The people are warned A. M. eir. 3392. 13 For from the least of them | thoughts, because they have not even unto the greatest of them hearkened unto my words, nor to every one is given to covetous- my law, but rejected it, ness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 14 They have healed also the "hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. 16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. 17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they, said, We will not hearken, с A. M. cir. 3392. B. C. cir. 612. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 5. 20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burntofferings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. 21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friends shall perish. 22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. 23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. h 18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O 24 We have heard the fame thereof: our congregation, what is among them. hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. 25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by a .19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their 8 b Isa. Ivi. 11; chap. viii. 10; xiv. 18; Chap. iv. 10; xiv. 13; xxiii. 17.- Matt. xi. 29. xxiii. 11; Mic. iii. 5, 11. W Heb. bruise, or breach. Verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see] Let us observe the metaphor. traveller is going to a particular city; he comes to a place where the road divides into several paths, he is afraid of going astray; he stops short, endeavours to find out the right path: he cannot fix his choice. At last he sees another traveller; he inquires of him, gets proper directions-proceeds on his journey-arrives at the desired place and reposes after his fatigue. There is an excellent sermon on these words in the works of our first poet, Geoffry Chaucer; it is among the Canterbury Tales, and is called Chaucer's Tale. The text, I find, was read by him as it appears my old MS. Bible :- -Standith upon weies and Beeth, and asketh of the olde pathes; What is the VOL. IV. in Isa. xxi. 11; lviii. 1; chap. xxv. 4; Ezek. iii. 17; Hab. ii. 1. a Isa. i. 2.- Prov. i.31.c Psa. xl. 6; 1. 7, 8, 9; Isa. i. 11 j Ivi. 3; Amos v. 21; Mic. vi. 6, &c.—d Isa. ix. 6. Le Chap vii. 21.- Chap. i. 15; v. 15; x. 22; 1. 41, 42, 43.- - Isa. v. 30. Chap. iv. 31; xiii. 21; xlix. 24; l. 43. good weie? and goth in it, and gee schul fynden res fresching to gour soulig. The soul needs rest; it can only find this by walking in the good way. The good way is that which has been trodden by the saints from the beginning: it is the old way, the way of faith and holiness. BELIEVE, LOVE, OBEY; be holy, and be happy. This is the way; let us inquire for it, and walk in it. But these bad people said, We will not walk in it. Then they took another way, walked over the precipice, and fell into the bottomless pit; where, instead of rest, they find a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur, unconsumed. Verse 17. I set watchmen] I have sent prophets to warn you. Verse 20. Incense from Sheba] Sheba was in Árabia, famous for the best incense. It was situated towards the southern extremity of the peninsula of Arabia; and was, in respect of Judea, a far country. And the sweet cane from a far country] The calamus aromaticus, which, when dried and pulverized, yields a very fine aromatic smell; see on Isa. xliii. 24. This was employed in making the holy anointing oil. See Exod. xxx. 23. Verse 23. They shall lay hold on bow and spear] Still pointing out the Chaldeans; or, according to The people exhorted A. M. cir. 3392. B. C. cir. 612. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 5. JEREMIAH. the way; for the sword of the i k 28 n p to repentance B. C. cir. 612. Ol. cir. XLII. 1. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 5. They are all grievous re- 4. M. cir. 3392. volters, walking with slanders: 26 O daughter of my people, they are brass and iron; they gird thee with sackcloth, and are all corrupters. wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. 27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way. iChap. iv. 8. m 29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucked away. 30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them. Chap. xxv. 34; Mic. i. 10.-Zech. xii. 10. Chap. ix. 4.- Ezek. xxii. 18.- Isa. i. 22. Or, refuse Chap. i. 18; xv. 20.