Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, July 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
video advertismenet
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Commentaries
Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary Preacher's Homiletical
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Exell, Joseph S. "Commentary on Jeremiah 3". Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary. https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/phc/jeremiah-3.html. Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1892.
Exell, Joseph S. "Commentary on Jeremiah 3". Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary. https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (43)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (3)
Verses 1-25
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.â1. Chronology. Exact date of chapter uncertain. It naturally divides itself at Jeremiah 3:5, although Dahler, Umbriet, and Neuman contend for the unity of the chapter as a single prophecy. Doubtless there is a continuity of imagery and reasoning (Jeremiah 3:1; Jeremiah 3:8), but the inscription to Jeremiah 3:6 is a difficulty, and their transforence of that inscription to Jeremiah 3:1 is unwarranted. âThe Targum,â Vulgate, Jerome, Rosenmüller, Wordsworth, and Henderson regard Jeremiah 3:1-5 as a separate and complete prophecy, and plead that the abrupt commencement âto sayâ or âsayingâ (Jeremiah 3:1) is not without parallel (Judges 16:2), and indicates a Divine message. But Luther, Kimchi, Maurer, Hitzig, Starke, Keil, and âSpeakerâs Commentaryâ connect Jeremiah 3:1-5 with chap. 2 as a completion of that prophecy, and read thus: âThe Lord hath rejected thy confidences,â &c. (Jeremiah 2:37), âsaying, If a man,â &c. (Jeremiah 3:1). This is preferable.
Jeremiah 3:6 onwards to Jeremiah 6:30 gives a lengthy prophecy, forming either one prolonged address (Hend.) or a condensation into one uniform whole of a series of addresses (Keil) delivered during Josiahâs reign.
Date of Jeremiah 3:1-5, the 13th of Josiah; date of Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah cf., 17 th of Josiah (Maurer); before the 18th, the year of Josiahâs great reformation (Hend.); after the 18th (Bagster, Blayney, &c.). M. Henry gives the date B.C. 620, i.e., the 21st year of Josiah.
2. Cotemporary Scriptures. With Jeremiah 3:6 may agree 2 Chronicles 34:1 to 2 Chronicles 35:18; Zephaniah 1-3; 2 Kings 22:1 to 2 Kings 23:25; Nahum and Habakkuk.
3. Historic Facts. Josiah, personally journeying through Judah and Israel, continues his purification of the nation; returns to Jerusalem in his 18th year, immediately repairs the Temple for the restoration of Jehovahâs worship therein. Judahâs ostentatious return to Jehovah a solemn mockery (Jeremiah 3:10). (Comp. B. p. 61, âActual State of Judah.â)
4. Cotemporary History. During these six years, Nabopolassar rebels against the king of Assyria, becomes king of Babylon, and thus founds the Babylonian empire. Cyaxares (Ahasuerus, Daniel 9:1) succeeds Phraortes on the Median throne, and begins to make Media a great power (B.C. 625). Psammeticus continues to reign over Egypt at Nineveh.
5. Geographical References. Jeremiah 3:12. âTowards the north,â i.e., to Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, where the captive ten tribes were located by Tiglath-Pilesar (B.C. 740; cf. 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 16:7-9; Amos 1:4-5), and Shalmanezar, or rather Sargon, his son (for Assyrian monuments show that Shalmanezar died during the siege of Samaria, and that Sargon carried Israel captive), cir. B.C. 720; cf. 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:9-11. (Comp. A.p. 60, âFacts re Outcast Israel.â)
6. Natural History. Jeremiah 3:3. âLatter rain,â i.e., the vernal rain, which fell about April, perfecting the harvest; the âformerâ rain came early in November, preparing the earth for cultivation. (Comp. C. p. 62, âThe Land Withered by Drought.â)
7. Manners and Customs. Jeremiah 3:1; Jeremiah 3:8. âDivorce.â The law found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. The âbillâ was a legal document; it guaranteed legal cognisance of, and justifiable reasons for, the husbandâs deed. Jeremiah 3:2. âThe Arabian in the wilderness.â The Bedouin lurking and eager for plunder; thus did Israel look out for idolatry as for booty.
8. Literary Criticisms. Jeremiah 3:1. âYet return again to Me.â âTargum,â Jerome, and A. V. Regard ×ְש××Ö¹× as the imperative. Keil renders it as interrogative, âWouldst thou return to me!â as being forbidden. âSpeakerâs Commentaryâ takes the verb as an infinitive; âAnd to return to me!â that is, And thinkest thou to return to Me! âIsrael could no more take her place as wife.â Henderson says it is the infinitive absolute, and as such may be used as an imperative. Lange gives as the sense, âAlthough, in accordance with legal regulations, I ought not to receive you, yet I say, Return to me.â Certainly Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:20; Jeremiah 3:22; Jeremiah 4:1, bear out Langeâs sense of the words. (See on Jeremiah 3:14 below.)
Jeremiah 3:5. âBehold thou hast spoken,â i.e., fairly, used devout speeches to Jehovah; but actions have contradicted words; âand hast done evil as thou couldst,â i.e., without self-restraint. Noyes, âdoest evil with all thy might.â Calvin, âwith incorrigible persistency.â
Jeremiah 3:7. âHer treacherous sisterâ should be rendered, âand Treacherous, her sister,â as being her appellative. Falsehood, Faithlessânot an adjective, but Judahâs name.
Jeremiah 3:9. âLightness,â as if ×§Ö¹× were the infinitive of ×§Ö¸×Ö·×, levity. It is rather derived from ×§×Ö¹×, a cry, noise; the tumult of her idolatrous revelries. Some take it as the cry which rose to heaven against her; but it is here said to âhave defiled the land;â therefore âher riotous orgiesâ is the more correct.
Jeremiah 3:12. âTurn, thou backsliding;â lit., âturn thou that hast turned.â Note the paronomasia ש××Ö¼×Ö½Ö¸× ×ְש×Ö»×Ö¸×. âNot cause mine anger to fall.â Lange, ânot lower my face against you.â Keil, ânot look darkly upon.â Hend., ânot continue to frown.â
Jeremiah 3:14. âI am married unto you.â ×ָּעַ×. Hitzig, Umbriet, I will be your lord, master; suggestive of severe domination. Hengstenberg, Lange, Keil, âyour husband;â for Jehovah had been, and would ever be, that to Israel. Kimchi, Rosenmüller, De Wette, Gesenius, Henderson contend for the signification, loathing, disdain: âI have rejected you,â since both here and Jeremiah 31:32 is taught that God had abandoned Israel in consequence of her stubborn apostasy. The A. V. is consistent with the prevailing language of this chapter (see above on Jeremiah 3:1). Jerome translates, âquia ego vir vester.â
Jeremiah 3:16. âNeither shall that be done any more,â i.e., the Ark being lost, no effort would be made to replace it. âNeither shall it be made any more.â (Comp. D. p. 62, âThe Ark Lost.â)
Jeremiah 3:19. âBut I said, How,â &c.; not âbut,â as if it were a difficulty; and âhow shall I.â The sentence need not be taken interrogatively, but How gloriously will I: with what honours! âOf the hosts of nations; lit., beauty of beauties: צְ×Ö´× ×¦Ö´×Ö°××ֹת, not âhosts.â The Hebrew idiom means a heritage of the chief beauty of nations.âSpeakerâs Com.
Jeremiah 3:21. âFor they have perverted;â rather âbecauseâ supplying the reason of their weeping, the burden of their grief.
Jeremiah 3:23. âTruly in vain from the hills,â &c. Umbriet, âVerily a lie is from the hills, tumult of the mountains.â Lange, âAs certainly as the hills are false, and mountains an empty sound.â Keil, âTruly the sound from the hills, from the mountains, is become falsehood.â âThe Targumâ gives as the sense, Delusive and profitless were our idolatrous observances upon the heights. The word ×Ö²××Ö¹× is rendered the ânoise of revelryâ in Amos 5:23; and here as âthe noisy gatherings for idle worship on the hill-tops.ââSpeakerâs Com.
Jeremiah 3:24. âShame,â ×Ö°×Ö·×ֹּש×ֶת; lit., the shame, i.e., Baal; comp. chap. Jeremiah 11:13, where the word ×Ö·×ּש×ֶת is rendered âthat shameful thing, even altars to Baalâ (cf. Hosea 9:10). Gesenius = âan idol which deceives the hope of the worshippers, and puts them to shame.â Calmet says:ââThe Hebrews, instead of pronouncing the name of Baal, of which they had a dread, used in its place the name âBoshethââshame, confusion. Thus: Mephi-Bosheth, for Mephi-Baal.â
Jeremiah 3:25. âWe lie down,â i.e., prostrate ourselves in abasement, abashed at the memory of our disgraceful deeds.
