CHRISTIAN AS A CAPTIVITY. To be in a condition which we never should have voluntarily preferred, or to be held back, by the power of something which we cannot control, from that which we eagerly desire to do, — is not that the very thing in an experience which makes it a trial? Take bodily illness, for example, and when you get at the root of the discomfort of it, you find it in the union of these two things: you are where you do not want to be, and where you would never have thought of putting yourself, and you are held there, whether you will or not, by the irresistible might of your own weakness. The same thing comes out in every sort of affliction. You are, let me suppose, in business perplexities. Well, that is not of your own choosing. If you could have accomplished it, you would have been in quite different circumstances. But, in spite of you, things have gone crooked. You have been carried from the Jerusalem of comfort to the Babylon of perplexity, by no effort of yours, nay, perhaps, against the utmost resistance on your part, and now you can do nothing. So sometimes, also, our providential duties are a kind of affliction to us. We had no choice in determining whether we would assume them. They came to us, unbidden, at least, if not undesired, and they have chained us to themselves, so that when we are asked to take part in some effort for the benefit of others we are compelled to say "No." II. EVERY CAPTIVITY OF WHICH THE CHRISTIAN IS THE VICTIM WILL HAVE AN END. "Time and the hour run through the roughest day." "Be the day weary, or be the day long, at last it ringeth to evensong." It is but a little while, at the longest, and we shall be where "sorrow and sighing shall for ever flee away." This state of limitation, this conflict between our aspirations and our abilities, is not to last for ever. Not for ever shall we be in bondage to the weakness of the body, hampered by its liability to disease, and hindered by its proneness to fatigue. Not always shall we be at the mercy of the unscrupulous and dishonest. Not continually shall we be held down by the encumbrances that overweight us here on earth. For in the fatherland above we shall work without weariness, and serve God without imperfection. But, while there is much in this view of the case to sustain us, we must not lose sight of the moral end which God has in view in sending us into our captivity. Ah! how many of our idolatries He has rebuked and rectified by our captivities! We had been worshipping our reputation, and lo! an illness came which laid us aside, and our names were by and by forgotten, as new men came to the front; and then, learning the folly of out false ambition, we turned from the idolatry of self to the homage of Jehovah. Or, we had made an idol of our business; but now it is in ruins, and as we see the perishableness of earthly things, we turn to Him who is unchanging and eternal. Or, we had made a god of our dwelling, and by some reverse of fortune it is swept away from us, just that we might learn the meaning of that old song of Moses ( Psalm 90:1 ). How many portions of His Word, also, have been explained to us by our trials! There is no commentator of the Scriptures half so valuable as a captivity. It unfolds new beauties where all had appeared to be beautiful before; and where formerly there was what we thought a wilderness, it has revealed to us a fruitful field. III. IF WE WOULD HAVE SUCH RESULTS FROM OUR CAPTIVITY, THERE ARE CERTAIN IMPORTANT THINGS WHICH WE MUST CULTIVATE. 1. A willing acceptance of God's discipline, and patient submission to it. The impatient horse which will not quietly endure his halter only strangles himself in his stall. The high-mettled animal that is restive in the yoke only galls his shoulders; and every one will understand the difference between the restless starling of which Sterne has written, breaking its wings against the bars of its cage, and crying, "I can't get out," "I can't get out," and the docile canary that sits upon its perch and sings as if he would outrival the lark soaring to heaven's gate, and so moves his mistress to open the door of his prison-house and give him the full range of the room. He who is constantly looking back and bewailing that which he has lost, does only thereby unfit himself for improving in any way the discipline to which God has subjected him; whereas the man who brings his mind down to his lower lot, and deliberately examines how he can serve God best in that, is already on the way to happiness and to restoration. 2. Unswerving confidence in God. If we doubt Him we at once become the prey to despondency, impatience, and rebellion. Confidence in your physician is itself more than half the cure, and trust in God is absolutely essential if we would gain benefit from His discipline. Yet because a change in men's conduct toward us is usually the indication of a difference in their disposition toward us, we think that God has ceased to care for us when He puts us into trial or sends us into captivity. But it is not so. To-day the medical man gives his patient liberty to take anything he chooses; to-morrow he cuts off all indulgence, and uses severe and painful remedies; but does he care the less for him because he thus changes his treatment, or has his purpose regarding him undergone an alteration? Not at all In both cases he is equally earnest to have his health restored. And it is quite similar with God in His dealings with His people. 