- -n Chap. v. 23. ་ Dahler, the Scythians, who had before their invasion of Palestine overrun many parts of Asia, and had spread consternation wherever their name was heard. silver. nozzle of the bellows is even melted with the intensity of the fire used to effect the refinement; and the lead is carried off by the action of the heat; and the as Verse 27. I have set thee for a tower and a fortress] | sayer melteth in vain, for the alloy still continues in Dr. Blayney translates, I have appointed thee to make union with the metal. The assayer gives up the proan assay among my people. The words refer to the cess, will not institute one more expensive or tedious, office of an assayer of silver and gold; and the man--pronounces the mass unfit to be coined, and denoner of assaying here intended is by the cupel, a flat broad iron ring filled with the ashes of burnt bones. To separate the alloy from the silver they add a portion of lead; and when all is fused together, and brought into a state of ebullition, the cupel absorbs the lead, and with it the dross or alloy, and the silver is left pure and motionless on the top of the cupel. The people are here represented under the notion of alloyed silver. They are full of impurities; and they are put into the hands of the prophet, the assayer, to be purified. The bellows are placed, the fire is lighted up, but all to no purpose: so intensely commixed is the alloy with the silver, that it cannot be separated. The minates it reprobate silver, ver. 30. Thus, the evil CHAPTER VII. Here begins another section of prophecy, ending with the ninth chapter. It opens with exhorting to amendment of life, without which the confidence of the Jews in their temple is declared vain, 1–11. · God bids them take warning from the fate of their brethren the Israelites, who had been carried away captive on account of their sins without any regard to that sacred place, (Shiloh,) where the ark of God once resided, 12-15. The iniquities of Judah are so great in the sight of God that the prophet is eommanded not to intercede for the people, 16; the more especially as they persisted in provoking God by their idolatrous practices, 17-20. The Jewish sacrifices, if not accompanied with obedience to the moral law, are of no avail, 21-24. Notwithstanding the numerous messages of mercy from the time of the exodus, the people revolted more and more; and have added to their other sins this horrible evil, the setting up of their abominations in the temple of Jehovah; or, in other words, they have encumbered the Mosaic economy, which shadowed forth the glorious truths of Christianity, with a heterogeneous admixture of the idolatrous, impure, and cruel rites of heathenism; consequently, the whole land shall be utterly desolated, 25-34. d upon the impenitent. 11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. T A. M. cir. 3394. B. C. cir. 610. Ol. cir. XLII. 3. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 7. 12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the t 5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and first, and see what I did to it for the wickedyour doings; if ye throughly execute judg-ness of my people Israel. ment between a man and his neighbour; 13 And now, because ye have done all these 6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the father-works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, less, and the widow, and shed not innocent" rising up early and speaking, but ye heard blood in this place, neither walk after other not; and I called you, but ye answered not; gods to your hurt: e b Chap. xviii. 11; xxvi. 13.-c Mic. iii. 11. d Chap. xxii. 3. e Deut. vi. 14, 15; viii. 19; xi. 28; chap. xiii. 10.- -f Deat. iv. 40. Chap. iii. 18. Ver. 4. Chap. v. 31; xiv. 13, 14. 1 Kings xviii. 21; Hos. iv. 1, 2; Zeph. i. 5.- Exod. xx. 3; - Ezek. xxiii. 39. Heb. whereupon my name is Ver. 11, 14, 30; chap. xxxii. 34; xxxiv. 15. -P Isa. ver. 6. called. lvi. 7. Verse 2. Stand in the gate of the Lord's house] There was a show of public worship kept up. The temple was considered God's residence; the usual ceremonies of religion restored by Josiah were still observed; and the people were led to consider the temple and its services as sacred things, which would be preservatives to them in case of the threatened invasion. Verse 4. The temple of the Lord] In the Chaldee the passage stands thus :-" Do not trust in the words of lying prophets, which say, before the temple of the Lord ye shall worship; before the temple of the Lord ye shall sacrifice; Before the temple of the Lord ye shall adore; thrice in the year ye shall appear before it." This the Targumist supposes to have been the reason why the words are here thrice repeated. They rather seem to express the conviction which the people had, that they should be safe while their temple service continued; for they supposed that God would not give it up into profane hands. But sacred places and sacred symbols are nothing in the sight of God when the heart is not right with him. Verse 5. If ye throughly amend your ways] Literally, If in making good ye fully make good your God will no longer admit of half-hearted work. ways. 9 Matt xxi. 13; Mark xi. 17; Luke xix. 46.- Josh. xviii. 1 ; Judg. xviii. 31.- Deut. xii. 11.1 Sam. iv. 10, 11; Psa. lxxviii. 60; chap. xxvi. 6.- 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15; ver. 25; chap. xi. 7.- - Prov. i. 24; Isa. lxv. 12; lxvi. 4.1 Sam. iv. 10, 11; Psa. lxxviii. 60; chap. xxvi. 6.-2 Kings xvii. 23. Psa. lxxviii. 67, 68.- Exod. xxxii. 10; chap. xi. 14; xiv. 11. Chap. xv. 1. a Semblances of piety cannot deceive him; he will not accept partial reformation; there must be a thorough amendment. Verse 9. Will ye steal, murder] Will you continue to commit such abominations, and pretend to worship me; and thus defile the place that is called by my name; and so make my house a den of robbers? I have seen this, and can you expect to escape condign punishment? Ye shall not escape. Verse 12. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh] See what I did to my tabernacle and ark formerly: after a long residence at Shiloh, for the iniquity of the priests and the people, I suffered it to fall into the hands of the Philistines, and to be carried captive into their land, and to be set up in the house of their idols. And because of your iniquities, I will deal with you and this temple in the same way; for as I spared not Shiloh, though my ark was there, but made it a victim of my wrath, so will I do to Jerusalem and her temple. Verse 15. The whole seed of Ephraim.] Taken here for all the ten tribes, that of Ephraim being the principal. Verse 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people] They have filled up the measure of their iniquity, and An enumeration of the A M. eir 3394. 1 C er 610. Tarquinii Prisci, JEREMIAH. B. C. cir. 610. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 7. sins of Jerusalem. 18 The children gather wood, | ye in all the ways that I have 4. M. cir. 3394. O ir XL 3 and the fathers kindle the fire, commanded you, that it may be Ol. eir. XLII. 3. and the women knead their well unto you. eir annum 7. dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drinkofferings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Loup: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? 24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but m walked in the counsels and in the "imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the pro20 Therefore thus saith the Lord Gon; Be- phets; 'daily rising up early and sending them: hold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured, 26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor out upon this place, upon man, and upon inclined their ear, but hardened their neck · beast, and upon the trees of the field, and they did worse than their fathers. upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. 21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burat-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. 28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a 22 * For I spake not unto your fathers, nor nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD commanded them in the day that I brought their God, nor receiveth correction: truth them out of the land of Egypt, concerning is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. burnt-offerings or sacrifices. 29 Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and 23 But this thing commanded I them, say- cast it away, and take up a lamentation on mg, Obey my voice, and I will be your high places; for the LORD hath rejected and God, and ye shall be my people: and walk forsaken the generation of his wrath. 20% 15 M = -Qr, mune, ze werèmmstre of heaven. * Or, sexädervæss — Heb. were. Chap. ii. 27; xxxii. 33; sa i 11. ep. His a 16———42 Chron xxxvi. 15; chap. xxv. 4; xxix. 19. 21-1 Sam. xv. 22: Pa Ver. 13—Ver 94; chan . 8; xvii. 23; xxv. 3, 4. 1. His v Ne rang the mutter of Nea in 17, 29; chap. xix. 15 ——— Chap. xvi. 12.————▾ -Ezek. Arya & Erd 1x 5, 117.—Chap. 3. 11 33 Or, instruction.—5 Chap. ir 3-Joo i 20. Isa xv. 2; chap. xvi. 6; xlviii. 37; Me. i. 16 they more become evangles of my justice. How ter- Twap 1* Mi shtiren gutter wood] Here is a alba va va mave family gathered together, and * 3 sous worship. 1. The chwe go and cover wood, and bring it to the place the titers lay it in order, and kin* the wiser and her maids knead dough. mke wa Mch and out of it form cakes, and bake དེ་སྐད་ མེད་ དམི 1 : འི the bonour of the queen of heaven; most pudiky do more, though perhaps not exclusive of aves, generally called the host of herÞuzy warship is a most amiable and become fa wa sa acciòrmed according to truth. a ply what so gew tales show such geal for the wold of food as se apostate Israelites did for What my voice. It was not sacrifices and oblations which I required of your fathers in the wilderness, but obedience; it was to walk in that way of righteousness which I have commanded; then I should have acknowledged them for my people, and I should have been their God; and then it would have been well with them. But to my commands, 1. They begrkened not-paid no regard to my word. 2. They inclined not the earshowed no disposition to attend to my counsels. 3. They walked in the imaginations of their evil heart— followed its irregular and impure motions, rather than the holy dictates of my Spirit. 4. They went backward and not forward. Instead of becoming more wise, obedient, and holy, they grew more corrupt; so that they became more profigate than their fathers. Verse 98. Nor receteeth correction] They have profited neither by mercies nor by judgments: blessings and corrections have been equally lost upon them. Verse 29. Cut of thine barr] T2-13 gozzi nizrech, shear thy nazarite. The Nazarite was one who took upon him a particular vow, and seperated himself from all worldly connexious for a certain time, that he might devote himself without interruption to the service of God; and dering all this time no razor was to pass on his head, for none of his hair was to be taken |