HOMILIES AND OUTLINES ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 3
Section
Jeremiah 3:1-5.
The verdict of law and the appeal of love.
Section
Jeremiah 3:6-11.
Israelâs divorce: its lessons lost upon Judah.
Section
Jeremiah 3:12-14.
Israel invited to renew her marriage by repentance.
Section
Jeremiah 3:15-20.
Restoration to lost spiritual privileges open to both Israel and Judah.
Section
Jeremiah 3:21-25.
Their penitential return to the Lord their God.
Jeremiah 3:1-5. THE VERDICT OF LAW AND THE APPEAL OF LOVE
Judah, by her idolatry, had broken her marriage vows to God. Her consequent rejection has not been declared by Jeremiah, but Jeremiah 3:1 implies it. She is spiritually divorced from her Husband. God has âput away His wife.â A solemn truth: sin breaks off our relationship with God. The sinner may have âmany loversâ (Jeremiah 3:1), but he is âwithout God;â how will he do, then, on whom call, in calamity, death, judgment? âReturnâ is indeed desirable, if it may be. Can the guilty one âgo in unto the King, which is not according to lawâ? (Esther 4:16).
I. Legal prohibition (Jeremiah 3:1; cf. Deuteronomy 24:4). A man may not again marry his divorced wife after she has united herself with another. 1. There are legal penalties to sin. 2. The apostate from God is divorced from Him. 3. It is contrary to law for the guilty to find grace. âThe soul that sinneth, it shall die.â That is law; no more return to God; but having gone away voluntarily, to âgo awayâ compulsorily and eternally (Matthew 25:46).
II. Condemnatory facts (Jeremiah 3:2-3). Declares: 1. Her unlimited abandonment to guilt (Jeremiah 3:2). 2. Her shameless effrontery and persistency (Jeremiah 3:3). Our sins are (1.) not imaginary, but positive; (2.) not difficult to find, but glaring; (3.) not mere indiscretions, but appalling; (4.) not few, but multitudinous. And our apostasy from God has made us (1.) insensible to affliction (âshowers withheldâ); (2.) hardened in shamelessness. âSin is not a conjugal, but an adulterous relation.â
III. Conjugal relationship recalled (Jeremiah 3:4). âMy Father, Thou wast the Husband of my youthâ (cf. Proverbs 2:17; see also Jeremiah 3:20). 1. God reminds her of what she was in her youth. How have we deteriorated and fallen! 2. God laments her present life of falsity. Backsliding grieves the Lord. 3. God would awaken her from insensibility to penitent reflections. 4. God shows Himself still a loyal, loving Husband. He does not drive the backslider or the sinner away, but mourns, âHow can I give thee up?â (chap. Jeremiah 2:2). Yea, He still calls to faithless Judah, âReturn to Meâ (Jeremiah 3:1).
IV. Desperate trifling with God (Jeremiah 3:5). 1. Judah responds with fair words. âWill he reserve,â &c., is Judahâs soliloquy upon hearing Godâs appeal (Jeremiah 3:4). The prophet chides her, âBehold, thou hast spoken!â Such is thine answer to Godâs patient and pleading remonstrance. The language showsâ(1.) Conscious demerit, âanger;â (2.) dread of punishment; (3.) belief in mercy: that He will not keep it to the end. But there is no cry of repentance and self-abhorrence. Have we only thus spoken? or not rather Job 42:6? 2. Judah persisted in foul deeds. Although âthou hast spokenâ thus, yet âthou hast done evil persistently.â To deprecate the continuance of Divine displeasure, and yet by our conduct to âprovoke the Holy One of Israel to anger,â is the most solemn trifling. How deplorable the state of a soul which sins on unrestrained by conscience or fear of Godâs wrath (Jeremiah 3:5); and more, unmoved by the pathos of love (Jeremiah 3:4).
Jeremiah 3:6-11. ISRAELâS DIVORCE: ITS LESSONS LOST UPON JUDAH
The kingdom of Israel had been destroyed, and the ten tribes driven into exile as the Divine punishment of idolatry and apostasy. This fact was daily evident to Judah; Israel cast off from God, abandoned to captivity for her criminal impiety. What effect would this produce upon âher sister Judahâ?ârestrain her? Keep her watchful, loyal? Alas! (Jeremiah 3:10-11).
I. Though both were guilty, there was a distinction and a difference of criminality in their respective sins. 1. The distinction. Israelâs sin was apostasy (Jeremiah 3:6). Judahâs sin was treachery (Jeremiah 3:7). Apostasy, i.e., utter desertion of God, is contrasted with falsehood, i.e., criminal hypocrisy, dissimulation, a show of piety covering the vilest impiety. 2. The degree. Judah had the warning of Israelâs example and ruin. Yet (1.) Israel abandoned herself to impiety (Jeremiah 3:6), and Judah, instead of avoiding her sin, did the same. She âsaw itâ (Jeremiah 3:7), yet, with open eyes, knowing the doom, she trod the same course; (2.) Israel had gone into exile for her iniquity; yet Judah despised the warning. She âfeared notâ (Jeremiah 3:8); (3.) Israel refused to return at Godâs call (Jeremiah 3:7), but Judah professedly did respond, yet played a false part (Jeremiah 3:10). Feigned a piety she inwardly loathed (Galatians 6:7).
II. Hypocrisy calls forth severer reproaches from God than apostasy (Jeremiah 3:11). Judah had knowledge, âsawâ (Jeremiah 3:7), yet cared nothing, âfeared notâ (Jeremiah 3:8), and mocked God (Jeremiah 3:10). Whereas Israel acted blindly, madly, wickedly, but without deliberation or design. 1. Hypocrisy is deliberate, not merely impetuous. 2. Flauntingly insolent, not merely indifferent. 3. Trifling and pretentious, not madly blind. The pharisee worse than the publican; traitor worse than the rebel. A deeper depravity of heart underlies the sin. A greater provocation to God is furnished by the sin. To delude man by a mock piety is bad, but to attempt to pass a counterfeit repentance on God is daringly blasphemous. (Comp. the Saviourâs âangerâ and awful âwoesâ against the pretentious, hypocritical pharisees, Mark 3:5, and Matthew 23:0)
Jeremiah 3:12-14. ISRAEL INVITED TO RENEW HER MARRIAGE BY REPENTANCE
âBacksliding:â a metaphor taken from oxen which refuse to draw in the yoke put upon them (Hosea 4:16).
i. God sends messages of mercy and not of judgment (Jeremiah 3:12). Well might He have cast them off utterly. But He delighteth in mercy, and âwilleth not the death of the sinner.â By many prophets did He thus invite them to return (2 Chronicles 36:15); they even âwearied Himâ with their obstinacy (Isaiah 43:24).
ii. God requires that they humble themselves before Him (Jeremiah 3:13). This indispensable. Not consistent with His honour that He should receive them while they hardened themselves against Him. To compensate for their wickedness was impossible, but must confess it, and humble themselves on account of it.
iii. God urges the most affecting considerations in order to prevail upon them. 1. The merciful disposition He felt towards them (Jeremiah 3:12). 2. The relation under which He still regarded them (Jeremiah 3:14). 3. The benefits which He was still ready to confer upon them (Jeremiah 3:14 sq.).âFrom Simeon.
Jeremiah 3:15-20. RESTORATION TO LOST SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGES OPEN TO BOTH ISRAEL AND JUDAH
Conditional on true repentance (Jeremiah 3:13), God pictures a bright future for His erring people.
i. Suffering a common exile (Jeremiah 3:18) in âthe land of the north;â Israel in Assyria, Judah in Babylonia; because of faithlessness (Jeremiah 3:20).
ii. Duration of their banishment limited (Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 3:18). âIn those daysââGod foresees the dawn. âSeasons are in His powerâ (Acts 1:7).
iii. Simultaneous return from exile (Jeremiah 3:18). âCome together.â Israel went into captivity 100 years before Judah. Redemption simultaneous.
iv. Restoration to the lost inheritance (Jeremiah 3:18; comp. Amos 9:15). Laid waste by conquerors, yet the land was sacred; kept for them by God, for them to reoccupy (Luke 21:24).
v. Enriched with national prosperity (Jeremiah 3:16). âMultiplied and increased in the land.â This is frequently portrayed (see Jeremiah 23:3; Ezekiel 36:11).
vi. Blessed with spiritual privileges (Jeremiah 3:16-17). Transcending the value of the ark and the Shekinah in the Temple.
vii. Sacred relationship again realised (Jeremiah 3:19). âThou shalt call me, My Father.â The veil upon their heart removed: light and love!
viii. Revolt no more possible. âNeither shall any more walk after evil heartâ (Jeremiah 3:17). âNot turn from Meâ (Jeremiah 3:19). Loyal: God all in all.
ix. Ruled by wise governors (Jeremiah 3:15). Civil rulers, who will reign righteously, foster righteousness, and encourage the people to piety.
x. Glorified in the esteem of the world (Jeremiah 3:17). Attracting the heathen (Jeremiah 3:19). âA goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations.â Admired and envied throughout the world.
