Thine hands upon thine head— As Tamar went forth from her brother Amnon, her garments torn, and her hands upon her head; insulted and despised, and in the deepest grief and misery.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Being ordained a prophet to the Lord, Jeremiah has his message delivered to him, and is commanded to go to Jerusalem from Anathoth, the place of his residence, and there publicly declare the word of God, that all may hear, and either repent of their iniquities, or be left inexcusable in their unbelief and hardness of heart.
1. He reminds them of their own former professions, and God's dealings with them; when by every instance of kindness he had engaged their affections, and they had given such fair expectations of their making a suitable return. I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth; either God's kindness to them in their early days, or rather their affectionate regard to him; the love of thine espousals, when their warm hearts, filled with affection, as a new-married bride, sought only how to please their Lord; when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, trusting on his guidance, and depending on his providence; in a land that was not sown, and where none of the necessaries of life were to be obtained, but they were fed by daily miracles. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, separated for him, consecrated to him, and in the bonds of his covenant solemnly engaged to be his and his alone; And the first-fruits of his increase, presenting themselves, bodies, souls, and spirits, as the first-fruits, a holy offering unto him. Thus they did run well, and God's blessing was in the midst of them: all that devour him shall offend or be guilty; God protected them, they were as the apple of his eye clear to him, none dared touch them with impunity; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord; God will be the avenger of their wrongs, and their enemies shall perish. From Egypt's iron bondage he brought them, led them through the wilderness by his pillar of a cloud and fire; through a land of deserts, and of pits, where venomous creatures lodged, scorpions, and fiery flying serpents; through a land of drought, where no water could be found, and of the shadow of death, dismal and lonely; through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt, pathless, without inhabitant; and yet amid difficulties so insurmountable by human power, God safely conducted them, covered them with the shadow of his cloud from the scorching sun, fed them with plenty of the richest food, opened streams from the rock, protected them from every danger, and brought them safe at last to his promised rest, to a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof, to a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands; for which unspeakable favours he justly might expect from them the deepest returns of duty, love, and service. Note; (1.) Our first love should be often remembered, to keep us from departing from our God. Revelation 2:4. (2.) God takes pleasure in beholding the affections of his people placed upon him. (3.) When we love God in sincerity, we shall follow him implicitly, and fear no dangers even in the wilderness. (4.) God's Israel are a holy people; they who answer not this character have no lot nor portion among them. (5.) They who persecute God's people, will find him the avenger of their quarrel. (6.) The way to heaven lies through difficulties impassable for mortal strength; and if ever our souls are safely led to the heavenly Canaan, we must acknowledge ourselves intirely indebted to his everlasting arms of power and love, which are always engaged for the persevering believer. (7.) The greater our trials, the more is the grace of God magnified in our deliverance. (8.) For all the wonders of his grace, God hath the deepest and most just demands of love and service from us. (9.) The promising beginnings that we have shewn, and the fair professions which we have made, will greatly aggravate our guilt, should we begin in the spirit and end in the flesh.
2. He upbraids them with their black ingratitude. Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me? Had he done them injustice, been a hard master, or unfaithful to any of his promises? No; there is no unrighteousness in him: they who forsake him, forsake their own mercies, and out of their own mouths will be condemned—that they are gone far from me, apostates from his service and worship; for those who depart from a religious profession, become usually viler than those who never pretended to it; and have walked after vanity, after idols, which are the greatest vanities, and are become vain; as corrupt in their practice as dark in their imaginations; defiling, with their abominations, the good land into which the Lord had brought them, and which they held only on condition of their fidelity. God was utterly forgotten, none said, Where is the Lord? notwithstanding all his miracles of mercy shewn them: nay, the priests, who should have been the first to restrain others, were chief in the transgression; the priests said not, Where is the Lord? and if they, who were their guides, took no pains to acquaint themselves with him, no marvel that the people forgot God: and they that handle the law knew it not; pretending to instruct others, but totally ignorant themselves, and strangers to all experimental knowledge of God and his truth. The pastors also transgressed against me, civil, as well as ecclesiastical, casting off all fear of God; and the prophets prophesied by Baal, pretending inspiration from their idol to contradict the prophets of the Lord, and supported by the princes and priests in their impiety; and walked after things that do not profit, their false gods, from whom no blessing could be derived. Note; When blind priests lead a blind people, no wonder if they perish together.
2nd, Having rebuked their ingratitude, God pleads against them the unprecedented folly of their conduct. He desires to convince sinners, and therefore he uses every argument, and at least will leave them inexcusable in their impenitence.