3. Fervent prayer. No calamity can be to us an unmixed evil if we carry it in direct and fervent prayer to God, for even as one in taking shelter from the rain beneath a tree may find on its branches fruit which he looked not for, so we, in fleeing for refuge beneath the shadow of God's wing, will always find more in God than we had seen or known before. It is thus through our afflictions that God gives us fresh revelations of Himself; and the Jabbok ford, which we crossed to seek His help, leads to the Peniel, where, as the result of our wrestling, we "see God face to face," and our lives are preserved. ( W. M. Taylor, D. D. ) Finding God H. W. Beecher. To search after God is really to educate oneself. To know God requires that we should be educated in the Divine qualities. The knowledge of God is not something ou

29:1-7 The written word of God is as truly given by inspiration of God as his spoken word. The zealous servant of the Lord will use every means to profit those who are far off, as well as those who are near him. The art of writing is very profitable for this end; and by the art of printing it is rendered most beneficial for circulating the knowledge of the word of God. God's sending to the captives by this letter would show that he had not forsaken them, though he was displeased, and corrected them. If they live in the fear of God, they may live comfortably in Babylon. In all conditions of life, it is our wisdom and duty not to throw away the comfort of what we may have, because we have not all we would have. They are directed to seek the good of the country where they were captives. While the king of Babylon protected them, they must live quiet and peaceable lives under him, in all godliness and honesty; patiently leaving it to God to work deliverance for them in due time. 29:8-19 Let men beware how they call those prophets whom they choose after their own fancies, and how they consider their fancies and dreams to be revelations from God. False prophets flatter people in their sins, because they love to be flattered; and they speak smoothly to their prophets, that their prophets may speak smoothly to them. God promises that they should return after seventy years were accomplished. By this it appears, that the seventy years of the captivity are not to be reckoned from the last captivity, but the first. It will be the bringing to pass of God's good word to them. This shall form God's purposes. We often do not know our own minds, but the Lord is never at an uncertainty. We are sometimes ready to fear that God's designs are all against us; but as to his own people, even that which seems evil, is for good. He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, or the expectations of their fancies, but the expectations of their faith; the end he has promised, which will be the best for them. When the Lord pours out an especial spirit of prayer, it is a good sign that he is coming toward us in mercy. Promises are given to quicken and encourage prayer. He never said, Seek ye me in vain. Those who remained at Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed, notwithstanding what the false prophets said to the contrary. The reason has often been given, and it justifies the eternal ruin of impenitent sinners; Because they have not hearkened to my words; I called, but they refused. 29:20-32 Jeremiah foretells judgments upon the false prophets, who deceived the Jews in Babylon. Lying was bad; lying to the people of the Lord, to delude them into a false hope, was worse; but pretending to rest their own lies upon the God of truth, was worst of all. They flattered others in their sins, because they could not reprove them without condemning themselves. The most secret sins are known to God; and there is a day coming when he will bring to light all the hidden works of darkness. Shemaiah urges the priests to persecute Jeremiah. Their hearts are wretchedly hardened who justify doing mischief by having power to do it. They were in a miserable thraldom for mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misusing his prophets; yet in their distress they trespass still more against the Lord. Afflictions will not of themselves cure men of their sins, unless the grace of God works with them. Those who slight the blessings, deserve to lose the benefit of God's word, like Shemaiah. The accusations against many active Christians in all ages, amount to no more than this, that they earnestly counsel men to attend to their true interest and duties, and to wait for the performance of God's promises in his appointed way.