âThat this prophecy was fulfilled by the return under Zerubbabel and Ezra is opposed by the factâ(i.) That not even the whole of Judah, while but a few of Israel, then returned; (ii.) That not even Judah had then returned to the Lord, still less were the heathen converted (Jeremiah 3:17). Its fulfilment by the founding of the Christian Church is contradicted by the factâ(i.) That the reunion of Judah and Israel had not taken place (Israel being still lost); (ii.) That Israel in general has rejected the Lord, and refused to enter the Christian Church; (iii.) That though the heathen are being drawn to the Lord and the Jerusalem that is above (Galatians 4:26), yet this has not taken place in such a measure or manner as to fulfil Jeremiah 3:17, which predicts the conversion of all nations, and the removal of their hardness of heart. We must, therefore, still wait for the complete fulfilment of this prophecy.ââNaeg. in Lange.
âThe fulfilment is accomplished gradually. It begins with the end of the Babylonian exile, in so far as at that time individual members of the ten tribes may have returned into the land of their fathers. It is continued in Messianic times during the lives of the apostles, by the reception, on the part of the Israelites, of the salvation that had appeared in Christ. It is carried on throughout the whole history of the Church, and attains its completion in the final conversion of Israel.ââKeil.
Jeremiah 3:21-25. THEIR PENITENTIAL RETURN TO THE LORD THEIR GOD
In prophetic prevision Jeremiah beholds his nation, broken-hearted for sin, seeking Jehovah with tears, contrition, and shame. The revelries of idolatry are silenced on the heights, and cries of poignant grief sound loud throughout the scene. A nation weeps for her sin: exiles come home with supplications; Godâs people are restored to their long-lost rest. Here is fulfilled the condition of the sinnerâs forgiveness and acceptance (Jeremiah 3:13). Their case provesâ
I. That privileged people may so sin as to necessitate bitterest repentance. Israel and Judah had all sacred persuasions to spiritual fidelity (Romans 9:4-5). We may stand amid religious surroundings and helps, yet may equally fall (Romans 11:20). See the sin of this people: 1. Erring from the right way (Jeremiah 3:21); âperverted their way:â began with inconsistent conduct; turning aside. 2. Neglect of God (Jeremiah 3:21); âforgotten the Lord:â advanced from error and inconsistency into habitual disregard of God; practical irreligion. 3. Positive resistance and disobedience (Jeremiah 3:25); âsinned against the Lord:â no longer negative, but wilful, intentional antagonism. 4. Defiance of Divine remonstrance and appeals (Jeremiah 3:25); ânot obeyed His voice:â though He called, they refused; despised His prophets, message, warnings: they would not allow God a hearing. This had become a settled state of things (Jeremiah 3:25); âwe and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day.â What a warning that we âtake heed lest we fallâ! None but may repeat their sins.
II. That most criminal revolt from God may terminate in penitential return (Jeremiah 3:21). If these might, who may not? 1. There is hope for the guiltiest. 2. Those longest in sin may awake to loathe it. 3. True repentance is possible to backsliders. 4. The end of life is not too late for return. âAfter so long a time,â Israel âarose and came to the Father.â âAt evening time light.â Let none close the door of hope, of opportunity, of mercy, on others or on themselves. God keeps it open to the last, and for the worst. (Addenda to chap. 3, Jeremiah 3:25, âEven unto this day.â)
III. That an evil course of life wastes and debases those who follow it (Jeremiah 3:24-25). (Addenda to chap. 3, âShame,â and âSin debases.â) 1. Sinners are despoiled of self-respect; âshame.â 2. Sinning is an expensive luxury; âdevoured the labour, flocks and herds.â 3. Sinful parents cannot hold back even their own children from destruction; âsons and daughters.â Moloch asks them. Society demands the children of godless parents; and how can they restrain them from sacrificing to pleasure, vanity, vice? 4. Sin lays low all its followers in abasement and confusion (Jeremiah 3:25). Well if it does this ere too late. But the guilty will see themselves vile and foolish; the day must come.
IV. That a voice of gracious expostulation pleads with the guilty to return (Jeremiah 3:22). 1. Godâs call pursues men when they desert Him. 2. A Divine pleading is heard in every heart. 3. Even the vilest are conscious that a pitying Father awaits their return. 4. Manâs duty is to act on that thought; âreturn.â 5. There is âhealingâ for every wrong in Godâs graciousness. 6. Appropriate address from the penitent; âwe come to Thee;â for God calls men to Himself, not to ceremonies, and self-improvement, and human remedies. 7. All-sufficiency and perfect welcome assured; âfor Thou art the Lord,â therefore ânothing too hard;â âthe Lord our God,â therefore He is ready to greet and receive them.
V. That hopes of salvation are found to be delusive until the soul rests in God (Jeremiah 3:23).
1. False hopes: in strong things, âhills and mountains;â in numerous objects, âmultitude,â = the many gods and scenes of idolatry.
2. True hope: âtruly in the Lord,â &c. âLook unto Me, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none elseâ (Isaiah 45:22); âneither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be savedâ (Acts 4:12).
HISTORIC EVENTS INDICATED IN CHAPTER 3
A. Facts connected with the career of outcast Israel (Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:18). (See Addenda to chap. 3, âThe lost Ten Tribes.â)
i. Outcast, yet not lost (Jeremiah 3:12). God knew where they were. Denationalised and exiled; yet God directed a message to them in âthe north.â (See Geographical reference on Jeremiah 3:12 above.) Since the first captivity by Tiglath-pilesar, 115 years had passed, and nearly 100 since Sargon (son of Shalmanezar) swept the land clean of Israelites, and bore them away into the northern provinces of Assyria (2 Kings 17:18; 2 Kings 17:23). Thus outcast, they were to lose all connection with Jehovah, and all recognition of their former history. This was easy; for their habitual idolatry would lead them into speedy surrender of all relics of their religious distinction; and, as their numbers were not vast, they would not long preserve any national distinctness, but become absorbed amid the admixture of peoples which the Assyrian conquests gathered together in the north. But though long lost to themselves, they were not lost to God. He knew where to address them. And He will know where to seek them when the time of their return shall arrive (Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 11:16; cf. Jeremiah 3:18).
ii. Banished, yet still beloved (Jeremiah 3:14). âI am married unto you.â God respects and preserves His relationship to Israel unchanged, although she had been banished a hundred years, and was fading from national existence. This sanctions Paulâs assertion, âGod hath not cast away His peopleâ (Romans 11:1-2). And this unchanging relationship and imperishable love are asserted by God in terms of the most unequivocal and solemn character (Jeremiah 31:37).
iii. Destined to local and spiritual restoration. âI will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zionâ (Jeremiah 3:14). âIn those days the house of Judah shall walk to the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north,â &c. (Jeremiah 3:18). This promise cannot be limited to the return from exile under the edict of Cyrus. The two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, have not yet âcome together,â nor have they yet used the language of Jeremiah 3:22. Nor has Israel learned to cry âMy Father!â (Jeremiah 3:19). Their joint restoration and conversion to God are therefore yet future (cf. Ezekiel 37:16 to end). God will keep and fulfil His covenant promises.
B. The actual state of Judah under the eye of God (Jeremiah 3:4; Jeremiah 3:10). The words âfrom this time,â mark the epoch as special. Judah hath âturned unto Me feignedly,â asserts a national show of repentance. For this incident, Judah professedly repentant before Jehovah, we must turn to 2 Chronicles 35:1-19, the national celebration of the passover, which succeeded Josiahâs reforms, and asserted Judahâs restoration to the Lord. That this chapter coincides with that incident is confirmed by the reference to the ark, both in the arrangements for that passover (2 Chronicles 35:3), and in this prophecy (Jeremiah 3:16). Yet, notwithstanding the great parade of national repentance, God declares it to be unreal (Jeremiah 3:10).