1. They were in this respect more false and fickle even than the idolatrous nations which they affected to resemble. Those retained a veneration for their fathers' gods: base as the idols were which they worshipped, nothing could prevail with them to forsake the religion of their ancestors. Go to the isles of Chittim, Greece or Italy, or to Kedar in Arabia, and not an instance would be found of a nation that had changed their gods; but my people have changed their glory, have forsaken the living, true, and only God, whose service they should have accounted their highest honour, and their distinguishing separation for him their most exalted glory; for that which doth not profit; for idols, for Baal, in whose worship neither honour nor advantage could be found, but the very contrary.
2. The heavens are called upon with wonder and horror to behold this scene of aggravated guilt and folly. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, the inhabitants of them, or the very inanimate creation might well be amazed; and be ye horribly afraid, trembling for sins so great, and which must bring down judgments so heavy: be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, as if the sun should refuse his light to such miscreants, the clouds thicken with thunder and lightning over them, and sweep them from the earth with the besom of destruction. For my people, separated for God, once professors of his truth, and thereby every departure from him being rendered more infamous and exceeding sinful; my people have committed two evils, their transgressions are numberless, but these the capital sins, and the sources of all the rest: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, rejecting his government, neglecting his ordinances, and leaving him far above out of their sight; and in so doing, have cut themselves off from the fountain of living waters, from that God of all grace and consolation, in whom they might have for ever found a rich supply for all their wants; and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water; such were their idols, which, after all the pains and expence bestowed on them, did not afford the least consolation, not even the miserable relief of a drop of putrid stagnating water, to quench the thirst of their votaries. Note; (1.) They who forsake God forsake their own mercies. (2.) As long as our souls come to Jesus the living fountain, so long shall we find the waters of his grace within us a well of water, springing up to everlasting life. (3.) Whatever creature enjoyments may promise, they will deceive our expectations: if we seek our happiness from wealth, honour, or indulgence, toil as we can to secure the bliss, we shall find the cisterns empty; but one portion can adequately satisfy an immortal soul; and that is, the love of the eternal God.
3rdly, The miseries coming upon them for their sins are spoken of as already present, because they were so near and certain.
1. By their iniquities they had brought themselves into slavery, were defeated by their enemies, and their country ravaged. Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? whence comes this grievous change, how is their glorious liberty lost? Why is he spoiled? surely some awful provocation hath brought on him this calamity, for terrible are his desolations. The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste; his invading foe, the king of Assyria, with his army, fierce and cruel as these ravening beasts, roaring and yelling with all the horrid din of war, has plundered the country, and his cities are burnt without inhabitant; all led captives, or slain by the sword, and none left to restore them from their ruins. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head; the Egyptians, whose chief cities these were, as well as the Assyrians, contributed to their ruin, Josiah being slain by Pharaoh Necho, his son dethroned, Jerusalem plundered, and a tribute set upon them, 2 Kings 23:29-35. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, yea, verily; none but themselves had they to blame for their sufferings, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God; him, who was so able to protect them, who stood in a relation to them so glorious, and from whom it was so foolish as well as wicked to depart: him they forsook for idols, and human confidences, changing a rock for a reed; when he led thee by the way, the right way, the path of duty; in which had they abode, they would have certainly found it the way of safety, but they refused his guidance, and rushed on their own ruin. Note; Whatever miseries a sinner is involved in, whether in time or eternity, this bitter reflection will sharpen their edge, Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?
2. The sinful methods which they took to extricate themselves from their troubles, served but to hasten their destruction. Instead of seeking unto God for help against their enemies, they sought other supports. When threatened by Assyria, they ran to Egypt for succour; when invaded by Egypt, they courted the Assyrians' help. What hast thou to do with these, who in their turn will deceive, oppress, and plunder thee? Thine own wickedness in general, or this in particular, of trusting on these vain helpers, shall correct thee, bring severe chastisement upon them, and thy backsliding, their treacherous departure from God, shall reprove thee. Know, therefore, and see it, that it is an evil thing, and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts. The event would prove, to their terrible conviction, the evil and misery of the ways which they had chosen, and sinners will find this truth universally verified. Observe, (1.) The root of all sin: My fear is not in thee; there is deep unbelief in the natural heart, God's warnings make no impression, and the practice can rise no higher than the principle. Hence (2.) The effect produced. Thou hast forsaken the Lord; when the heart is not restrained by his fear, corrupt nature, prone to sin, easily hurries on the soul to all the forbidden indulgences of flesh and spirit. (3.) The issue of sin is evil and bitter. It is not only evil in its own nature, as opposite to God's purity and perfections, but the consequences are ever evil and bitter to the soul; the curse follows the sinner closer than his shadow; his miseries and disappointments are many, his enjoyments embittered; and death, eternal death, stares him in the face, the terrible wages of sin. (4.) It is happy for those who are brought to see and know this before it is too late; and all God's visitations have this design, to lead us to repentance for our sins, that we may not perish in them.
