Then will I cause to cease, &c.— "There shall be no more marriages; no more shall the voice of mirth and rejoicing be heard; or the sound of musical instruments, which usually attends this sort of festivals." See Pindar's third Pythian Ode, line 30.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, This chapter begins a new sermon and prophesy, designed, as the former, to lead the people to repentance.
1. Directions are given to the prophet what to speak, and where to deliver his message. He must proclaim the word of the Lord, without adding thereto, or diminishing therefrom; and stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, the most frequented place, where those who came up to worship might hear; probably at one of the three great festivals, when the concourse was greatest. Note; (1) A large auditory is desirable, where the words of truth are dispensed. (2.) We must not be afraid of being censured for extravagant zeal: when in general the ministers of the sanctuary are careless, we cannot be faithful without being singular.
2. The general contents of his discourse are, an exhortation to repentance, with a gracious promise annexed. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, at whose command, and by whose authority, he speaks, the God of Israel, whom they, as his people, are peculiarly bound to obey; Amend your ways, and your doings; make a thorough change in them, for they are at present utterly perverse; and I will cause you to dwell in this place; to enjoy their land, and the temple service, and not remove into captivity, as would infallibly be the case if they continued impenitent.
3. He specifies the particulars, which immediately, heartily, and thoroughly, must be amended; and they are summed up in two points, as being their grand evils, oppression and idolatry. They must be just; their magistrates impartial; no allowed dishonesty permitted in their dealings; the fatherless and widows must not be injured, nor innocent blood any more defile the land; and all false gods must be utterly rejected and abhorred: then God will make their abode in the good land given to their fathers both safe and lasting. Note; God only saith to the sinner, Do thyself no harm: all that he requires of us is purely for our own good and happiness.
4. He rebukes their vain confidence, and urges them no longer to trust in their formal duties and external privileges. The false prophets magnified the outward service of the temple, as if in this all godliness consisted; and they readily embraced a religion which rested in mere externals of worship, and required no inward mortification of sin. The temple of the Lord was ever in their mouths, their boast and confidence; and while thrice a-year they attended there, they thought they fulfilled their duty. But alas! these were lying words, a delusive hope, which could not profit them, while they looked no further than the ritual service, and exercised no faith in the Messiah, which alone gave it any efficacy, and especially while all their sins continued unrepented of, and indulged. Will ye steal? or, ye do steal. He expostulates on their absurdity, and charges them with abominations. They continued in murder, theft, perjury, adultery, idolatry; and yet dared appear before God in the temple, as if their sacrifices could atone for their crimes; and impudently affected still to pass for true servants and worshippers of God; saying in their words, or, which spoke as loud, in their actions, we are delivered to do all these abominations; either they thought themselves at liberty to sin, after they had appeared at the temple with their sacrifices; or, that having been delivered so long, they might go on still with impunity in their iniquities. This with deepest indignation God beholds, and upbraids them with. Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? as robbers take refuge in their den, so did they in the temple, thinking to cover their enormities with the cloak of ceremonies and sacrifices; but vain before God were these wretched coverings. Behold, I have seen it, saith the Lord, their hypocrisy great as their impiety. Note; (1.) Many pride themselves in a form of godliness, who are strangers to the power of it; and, while they boast of the church, and their attendance thrice in a year at the Lord's table, are in fact the farthest from the kingdom of God. (2.) To plead the sacrifice of Christ for sin, as a licence to continue in it, is the most detestable abuse of Gospel grace. (3.) Few dare avow what, notwithstanding, their conduct evidently declares. (4.) The guise of godliness may pass upon men, but no hypocrisy can be concealed from the heart-searching God.
5. He sets before them, for their admonition, and to shew the vanity of their hopes, the destruction of Israel, notwithstanding the tabernacle once pitched in Shiloh. Let them go thither, and read, on the ruins of this once-famed abode of God's ark, the insufficiency of that protection, when the wickedness of the worshippers, and of the priests, provoked God's wrath against them, Judges 18:1. 1 Samuel 4:4-11. Psalms 78:60-67 and such would be their doom, since such had been their sins. With like abominations they had offended God, and equally deaf to the repeated admonitions of God's prophets had they been; therefore the temple and city of Jerusalem shall become as Shiloh, a desolation, and God will cast off the whole people of Judah, as he had already done by their brethren of Israel, who were gone long since into captivity. Note; (1.) God's judgments on others are warnings to us to avoid their ways, if we would escape their punishment. (2.) They who follow the examples of sinners will surely suffer with them. (3.) They who are cast off from God are truly miserable, and must, as the necessary consequence, be shortly cast down into hell.
2nd, Their own prayers and services were so hypocritical and abominable, that no good could be expected from them; but the prophet still continued their advocate, and his prayers were usually more or less availing; but God will cut off from them every resource.
1. He is forbidden to pray for them. Much as the prophet had their salvation at heart, God's decree is fixed, prayer comes too late, their ruin is determined. Note; (1.) They who preach to sinners must pray for them; yea, though they revile and persecute. (2.) In a desperate state is that people, concerning whom God refuses to be intreated, and shuts up the mouths of his prophets.