Theme: Reformation no guarantee of religion. A ritual piety not necessarily real piety. (Addenda to chap. 3, Jeremiah 3:10. âRitualâ and âFeignedly.â) In Judahâs case it was the result of authority and policy. Josiah ordered it: not spontaneous; therefore not sincere. The king had cleansed the land, and brought the nation to yield a formal homage to Jehovah: the prophet proclaimed it utterly corrupt and hypocritical.
I. External reform may be unattended by spiritual regeneration. Ostensible repentance, external rectitude, these co-existed with a heart withheld from God. Judah had not cried, âMy Father,â &c. (Jeremiah 3:4).
1. To rectify evil habits does not prove inward renewal. âGarnished sepulchresâ may contain âall uncleanness.â
2. A revival of ritual may not result from revival of religion. The passover observed with ostentatious care was a mockery. Ãsthetic ritual cannot argue religious affections, sanctified lives: decorated altars may not imply devotional worshippers. As well urge that âhewed cisternsâ guarantee pure and âliving water.â Pharisaism in general may be but another name for falsity.
II. The distinctive province of the king and the prophet in the realm of religion. As far as the king went, all was right. He could do no more: effected complete revolution in religious habits of Judah, rectified abuses of Temple, re-established true religion.
1. Royalty can dictate the forms and mode of religion. History often shown this. What then? Are people thereby made religious? Would another âAct of Uniformityâ ensure piety throughout England? Can the king rule conscience, sway hearts?
2. Human effort pauses where true religion only begins. God commences with the âheartâ (Jeremiah 3:10). Manâs work must stop there: he can carry reform no further than âmaking clean the outside of the cup and platter.â Hence God sent the prophet to work where the king could not, to arouse the nationâs inward and spiritual response to the royal reform: to appeal to Judah âfrom that time,â so propitious for a real repentance, âto cry unto Him, My Father.â
III. Reformation without spiritual renewal may prove a perilous delusion. It may quiet and lull. Possibly Judah felt herself religious, having done so much that was pious. Reformed sinners are not easily won to repentance. They fortify themselves in a self-satisfied pride. 1. Outward piety may co-exist with inward sin. A compromise: but loathsome to God, who âlooketh not on appearance.â 2. Outward piety is more readily accepted than repentance. It costs no self-humiliations and heart-conflicts; no âcrucifixion of the affections and lusts;â no abasement before God. 3. Outward piety is evanescent and worthless. The kingâs work was effective: the people responded: Judah became religious. But what ensued? Revulsion when the king died. Nation rushed back to idolatry and vice so soon as the outward restraint was gone. Test such a piety, and it dies. Take the king away who smiled on it, remove the advantages of such a religion, and the thing is gone! Therefore God was still angry with Judah, and doom was not averted.
C. The land withered by drought because of sin (Jeremiah 3:3). âTherefore the showers withholden, no latter rain.â
Clearly affirmed that fertility of the land dependent on conduct of the people (cf. chap. Jeremiah 9:12-13; Leviticus 26:19-20; Deuteronomy 28:23-24). The âlatter rainâ was formerly essential to the beauty and fruitfulness of the country: these have been permanently withdrawn; hence the sterility of the land as it now lies, so markedly in contrast with the ancient accounts of its teeming productiveness and delightful richness. Usually this is accounted for by the reduced population and neglect of culture. They may be the effect rather than the cause: cultivation discouraged and population minished in consequence of a disadvantageous change in the climate and seasons. Observe that rain and consequent fertility were promised conditionally (see Deuteronomy 11:13-15); the peopleâs faithfulness was therefore essential to their being enjoyed and retained; that gone, these have ceased. This a question of fact, certified by competent authority. The physical condition of the climate, the seasons, and the soil have been tested with a view to agriculture. Grass seed, carried from England and sown there, would perish the very first summer. The harvest is marred and impoverished because of drought. Vegetables cannot keep alive; flowers cannot blow and yield their sweets. The land has lost, what it must formerly have enjoyed, âthe latter rain.â God has, as it were, turned the key upon the refreshing and fructifying bounties of the skies. He has commanded the clouds that they rain not as formerly upon the inheritance of His disobedient people. Only in this way can be explained the present state of the heights, which were once mountains clothed with grass, but have become bare rocks. The grass must have perished under the hot sun, which now burns from April to November, the soil become loose and pulverised, unable to resist the high winds of the summer and the floods of winter. This, repeated year after year, would soon lay bare the rocks. All this is to be remedied; promises portray the land again fruitful, the mountains rich with produce. It will require no miracle to do this; only the restoration of âthe rain in its due season.â (Cf. Kittoâs Bible Illustrations on this text.) The temporary withholding of all the rains for three and a half years during Elijahâs ministry (1 Kings 17:1; Luke 4:25) has become permanent as respects the vernal rain; sin being the occasion in each case.
D. The Ark lost in the Babylonian Captivity (Jeremiah 3:16). (Comp. Literary Criticisms on Jeremiah 3:16.)
Manasseh removed the ark from its place in the Temple to make way for the âcarved imageâ which, in his reckless idolatry, he reared in the holy place (2 Chronicles 33:7). This explains its reinstatement by Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:3). In all probability this ark was carried away or destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (2Es. 10:21-22); for it disappeared together with the two tables of stone it contained at the Babylonish captivity, when the Temple was plundered and destroyed. Jewish authorities all are agreed that it was never restored, or replaced in the second Temple. The Jews think it will be restored when Messiah appears, but this verse dissipates the delusion.
HOMILIES ON SELECTED VERSES IN CHAPTER 3
Jeremiah 3:4. Them: GODâS TENDER EXPOSTULATION WITH THE YOUNG.
I. The particulars of the proposal.
1. That you should make God your âFather.â Not merely call Him so, but that you become His children. By disobedience you have put yourself out of His family, like the prodigal. How can you become His children? (Galatians 3:26; John 1:12). By faith we are made one with Christ, and admitted into âthe household of Godâ (see Galatians 4:6).
2. That you should choose God for the âGuide of your youth.â This implies that you regard His authority, follow His will, comply with His directions: these are made known to us:
a. By His Word. âLamp to our feet,â &c.: reveals Christ as âthe Way. Truth,â &c. âFollow me.â
b. By His Spirit. Enlightens and directs our conscience, influences our hearts and desires. âGrieve not the Holy Spirit of God.â
3. That you do these things without delay. âFrom this time.â A sad propensity to answer with Felix, âGo thy way for this time,â &c. But God counsels that no time is so favourable as the present. âTo-day, if hear His voice.â
II. The motives for compliance.
1. The grace and condescension of the proposal. âWhat manner of love!â (1 John 3:1). Can you refuse to be drawn by these âcords of loveâ?
2. The reasonableness of such a proceeding. Your own interests urge your compliance. Where find a Father like God? Numberless evils from which He alone can save you. No other Guide can conduct through intricate paths to eternal rest.
3. The seasonableness of the proposal. Opportunities lost are gone for ever. Present time is your own. âNow is accepted time.â âWilt thou not from this time cry,â &c.?
âFrom this time:â perhaps this is a special date with you: of affliction, deliverance, rejoicing. Perhaps conscious now of a secret desire to give yourself up to God.âRev. Ed. Cooper, âPractical Sermons,â 1816.
Theme: YOUTHâS GRACIOUS HOUR; GODâS TIMELY CALL.
Enticements and appeals fall around the young. âTake me as your guide!â cries Pleasure, Society, Gain, Sin in gay form, Vice with smooth lips. Around none so many calls; mature and aged heard same voices in their youth, but silent now to them. Within none so many cravings: as young life unfolds expectation awakes, curiosity impels; hence snares surround and seducers are alert. Falls a voice from heaven on the young: text. (Addenda to chap. 3, Jeremiah 3:4, âThe guide of my youth.â)
I. Youthâs reckless wanderings. âFrom this time cry to Me.â Had not done so hitherto: other voices heeded and followed: Vanity; Fancy; Indulgence; Avarice; Scepticism. How few young have made God their Guide! Tread âbroad road to destruction.â
II. Youthâs eminent value. Young life more coveted than mature. Splendid triumph for Satan when ruins a young character! What a history a young man or woman may mark out; may go through the years like angel of light; or a firebrand. God values young life. âRemember Creator in days of youth.â What a salvation is effected when young soul is gathered into grace!
III. Youthâs urgent need. âGuide.â
1. Way of life is beset with dangers. Evil examples; evil counsellors. âCompass sea and land to make proselyte.â
2. Young are themselves readily deceived. Through their own wayward propensities and inexperience. Hence easily fall into temptation. Certainly ill adapted to hold the rudder of their own life, and steer amid the hidden rocks.