4thly, The prophet prosecutes his charge against this rebellious people.
1. Their crying sin was idolatry; and when they had left the one true God, their wanderings were endless, and their idols innumerable; every city had its god and tutelar deity. On every hill their idols stood thick; and not a spreading tree or grove was there, where their incense had not smoked, and where they had not played the harlot, committing spiritual adultery. Nor was this the crime of the refuse of the people only; their kings, princes, priests, and prophets, horrible to tell! these were the patrons of idolatry, and the most bigotted votaries, saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth; and whilst infatuated, and more senseless than the images which they worshipped, to these they ascribed divine honours, they turned their backs on God, with insolent contempt of his worship and service. Note; When a sinner is given up to his own heart, there are no lengths of folly, iniquity, and impiety, to which he may not run.
2. Their attempts to deny it were vain, and the methods they used to expiate their sins useless. Like the adulteress, Proverbs 30:20 they disowned the charge of idolatry, when the evidence was so notorious. In the valley, probably of Hinnom, where they burnt their children to Moloch, the monuments of their sin testified against them, and their excuses were frivolous when God had, in his omniscience, marked their iniquities with a brand that they never could wash out, or rather, as Jeremiah 2:22 may signify, their ceremonial ablutions and sacrifices to which they had recourse, could never cancel the guilt of their sins, nor remove the stain of them from their consciences. Note; (1.) To deny, or seek to palliate the evil of our sins, is the sure sign of an impenitent heart. (2.) Nothing can wash out the stain of sin's black guilt, but the blood of Jesus; every other method will but fix the dye deeper and stronger.
3. Their sins were abundantly aggravated by the mercies that they had received, and the fair promises which they had made. Of old, God had delivered them from the Egyptian yoke, planted them in the promised land as a noble vine, wholly a right seed, both with respect to their worthy ancestors, and their own gracious conduct on their first possessing their inheritance, Judges 24:31 nor could there be more solemn engagements, than they had repeatedly made of their perpetual fidelity, Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:7 yet like a broken bow they had started aside, degenerated from their primitive piety, and become as wild gourds, not only useless but noxious. Note; (1.) The greatness of God's mercies aggravates our guilt and ingratitude. (2.) We need often reflect with shame on the promises that we have made not to transgress, and on our repeated unfaithfulness.
4. They are represented as pursuing their idolatries with determined waywardness, in spite of all warnings; as the dromedary and wild ass, when urged on by their natural desires, so were this people raging in their idolatrous lusts, and no hope remained of reclaiming them, till the judgments of God were heavy upon them, and stopped their career. Note; (1.) Nothing so lawless as brutal lust; vain are all the restraints of reason, conscience, honour, when appetite seizes the reins. (2.) However headstrong in the vigour of health men are in the pursuit of their forbidden gratifications, the hours will come of deep remorse, when their career will be stopped: and when the joys of sin no more inebriate, the sting of sin, like a scorpion, will torment the guilty conscience.
5. Fair warning is given them of the issue of their ways, and they are admonished to prevent their captivity by repentance. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst; for unless they repented of their evil ways, and turned from them, this would be the consequence, that barefoot, and ready to be choked with thirst in the journey, they should be led captives into a distant land. Some understand it as an admonition, not to wear out the shoes of their messengers, and be at the pains of sending to Egypt or Assyria for help, since these succours would be of no use to them: but the former sense seems best.
6. Their obstinacy, or their despair, is rebuked. But thou saidst, There is no hope; bidding the prophets cease their attempts, for they would never attend to them, either to quit their idolatries, or to desist from seeking the help of their heathen neighbours; they liked, and would pursue their own inventions. Or this is the language of despair, as if their case was past hope for God to pardon, or their corruptions so strong, that to attempt to resist them was vain, therefore they desperately abandoned themselves to their iniquities. Note; Nothing so effectually enslaves the soul to sin, as despair; and therefore while Satan is ever a preacher of presumption to the careless, he fails not to be a preacher of despair to the awakened, as if their iniquities were too great to be forgiven, or their corruptions too strong to be subdued; and therefore that it were best to banish their convictions, and abandon themselves to their lusts: but he was a liar from the beginning. No sin can be too great for infinite love to pardon in the penitent, no corruption so strong that Almighty grace cannot subdue. Let us take to us words, and return unto the Lord, and then there is surely yet hope in our end.