2. God assigns the reasons for his prohibition; their impudent iniquities, and incorrigible obstinacy. Openly, in the cities of Judah, yea, in the very streets of Jerusalem, under the prophet's eye, unawed by his presence, and unaffected with his warnings, they performed their idolatrous rites, offering meat-offerings and drink-offerings to the queen of heaven, the moon, consecrated for a goddess, and to their other idols; and in this work all ages and sexes joined; so universal was the corruption spread! The very children gathered the wood, while their fathers kindled the fire, and the women kneaded the cakes, to provoke God to anger. See how carefully idolaters initiated betimes their children in the service of their idols; shall we be less solicitous to instruct ours in the knowledge of the living God? Could they so freely part with their bread and wine in these detestable rites; and shall not we more liberally in God's service break our bread to the hungry, and open our bottle to the thirsty?
3. He threatens them with the dire consequences of this conduct. Do they provoke me to anger? No: such perturbation as we feel, enters not into the Eternal Mind. Or does he receive any damage by their wickedness? No: as their goodness could not add to his self-sufficient bliss and happiness, neither can their wickedness take from it. The hurt that they do is only to themselves, bringing upon their own heads swift destruction. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place; a deluge of wrath, such as swept away the world of the ungodly, or which fell upon devoted Sodom. The temple and city shall be utterly destroyed; both man and beast be consumed; and the very trees and fruits of the ground devoured by the fire of divine wrath. It shall burn with irresistible fury, and shall not be quenched. And herein we have an awful representation of the punishment of all the wicked in hell, who depart accursed into everlasting fire.
3rdly, As they placed so much dependance on their sacrifices to procure their acceptance with God, God will have them know that these are insignificant and vain, while they mistook their end, and perverted their institution. Put your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh; either give over such vain oblations, and use them rather at your own tables; or add never so many or expensive offerings, and pretend never so religiously to eat them before the Lord; they are utterly unacceptable, while the love and power of sin remain unsubdued in your hearts. For,
1. Obedience, not sacrifice, is the great thing which God requires. The ten commandments were first delivered to their fathers in the wilderness; and, though sacrifices were afterwards instituted, it was not for their own sake, but in order to lead them by faith to the great Antetype, whose atonement was therein represented; exclusive of which, they were utterly useless and unacceptable. The principal part, therefore, of the Sinai covenant was, Obey my voice; and to this the promise was annexed, I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; protecting them from their enemies, and preserving them in the possession of the promised land; and as long as they thus carefully walked in all God's ways, so long it should be well with them, and prosperity continually attend them.
2. Disobedience to the moral law is their great offence, and this had been their case from their very coming out of Egypt to that day. Their fathers and they had together rejected God's law, to walk after the imagination of their own evil heart; and, instead of advancing in the ways of holiness and happiness, turned back into the paths of sin and misery, and this in opposition to long and repeated warnings, brought them from those divinely-appointed ministers, whom God from time to time raised up to admonish them of the evil and danger of their ways. Instead of amending, every generation grew worse, and more hardened, till the measure of their iniquities now rose to the brim; therefore the prophet is commanded to speak all these words unto them; those charges of their rebellion and obstinacy, and those warnings of their impending ruin. Not that these would have any effect; God foretels him, that they would not hearken, nor answer to his calls: but, to leave them inexcusable in their wickedness, thou shalt say unto them. This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, which relation aggravated their disobedience; nor receiveth correction; they will not be taught by the word, nor reclaimed by the rod: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth; they are false and faithless to God and man; nothing but lies, insincerity, and hypocrisy, are to be found among them, and therefore nothing but ruin to be expected. Note; We must not cease to admonish sinners, though we see no prospect of reclaiming them; we must speak, if but for a testimony against them.
4thly, Jerusalem, in the prospect of her approaching desolations, is called upon to cut off her hair, in token of deepest mourning, Job 1:20 and on the high places, the scene of her abominations, to lift up an exceeding bitter cry, as rejected of God, devoted to wrath, and given up into the hands of her cruel enemies.
1. Her sin is exceeding sinful. They have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord; continued in a course of open and daring impiety: particularly their abominable idolatries provoked him, which they had carried to such an enormous height, that in God's own house they had dared to set up their images, and rear their altars, as if they designed on purpose to defile that holy place; and their sacrifices were as horrid and inhuman as their deities were detestable. They built the high places of Tophet, where Moloch's hated image stood, and, deaf to the cries of nature, and the shrieks of murdered infants, their parents, lost to every feeling of natural affection, burnt their children in the fire. It is said, that this was performed by heating the brazen idol red hot, and then the parent laid the child on his arms, while the priests beat drums to drown the horrid shrieks and cries: sacrifices which God never commanded, and such as he never thought of enjoining his worshippers. Note; When sin has hardened the heart, it is amazing to what a pitch of barbarity and inhumanity men may go.
2. The vengeance denounced for this is exceedingly terrible. Tophet, the scene of these abominations, shall shortly change its name for the valley of slaughter, or of the slain; for there shall multitudes fall by the sword, or be carried thither to be buried; multitudes so great, that graves shall be wanting for them, and the unburied corpses lie for meat to the fowls of heaven, and beasts of the earth, and not a man left to carry them away. Deserted now are the streets of Jerusalem; no voice of joy is heard, no congratulations of the bride or bridegroom, but the sound of mournful lamentations; or the land is become so desolate, that none are left to weep, and more melancholy silence reigns. Note; God will soon change sinful mirth into everlasting mourning: we need rejoice with trembling.