IV. Youthâs precious opportunity. âFrom this time; my youth.â Young life most easily guided. Call the mountain wanderer back ere he fall! Youngâ1. Not yet fettered in the captivity of habit. 2. Not enthralled by settled companionships of life. 3. Not lost the sacred influences of early teaching. 4. Not yet insensible to Divine influences. 5. Not forfeited opportunity of grace. âFrom this time cry.â
V. Youthâs happy resolution. âMy Father, Thou art my Guide.â
The resolve indicates: 1. Discrimination; 2. Decision; 3. Distinction; for he will âcome out from among them, be separate,â &c.
Who now ready with the cry? Be resolved. âBe not like dumb driven cattle.â âChoose ye this day.â
Jeremiah 3:5. Theme: THE SINNERâS DESPERATE DEPRAVITY. âBehold thou hast spoken and done evil as thou couldst.â
Men are as depraved as they can possibly be in present circumstances. Charge made by the infinitely Holy One against every member of the human family. Substantiated by considering:
I. That God, in His providence, has surrounded the sinner with many circumstances operating powerfully to modify human character.
1. Education. 2. Human law has a similar effect. 3. The law of God. 4. The troublesome supervision of conscience. 5. The whole Gospel, interfering with the sinful pleasures and follies of men. 6. All the Gospel institutions. 7. The desire in man for heaven. 8. The fear of hell. 9. The expectation of judgment. 10. Public sentiment. 11. The domestic affections. These are all so many golden chains, restraining the sinner from wrong. Ought-to thank God for these modifying circumstances. A manâs state is hopeful in proportion as he is held by these moral bonds.
II. By these circumstances every sinner is actually restrained in his wickedness, and held back in his downward career. In proof of which, observe:
1. Men are uneasy under these circumstances, which shows them to be restraints. 2. Men are constantly trying to alter their circumstances. 3. When men succeed in altering their circumstances in any of these respects, they usually show out a worse character. 4. When these restraints are all removed, men are uniformly far more wicked than if they had not been imposed.
III. That every sinner does make the attempt, and succeeds, as far as God will let him, to sunder these ligatures that would hold him fast to reason, hope, and heaven. Trace his steps, and see how he breaks over and breaks through the restraints ofâ1. Education; 2. Human laws; 3. Godâs laws; 4. Supervision of conscience; 5. Institutions of the Gospel; 6. Thoughts of heaven and fear of hell; 7. Public sentiment; 8. Domestic affections.
Such is the obstinacy, rebelliousness, ingratitude of the sinner. Must he not then be âborn again,â have new heart and right spirit, or never enter kingdom of God?ââPreacherâs Treasury.â
Comments: Jeremiah 3:6-10. Judah the guiltier sister.
The two kingdoms are described as sisters in iniquity. In Ezekiel (Ezekiel 23:4) the same metaphor is applied to the two metropolises of those kingdoms, Samaria and Jerusalem: âAholah and Aholibah.â (Addenda to chap. 3, Jeremiah 3:7, âFalsity.â)
Israel is stigmatised as Apostasy and Judah as Falsity: but the heavier sin is laid to Judahâs account. Her criminality is marked as having three stages: (1) she âsawâ Israelâs sin, yet repeated it herself; (2) she âfeared notâ the penalties with which she beheld Israel punished; and (3) she âfeignedâ a piety when her practices were impious. Hence she is called âFalsity:â and her threefold sin is most solemnly emphasised.
âShe sinned against greater convictions.ââW. Lowth.
âAliorum tormenta aliorum remedia sunt.ââJerome.
âThough the reform of Josiah was only a pseudo-revival, it furnishes us with the means of judging how deep a genuine revival ought to go. Mark 9:43-48.ââLange.
This external renovation of Judah, which swept the land of abuses, was uncomprising and severe. Yet was not enough. God was not content. How then will they do who profess and believe themselves Christians, whose lives are not self-denying and pure? God requires âtruth in the inward parts,â and thoroughness in religious conduct. âNo fellowship between light and darkness;â no accommodating our piety to convenience, circumstances, and sinful ease.
Jeremiah 3:10. âJudah hath not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly,â i.e., in falsehood.
i. False repentance. 1. Its groundâservile fear. 2. Its effectâexternal reform.
ii. True repentance. 1. Its groundâlove to God. 2. Its effectâhonest fruits of sanctification.âLange.
Jeremiah 3:11. Theme: COMPARATIVE CRIMINALITY.
This subject may not be used for self-preference and self-complacency, or incalculable injury may ensue (2 Corinthians 10:12). Both had sinned grievously: Israel more openly; Judah in a more covert way. God declared Judahâs criminality exceeded that of Israel. Let me
I. State this decision of the Lord.
Israel, from the time they became a distinct nation, cost off God; therefore given into Assyrian captivity and divorced by God.
Judah had retained the worship of God, but revelled in idolatry at the same time, and paid divine honours to idols (Zephaniah 1:5).
Because of their apparent superiority, Judah would scarcely own her relationship to Israel (Ezekiel 33:24).
Though their sins were ostensibly less, they were committed with tenfold aggravations; for their advantages had been greater, larger number of prophets sent them, enjoyed stated ordinances, presence of God was in their midst (in Temple).
Despising and abusing all these, their guilt was greater.
We argue that any religion is better than none; that the appearance of regard for God is better than avowed contempt. God pronounces other: the form without the power of godliness is more offensive than entire impiety. Therefore text.
II. Confirm this decision of the Lord.
Specious insincerity is worse than open profaneness, because
1. It argues a deeper depravity of heart. Sin is committed against conscience, against the motions of Godâs Spirit within.
2. It casts more dishonour upon God. A sinner openly casts off Godâs yoke; but the hypocrite professedly says, âI am Godâs servant, know my duty and perform it!â It degrades holiness, the name of God is blasphemed, and the way of truth is evil spoken of.
3. It does more extensive injury to man. His example encourages sinners in sin, and gives the ungodly a reason to contemn true Christians as being ârighteous over-much.â He thus offends Godâs people, and casts a stumbling-block before the guilty. Address:
(1.) Those who are careless about religion. You justify yourselves on the ground that you are not hypocrites and make no profession. Yet think of the judgments which fell on Israel.
(2.) Those who profess religion. God will have âyour whole heart;â no feignedness. Christ said to Laodicea, âI would thou wert cold or hot,â &c. Be not âlukewarm,â but wholly the LordâsâRev. C. Simeon, M.A.
Comments:
Jeremiah 3:11. To what reflections should the declaration of Scripture give rise, that the Divine judgment is determined by the comparison of men with each other? 1. We should reflect that it is impossible for us to institute this comparison with perfect justice ourselves. 2. We should therefore draw from comparison with others occasion neither for despair nor false comfort. 3. We should rather allow this comparison to be a motive to severe self-discipline.
Jeremiah 3:12-13. Godâs call to repentance. 1. Its ground (I am merciful). 2. Its object (to obtain grace). 3. Its condition (acknowledge thy sin).âLange. (Addenda to chap. 3 Jeremiah 3:13, âAcknowledge thy sin.â)
Jeremiah 3:13. Theme: TAKING SIDE WITH GOD AGAINST OURSELVES AND OUR SIN. âOnly acknowledge thine iniquity.â
Just as the publican, abhorrent with himself, and ashamed of long resistance of God, bowed in abasement and confession. Holding out against God no longer; hiding sin from Godârefusing to own itâno longer. Return to God might be through miseryânot regret for the sin which caused it; or from policyâdesiring escape from evils and gain of benefits, without heart-grief or spiritual surrender.
I. What God asks of the sinner.
âAcknowledge;â which meansâ1. Capitulation of his pride; realises himself vile. 2. Contrition within his heart; laments and upbraids his folly and rebellion. 3. Confession upon his lips; all covered with shame, coming back prodigal-like, publican-like to God. âAcknowledge;â âIf we confess our sin, God will forgive,â &c.
II. What God arrays before the sinner.
âOnly acknowledge that,â &c.
1. Spiritual relationship violated. âTransgressed against the Lord thy God.â It is the sin of faithlessness; not of one who never knew the Lord.
2. Spiritual prostitution practised. âScattered thy ways to strangers.â
3. Spiritual independence asserted. âHast not obeyed;â resented Godâs control.
These three aspects of sin, as God regards it, show the course of evil to be an outrage, debasing, defiant against all law and all love.
III. What God assures to the sinner. Elsewhere in His Word are given precious assurances to the soul who confesses sin (Luke 18:14; 1 John 1:9).
Here:
1. Reception to His unalienated love (Jeremiah 3:14.) âI am married.â Israelâs disloyalty had not estranged Him. God keeps the door wide open for the wanderer.