7. If they persisted in their ways, confusion would cover them in the day of their calamity, as a thief detected in the fact, when their false gods cannot relieve them; and the true God, whom they have forsaken, will refuse to hear their prayer. Note; (1.) In the day of calamity, many, who never thought of him before, are driven to God to cry, Save us; but when the fear of hell merely, not the sense of the evil of sin, dictates the prayer, no marvel that it is rejected. (2.) Whatever the impenitent sinner places his comfort or confidence in, the day will come when it will prove a refuge of lies.
5thly, It is the folly and wickedness of sinners, that they complain against God, as if his punishments were severe, and his ways unequal; when they alone are the authors of their own misery, and their punishment less than their iniquities deserve.
1. God vindicates his justice. Wherefore will ye plead with me? when their case was so indefensible; ye all have transgressed against me, and therefore could neither exculpate themselves from guilt, nor justly complain of their sufferings. Note; We are all sinners at God's bar; every mouth must be stopped; we have nothing to do but to confess our guilt, justify his judgments, and cast ourselves wholly on his mercy.
2. He charges upon them their incorrigibleness. In vain had been all the afflictions that he had brought upon them; hardened under the rod, they received no correction, were not brought to any repentance. Nay, as if exasperated by what they suffered, when he seconded the rebukes of his providences by the word of his prophets, like furious lions they rushed on these ministers of God, and cruelly shed their blood for their fidelity. Note; (1.)They who will be zealous in rebuking men's sins, must put their life in their hands. (2) It is the sign of a desperate state when afflictions harden, instead of softening the heart.
3. He expostulates with them on their ingratitude. Had he shewn them unkindness, or brought them into darkness and distress, they might have had some plea for their revolt; but his conduct to them in the wilderness, the rich provision that he made for them, the light with which he led them, and the land in which he placed them, all evinced his unutterable kindness; and the least attention to his dealings with them might convince them of it: how ungrateful then was their rebellion, thus to cast off his government, and reject his worship and service! Note;
(1.) They who cleave to God, find all his ways pleasantness and peace: if sinners are entangled in a wilderness, or enveloped with darkness, it is because of their departure from him. (2.) They who affect to emancipate themselves from God's government, only exchange his service, which is perfect freedom, for the base and tyrannical servitude of their lusts.
4. He accuses them of sundry crimes against him. [1.] Forgetfulness of him. It would be counted strange if a maid forgot her ornaments, and a bride her attire; but, stranger far! my people have forgotten me days without number. They were his professing people, and therefore the more criminal their neglect of him, and especially when so long persisted in. [2.] They were corrupters of others. Like a lewd harlot who dresses and paints, to inveigle men into her snares, so had they sought to engage their heathen neighbours to become their confederates, and join in their idolatries: therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways, instructing them in their superstitions; and, vile as they were before, making them worse by the connexion. Note; (1.) They who entice others into sin, will have most aggravated guilt on their heads. (2.) Fellowship with the workers of iniquity is dangerously infectious, and diligently to be avoided. [3.] They were polluted with innocent blood, of the children whom they sacrificed to Moloch; or of innocent persons, especially the prophets and faithful men, who were murdered for reproving their impieties, Exodus 21:16 and this openly and notoriously; it needed no search, nor deep inquiry; their skirts were dyed with blood, and the corpses cried for vengeance against them. And therefore, [4.] Their plea of innocence was presumptuous, and their expectation of God's wrath being removed, vain. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned, which was an aggravation of their sin, and provoked God the more to arise in judgment against them. Note; (1.) If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. (2.) Until a sinner be brought to acknowledge the justice of God's wrath, it will never depart from him.
5. Their confidences should at last fail them, and they be led into a miserable captivity. Like an adulteress who gads about to gratify her most sinful desires, so had they gone to Assyria and Egypt, making leagues with them in turn for their assistance, as they were pressed by either; but they would disappoint them. Assyria had distressed them formerly as allies, 2 Chronicles 28:20 and the Egyptians would alike be their confusion, as they afterwards proved, when, against Nebuchadnezzar, they promised help in vain; so that thou shalt go forth with thine hands upon thine head, as a mourner, led into a shameful captivity; for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, their allies, in whom they trusted, and thou shalt not prosper in them, but he gives them up for a prey to their enemies. Note; (1.) The soul that leaves God wanders endlessly, seeking rest, and finding none. (2.) Human confidences and comforts in the day of evil will prove a broken reed, unable to support the soul.