2. Reinstatement in the covenant privileges of Zion (Jeremiah 3:14). Her wandering had surrendered allâfar off, in oppression; but âmade nigh,â brought again âto Zion.â (Addenda on Jeremiah 3:13, âAcknowledge iniquity.â)
Jeremiah 3:14. TO BACKSLIDERS.
God, the loving Husband. Sin, spiritual adultery. He hates âputting away,â and invites return (Jeremiah 3:1).
I. The nature of backsliding. It is going backâ1. Easily; 2. Gradually; 3. Silently.
Backsliding is generally preceded byâ1. Pride (Proverbs 16:18); 2. Vain confidence (Matthew 26:33); 3. Negligence (Matthew 26:58).
A man may beâ
1. Enticed by sinful pleasures (2 Samuel 11:0).
2. Led back by sinful companions (1 Kings 11:0).
3. Driven back by sinful fears (Matthew 26:69-74).
II. The misery of backsliding.
1. Heavy losses. (1.) His self-respect. (2.) Tender conscience. (3.) Sweetest enjoyments. (4.) Brightest hopes.
2. Severe disappointment. His holy expectations are lost (of what he might have been, and done for Christ, and the after rewards).
3. Terrible disgrace. (1.) Before the world, as a hypocrite. (2.) Before the Church, as âthe thiefâ (Jeremiah 2:12). (3.) Before God (Psalms 51:3-9).
III. The remedy for backsliding. âReturn,â &c.
1. Immediately. (1.) Delay makes your case worse. (2.) God is willing to pardon. (3.) The Church is waiting to receive you.
2. Humbly. (1.) Confessing sin. (2.) Abhorring sin (Hosea 14:8). (3.) Forsaking sin.
3. Believingly. Rememberâ(1.) The love of your espousals. (2.) The individuality of your relationship. (3.) The love of your Husband. (4.) Your own duty.âThe Study.
Comments: Jeremiah 3:14.
On âI will take you one of a city,â &c., Dr. Blayney remarks: âThis passage relates to their call into the Christian Church, into which they were brought, not all at a time, nor in a national capacity, but severally as individuals, here and there oneâ (cf. Isaiah 27:12).
On âI am married to you,â the Rev. F. D. Maurice, M.A., writes: âThese words affirm that a mysterious bond, which no sin of theirs had been able to break, united even those tribes which were gone into captivity to the God of Abraham; that He was still holding intercourse with them (Jeremiah 3:12), and seeking to bring their hearts back to Himself.ââProphets and Kings.
âGod keeps His covenant, which men have broken by their sins, as strictly and securely as though they had never broken it.ââStarke.
Jeremiah 3:15. âPastors;â refer to notes on Jeremiah 2:8. Not military usurpers, such as Israel had herself preferred (Hosea 8:4), but men âafter Godâs heartâ (1 Samuel 13:4).
âThe evangelical pastorateâi. Its standard; âafter My heart.â ii. Its task; to feed them with doctrine and wisdom.ââLange.
Jeremiah 3:16-17. Theme: A BRIGHT AND BLESSED VISION. âIt shall come to pass in those days.â
It was an outlook beyond the Captivity; beyond even the return which Cyrus granted,âthe prophetâs eye saw a glory which excelled the gladness of that event: the Messianic age. âThose daysâ point definitely to Christâs advent and kingdom (cf. chap. Jeremiah 33:14-16).
In a lower and lesser sense these predicted events may have been verified in the return from Babylonian captivity, but were fulfilled in Christ.
I. The spiritual kingdom: a vision of joyous prosperity (Jeremiah 3:16.) âMultiplied and increased in the land.â The âlittle flockâ shall have and âpossess the kingdom.â âLittle one become a thousand,â &c.
âFar and wide, though all unknowing,
Pants for Thee each mortal breast;
Human tears for Thee are flowing,
Human hearts in Thee would rest.
Saviour! lo, the isles are waiting,
Stretched the hand and strained the sight.â
âA. C. COXE.
The realisation of the worldâs hope is in the kingdom of Jesus.
II. The spiritual kingdom: symbols and external forms abandoned.
âThey shall say no more The Ark of the covenant,â &c. (Jeremiah 3:16). The Ark was but a shadow of Christâin Him dwelt the law; on Him rested the Shekinah. The real displaces and abrogates the sign; and hearts no more rest in signs when the real has come. Who would longer bend over a portrait of a child, when lo! the long-absent boy is now returned and in the home? From the picture the heart turns to embrace the living one. (Addenda to chap. 3 Jeremiah 3:16-17, âSymbols.â)
III. The spiritual kingdom: loving allegiance to the Lord.
Jeremiah 3:17. Gathering to and around âthe throne of the Lordâ = binding themselves loyally to Him: the heart fixed on Him: no God but Him: His âthrone,â or rule, drawing men into happy subjection (cf. Matthew 11:29-30).
IV. The spiritual kingdom: inward love manifested in holy life.
Jeremiah 3:17. âNo more walk after evil heart.â Loyally adhering to God, the life shall be free from self-will and pursuit of selfish delights, walking in the Saviourâs steps, following the Lord fully. This Christian walk will be the outward evidence of the inward allegiance to Godâs throne.
Comments:
Jeremiah 3:17. Not the Ark âshall be called the throne of the Lord,â as formerly it had been, but âJerusalem,â i.e., the Christian Church (Revelation 21:2; Galatians 4:26; Zechariah 2:10-11).âSpeakerâs Commentary.
The Ark had just been restored to its place in the Temple with much solemnity and jubilant celebration by king, and priests, and people. What a sublime and far-reaching vision was this of the prophetâs, which descried an age when the Ark would be counted as nothing! And how much more glorious that age!
âThey will have the true Ark in Christ. When the prophet says that the Ark will no longer be remembered, and yet Jerusalem will be called the throne of the Lord (Jeremiah 3:17), he means that the whole Levitical economyâof which the Ark was the centre and the keyâwould pass away, and be succeeded and consummated in the presence and glory of the Lord in His Church.â
âJerusalemâ (the Church), will receive all nations into her bosom: where Christ is enthroned as king (Hebrews 12:22).âWordsworth.
Jeremiah 3:16. Theme: CHRIST, THE TRUE ARK OF THE COVENANT.
i. A most alarming and unwelcome announcement. That the Ark would disappear, and another not made. âIt was the most costly jewel of the people, the central point of their whole existence.â Overlaid with gold, overshadowed by glory (Hebrews 9:4-5), visible symbol of Divine presence: borne by priests around Jericho: national amaze when it was taken by Philistines, joy when restored: disasters befell nation in Saulâs days because Ark neglected; prosperity under David because honoured and a âresting-placeâ provided; and, finally, the display of Divine glory when Solomon transferred Ark to the Temple.
All this taught Israel that their safety and prosperity were connected with Ark of covenant. Called âArk of Godâs strengthâ (2 Chronicles 6:41).
By some regarded with superstitious awe rather than reverential fear; yet by all as of incalculable value to the nation.
ii. A bitter and irreconcilable loss.
1. Prophecy soon fulfilled. After destruction of Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, the Ark was no more seen. Absent from second Temple, which was built soon after return from Babylon. This a solemn and perpetual intimation to them of the approaching removal of the whole typical system.
2. Loss deeply lamented. These returned Jews did not cease to remember the Ark, but fondly hoped for its restoration. This prophecy, that an age was nearing when the Ark âwould not come to mind,â remained, therefore, unfulfilled in them.
iii. A surpassing compensation predicted. The prophecy, that the Ark would be no more remembered or sought, implied a compensation which would far exceed their loss; so that what they once deplored as a privation, they would rejoice and glory in as an unspeakable gain.
1. The prediction must have seemed incredible at the time; yet afterwards proved consolatory. For in their loss of the Ark, this prophecy assured them God had better things in store.
2. How was the prediction fulfilled? In the appearing of Christ, the antitype of the Ark, Himself âthe brightness of the Fatherâs glory,â God manifest in the flesh.
iv. The realisation in Christ of all the Ark symbolised.
1. The Divine nearness. 2. The Deity bending mercifully over men: for the mercy-seat was overshadowed. 3. The helpful and healing grace of God.
1. Israelites who early became Christians, and enjoyed the presence of Christ on earth, must have readily surrendered and forgotten the Ark in the realisation of Jesus and His tender grace.
2. Believers, though now not realising Christ bodily among them, experience His Spiritâs indwelling, revealing Christ within. So that 1 Peter 1:8.
3. Contrite sinners can rejoice in the tenderness, lowliness, and compassion of Christ. None need any awful visible token of the Divine nearness.
All can come with boldness to the throne of grace: âhaving boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.â
Arranged from Dr. Gordonâs âChrist as made known to the Ancient Church.â
Jeremiah 3:17. THE CHURCH CHRISTâS THRONE. (Addenda to chap. 3. âJerusalem, Godâs throne.â)
a. Jerusalem had been of old the throne of God: the symbol of God rested on the Ark. Hence called the âcity of the Great King.â
b. Jerusalem became the throne of God as never before when Emmanuel visited her. âThou art the Son of God: Thou the King of Israel.â Yet she rejected her King.
c. Christ by His death founded a kingdom in which His Church has become the true throne of God. This is Zion, on which God hath set His King. There He sways kingly power.
I. In the conversion of sinners the kingly power and authority of Christ is manifested. Each case is a victory of Christ over the âenmityâ of the carnal mind and the resistance of hellish foes. Soul delivered âfrom power of Satan unto God.â
II. In maintaining His ascendancy over the lives and affections of His converts. âLaw in their membersâ at war with Him. The world strives to wrest them from His rule. Satan strives to recover his lost power. But they are held âin obedience to Christ,â and âkept by the power of God unto salvation.â
III. In governing the world providentially for His Churchâs advantage. Christ reigns as Mediator: âworks all things for our goodâ and His glory; and by, and for, and from His Church He puts forth His power, that shall subdue all enemies under His feet. How does Christâs rule affect individual members of His Church?
1. To what extent can and may they enjoy personally the presence of their King? Sits enthroned in their heart and affections individually.
2. Christ must hold unrivalled and unlimited sway and sovereignty over their lives. His kingship absolute: their affections undivided: they habitually and entirely under the constraining influences of His love.
3. They will recognise that His care extends to every individual believer, sending expressions of His kindness and love to each, and neverâsave in faithfulnessâafflicting them.
In proportion as they are thus subject unto Christ in everything do they enjoy the liberty of the sons of God.âIdem.
Jeremiah 3:18-19. Theme: DIVISION AND REUNION
As the separation of the kingdoms, Israel and Judah, might indicate the denominational divisions in Christendom, so the reunion here promised may suggest the method and basis of all true union. This must rest on a double negative and positive basis:
i. On the fundamental return of both from the false ground on which they have been standing (typified by the exit of both tribes from the north country, the land of captivity).
ii. On unreserved, sincere devotion to the Lord, who is for both the only source of life and truth (typified in the words, âThou shalt call me, My Fatherâ).
iii. The result of this will be a condition of glorious prosperity in the Church (typified in the first clause of Jeremiah 3:19).âLange. (See Addenda to chap. 3 on âDenominationalism.â)
Jeremiah 3:19. Theme: THE TRUE SOURCE OF SALVATION
By Jeremiah God speaks as if at a loss how to exercise towards them the mercy He was inclined to bestow.
I. How the obstructions to the restoration of the Jews shall be surmounted.
1. God Himself presents to them the formidable difficulty. Jews always had been perverse. In wilderness: when in promised land: till at length He gave up ten tribes into hands of Assyria, and the other two into hands of Chaldeans. After restoration from Babylon, still as rebellious: at last filled up the measure of iniquity in the murder of their Messiah. Now, though scattered 1900 years over the earth, as obdurate as ever. How restored to the favour of God? (1.) Extent of their wickedness forbids it. (2.) Honour of God forbids it. To admit rebels to privileges encourages rebellion. Appear an excess of generosity subversive of all moral government.
2. These obstacles, though formidable, shall be surmounted. God had expressed His desire for their reconciliation. âWilt thou not cry, My Father?â (Jeremiah 3:4). Now He determines to effect it by His almighty power. âThou shalt cry, My Father.â This will overcome every obstacle. âIf God will work, who will let it?â Vain was the resistance of Pharaoh, the sea, the wilderness, the united nations. As God spake the universe into existence, so will He form the ânew creation.â
II. How alone the difficulties in the way of our salvation can ever be overcome.
1. There are immense difficulties in the way of our salvation. Our wickedness equals or exceeds the Jewsâ. If they âcrucified the Lord of glory,â have we not âcrucified Him afreshâ? Jews of Christâs day were more criminal than Sodom, &c., because they had greater light; but we have far greater knowledge and advantages than even they. Yet Hebrews 10:29.
2. But these shall be overcome. If we looked to ourselves, salvation hopeless; but are to look to Him. He will interfere for us in a way of sovereign grace and by the exercise of His almighty power. (a.) His grace is His own, to dispense as He will. Says, âThou shalt call me, My Father.â (b.) And His power will perform it. âThou shalt not turn from meâ (Isaiah 46:10).
i. To those who question the possibility of their own salvation. God is able.
ii. To those who have entertained no such fears. You think salvation easy; but only Christâs blood could atone for such sin as yours; only the Divine Spirit could renew your depraved heart.
iii. To those who profess to have been brought into the family of God. Obey and trust Him as your âFather;â let nothing lead you to âturn away from Him.ââRev. C. Simeon, M.A.
Note: God does not (Jeremiah 3:19) raise difficulties into sight; it is not a cry of amazement but of admiration; not a contemplation of obstacles, physical, moral, or spiritual, in the way of His plans, but a joyous outlook on the gracious purposes He cherishes; not an allusion to the demerits and crimes of Israel banished, but to the splendours, blessedness, and exaltation of Israel, by Divine grace restored. âHow will I put thee?â (So all modern commentators.)
The words âThou shalt call me, My Father,â &c., do not furnish an answer to a foregoing inquiry as to obstacles; they are a continuance of the strain of admiring contemplation.
Jeremiah 3:20. âSurely as a wife treacherously,â &c. The remembrance of Israelâs past conduct rises unbidden in the mind to cross, like a dark cloud, this bright hope of Israelâs return to God, of its consequent restoration to its place as a child, and of its filial love to Jehovah. The prophet brushes away the passing doubt, and a vision of penitent Israel opens before his gaze.
Jeremiah 3:21-25. TRUE REPENTANCE
1. It proceeds from the inmost heart; the weeping (Jeremiah 3:21) and their shame Jeremiah 3:25) evince this.
2. It is free from all dissimulation, which might originate in a spirit of compromise, or be prompted by alarm at consequences of wickedness. Its principle is sorrow at having grieved God by the abuse of His love (see Jeremiah 3:21).
3. It is made known by the honest fruits of repentance; i.e. apostasies healed (Jeremiah 3:22), detestation of evil (Jeremiah 3:24), and yearning for the Lord (Jeremiah 3:25).
i. Its form: âweeping and supplicationsâ (Jeremiah 3:21). ii. Its subject: (a.) Forgetting God and sinning against Him (Jeremiah 3:21; Jeremiah 3:25). (b.) The destruction resulting from sinâs deceptions (Jeremiah 3:23 sq.). iii. Its object: salvation in God (Jeremiah 3:24).âHomily by Origen; comp. Lange.
Prayers and tears well become those whose consciences tell them that they have âperverted their wayâ (Jeremiah 3:21).
1. They come devoting themselves to God as theirs (Jeremiah 3:22).
2. They come disclaiming all expectations of relief and succour but from God only (Jeremiah 3:23).
3. They come depending upon God only as their (true and rightful) Lord (Jeremiah 3:23).
4. They come justifying God, judging themselves for their sin (Jeremiah 3:24-25).âM. Henry.
(See Addenda to chap. 3 Jeremiah 3:24-25, âShame.â)
Jeremiah 3:25. Theme: PROSTRATE IN ABASEMENT.
Guilt wastes the sinnerâs substance (Jeremiah 3:24), as it did the younger sonâs when he rushed into prodigality.
But that is not the worst: it works devastation of the soul; spoils the character and dignity of the man. How dreadful that Godâs living âimageâ on earth, Godâs own nourished and beloved child, should thus âlie down in shame!â
I. An awakened sinnerâs self-abhorrent attitude.
1. Appalled at the heinousness of his sin.
2. Horrified at the indignity done to God.
3. Alarmed at the doom he has merited.
4. Overwhelmed by the grace he has experienced.
II. An adoring sinnerâs lowly approach to the Saviour.
1. To hide his whole past life in his forgiveness and atonement. For all his whole career âfrom youth even to this dayâ plagues him. He must quench the burning fire of his own memory in the âfountain opened for sin and uncleanness.â
2. To draw all his hope for the future from Christ. Having all along ânot obeyed,â his long-continued sinfulness has enslaved him; he cannot do the good he would. He must be saved from himself. âLord, save me, or I perish.â âCan the Ethiopian change his skin?â &c. (chap. Jeremiah 13:23). (Addenda to chap. 3 Jeremiah 3:25, âWe lie down in our shame.â)
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 3 ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
Jeremiah 3:3. âNo latter rain.â âBecause we obstruct Godâs access to us, His beneficence does not reach us. We throw heaven and earth into confusion by our sins. For were we in right order as to our obedience to God, doubtless all the elements would be conformable. But as our lusts tumultate against God, as we provoke Him by our pride, perverseness, and obstinacy, it must needs be that all things above and below should be in disorder. This is to be ascribed to our sins.ââCalvin.
Jeremiah 3:4. âThe guide of my youth.â Are we walking through life as directed by our own mind and heart, or by the Word, Spirit, and providence of God? 1. We are all travellersâ(a.) as to time; from youth to age: (b.) as to place; from cradle to grave: (c.) as to circumstances; from wealth to poverty or the contrary: (d.) as to mind; from ignorance to knowledge: (e.) as to character; improving or otherwise: (f.) as to destiny; to heaven or hell. 2. We need a guide who will cheer, sustain, protect, direct us on our way. God the only safe guide for the youthful traveller (Psalms 25:9; Psalms 31:3; Psalms 32:8; Isaiah 58:11).
Jeremiah 3:7. âTreacherous Judah.â Falsity; hypocrisy.
âSatan was the first
That practised falsehood under saintly show.â
âMILTON.
âAn evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the core.
Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!â
âSHAKESPEARE.
âThe dial of our faces does not infallibly show the time of day in our hearts; the humblest looks may enamel the former, while unbounded pride covers the latter. Unclean spirits may inhabit the chamber when they look not out at the window. A hypocrite may be both the fairest and the foulest creature in the world; fairest outwardly in the eyes of man, foulest inwardly in the sight of God. Unclean swans cover their black flesh with white feathers.ââSecker.
Jeremiah 3:10. External reform; ritual.
âWe make beautiful churches more often than we do beautiful Christians. We carve marbles, and rear fine proportions in stone; we decorate walls and altars; but these are only physical representations, material symbols, while the quality of beauty is in holiness. The beauty of love in all its infinite inflections, the beauty of justice and of truth, these languish.ââRev. H. W. Beecher.
âWe are not to judge a man by the loudness of his profession. The one determining question is not âHave you a label outside?â but âHave you the grace of God in your heart?â ââDr. Joseph Parker.
âFeignedly.â âIt is possible for a man to have a pulpit, and to have no God; to have a Bible, and no Holy Ghost.ââIdem.
Jeremiah 3:12. The lost Ten Tribes. The Beni-Rechab, sons of Rechab, still exist as a distinct and easily distinguishable people, in number about 60,000. They boast their descent from Rechab, profess pure Judaism; all understand Hebrew; live near Mecca.âComp. Greyâs âTopics.â
There is a vast population in Afghanistan, of very evident lsraelitish origin, their customs, traditions and names giving proof. The Jews of Bokhara themselves suggest that the Ten Tribes will be found in the vast interior of China.
Sir W. Penn traces them in the American Indians; others have recognised them in the Nestorians of Oroomiah, the Falashahs of Abyssinia. In British India there are many indications of their presence; e.g., the Karens of Burmah, distinct from the Burmese, possessing traditions of the Fail, the Flood, and the Divine anger against their nation for worshipping idols.
Dr. Smith, however, remarks in his âO. T. History,â that âThe very wildness of the speculations of those who have sought them at the foot of the Himalayas and on the coast of Malabar, among the Nestorians of Abyssinia and the Indians of North America, proves sufficiently the hopelessness of the attempt.â
âLike the dew on the mountain (Hosea 13:12),
Like the foam on the river (Jeremiah 10:7),
Like the bubble on the fountain,
They are gone, and FOR EVER.â
Jeremiah 3:13. âOnly acknowledge thine iniquity.â âPardon can only be secured by the consent of both parties. I may have offended you. You may come to me and say, âYou have deeply grieved me; but I forgive.â I can snap my fingers in your face and say, âTake your forgiveness away; I donât want to be forgiven by you.â Observe, therefore, that you have not the power to forgive me. You can forgive the crime, but you cannot forgive the sinner. But if I come to you and say, âI have injured you; I see I must have given you pain; I did you wrong; I am sorry in my heart,â and you then say, âWith my heart I forgive you;â then the transaction is based on moral principles. It is so with God. God cannot pass an act of universal amnesty: He cannot open all the prison-doors of the universe and say to the criminals, âCome forth; I forgive you all.â But if they in their condemned cells would but heave one sigh of penitence, and utter one cry for Godâs forgiving mercy, every bolt would fall off, every lock fly back, and there would be no prison in all the universe of God.ââParker.
ANCIENT HYMN, BY JOHN MARDLEY, 1562, on Jeremiah 3:12-25.
âO Lord, turn not Thy face away
From them that lowly lie (Jeremiah 3:25),
Lamenting sore their sinful life
With tears and bitter cry (Jeremiah 3:21).
âThy mercy-gates are open wide
To them that mourn for sin (Jeremiah 3:13),
Oh, shut them not against us, Lord,
But let us enter in (Jeremiah 3:12).
âWe need not to confess our fault,
For surely Thou canst tell;
What we have done and what we are
Thou knowest very well (Jeremiah 3:20).
âWherefore to beg, and to entreat,
With tears we come to Thee (Jeremiah 3:21-22),
As children that have done amiss
Fall at their fatherâs knee (Jeremiah 3:19).
âMercy, O Lord, mercy we seek,
This is the total sum:
For mercy, Lord, is all our prayer,
Oh, let Thy mercy comeâ! (Jeremiah 3:22).
Jeremiah 3:16-17. Symbols of the spiritual. âThe time is coming when institutionalism shall be lost in spirituality; for the seer said, âI saw no temple therein.â ⦠Why should we have the sign when we have the substance? for He Himself is the Temple, and there needeth no outward building, no outward light. He is Temple, He is Light;âand when we stand before Him, all that is material, visible, and most helpful by the way, will be no longer necessary.ââParker.
âJerusalem, Godâs throne.â
âLord, Thou didst love Jerusalem,
Once she was all Thine own;
Her love Thy fairest heritage,
Her power Thy gloryâs throne:
Till evil came and blighted
Thy long-loved olive-tree,
And Salemâs shrines were lighted
For other gods than Thee.
âThen sunk the star of Solyma,
Then passed her gloryâs day,
Like heath that in the wilderness
The dight wind blows away.
Silent and waste her bowers
Where once the mighty trod,
And sunk those guilty towers
Where Baal reigned as God.â
âMOORE.
Jeremiah 3:18. Denominationalism.
âI do not want the walls of separation between different orders of Christians to be destroyed, but only lowered, that we may shake hands a little easier over them.ââRowland Hill.
Jeremiah 3:24-25. âShame,â cf. Jeremiah 3:3, ârefuseth to be ashamed.â
âShame is a great restraint upon sinners at first; but that soon falls off; and when men have once lost their innocence, their modesty is not like to be long troublesome to them. For impudence comes on with vice, and grows up with it. When men have the heart to do a very bad thing, they seldom want the face to bear it out.ââTillotson.
The legend says, that a sinner being at confession, the devil appeared, saying that he came to make restitution. Being asked what he came to restore, he said, âShame: for it is shame that I have stolen from this sinner to make him shameless in sinning; and now I have come to restore it to him, to make him ashamed to confess his sins.ââDictionary of Illustration.
Jeremiah 3:25. Sin debases the soul. As Josiah in Godâs name desecrated and polluted the idolatrous altars in the land by burning dead priestsâ bones thereon (2 Chronicles 34:5); so do transgressors against God degrade their spiritual nature, and profane the altar within their hearts which God intended for His homage and resting-place.
âEven unto this day.â âAs it is never too soon to be good, so it is never too late to amend: I will, therefore, neither neglect the time present, nor despair of the time past. If I had been sooner good, I might, perhaps, have been better; if I am longer bad, I shall, I am sure, be worse.ââWarwickâs âSpare Minutes.â
âWe lie down in our shame.â
âWeary with my load of sin,
All diseased and faint within,
See me, Lord, Thy grace entreat,
See me prostrate at Thy feet;
Here before Thy cross I lie,
Here I live, or here I die.
âI have tried and tried in vain
Many ways to ease my pain;
Now all other hope in past,
Only this is left at last;
Hare before Thy cross I lie,
Here I live, or here I die.ââ
WADE ROBINSON.