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diff --git a/41893-0.txt b/41893-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1537c00 --- /dev/null +++ b/41893-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12161 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41893 *** + + THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE + + + + + EDITED BY THE REV. + W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. + _Editor of "The Expositor"_ + + + + + + THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH + CHAPTERS XXI.-LII. + + BY + W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + + + + + + + + =London= + HODDER AND STOUGHTON + 27, PATERNOSTER ROW + + MDCCCXCV + + + + + THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. + + _Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d, each vol._ + + + FIRST SERIES, 1887-8. + + Colossians. + By A. MACLAREN, D.D. + + St. Mark. + By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. + + Genesis. + By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + 1 Samuel. + By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. + + 2 Samuel. + By the same Author. + + Hebrews. + By Principal T. C. EDWARDS, D.D. + + + SECOND SERIES, 1888-9. + + Galatians. + By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. + + The Pastoral Epistles. + By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + + Isaiah I.-XXXIX. + By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. + Vol. I. + + The Book of Revelation. + By Prof. W. MILLIGAN, D.D. + + 1 Corinthians. + By Prof. MARCUS DODS, D.D. + + The Epistles of St. John. + By Rt. Rev. W. ALEXANDER, D.D. + + + THIRD SERIES, 1889-90. + + Judges and Ruth. + By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. + + Jeremiah. + By Rev. C. J. BALL, M.A. + + Isaiah XL.-LXVI. + By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. + Vol. II. + + St. Matthew. + By Rev. J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D. + + Exodus. + By Very Rev. the Dean of Armagh. + + St. Luke. + By Rev. H. BURTON, M.A. + + + FOURTH SERIES, 1890-1. + + Ecclesiastes. + By Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D. + + St. James and St. Jude. + By Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. + + Proverbs. + By Rev. R. F. HORTON, D.D. + + Leviticus. + By Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. + + The Gospel of St. John. + By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I. + + The Acts of the Apostles. + By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I. + + + FIFTH SERIES, 1891-2. + + The Psalms. + By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. I. + + 1 and 2 Thessalonians. + By JAMES DENNEY, D.D. + + The Book of Job. + By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. + + Ephesians. + By Prof. G. G. FINDLAY, B.A. + + The Gospel of St. John. + By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. II. + + The Acts of the Apostles. + By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. II. + + + SIXTH SERIES, 1892-3. + + 1 Kings. + By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR. + + Philippians. + By Principal RAINY, D.D. + + Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. + By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. + + Joshua. + By Prof. W. G. BLAIKIE, D.D. + + The Psalms. + By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. II. + + The Epistles of St. Peter. + By Prof. RAWSON LUMBY, D.D. + + + SEVENTH SERIES, 1893-4. + + 2 Kings. + By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR. + + Romans. + By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. + + The Books of Chronicles. + By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + + 2 Corinthians. + By JAMES DENNEY, D.D. + + Numbers. + By R. A. WATSON, M.A., D.D. + + The Psalms. + By A. MACLAREN, D.D. Vol. III. + + + EIGHTH SERIES, 1895-6. + + Daniel. + By Ven. Archdeacon FARRAR. + + The Book of Jeremiah. + By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + + Deuteronomy. + By Prof. ANDREW HARPER, B.D. + + The Song of Solomon and + Lamentations. + By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. + + Ezekiel. + By Prof. JOHN SKINNER, M.A. + + The Minor Prophets. + By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D. + Two Vols. + + + + + THE + BOOK OF JEREMIAH + + CHAPTERS XXI.-LII. + + + + + + BY + W. H. BENNETT, M.A. + + PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE + HACKNEY AND NEW COLLEGES + + + + + + + + =London= + HODDER AND STOUGHTON + 27, PATERNOSTER ROW + + MDCCCXCV + + _Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ + + + + + PREFACE + + +The present work deals primarily with Jeremiah xxi.-lii., thus forming +a supplement to the volume of the _Expositor's Bible_ on Jeremiah by +the Rev. C. J. Ball, M.A. References to the earlier chapters are only +introduced where they are necessary to illustrate and explain the +later sections. + +I regret that two important works, Prof. Skinner's _Ezekiel_ in this +series, and Cornill's _Jeremiah_ in Dr. Haupt's _Sacred Books of the +Old Testament_, were published too late to be used in the preparation +of this volume. + +I have again to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Rev. T. H. Darlow, +M.A., for a careful reading and much valuable criticism of my MS. + + + + + INDEX + + (_The larger figures in black type are the chief references. Passages + in i.-xx. are only noticed by way of illustration of later sections_) + + + CHAP. PAGE + + i. 7 295 + 10 295, 308 + 10-12 340 + 15 295 + 18 82 + + ii. 10, 11 51 + 27 290 + 34 272 + + iii. 14 352 + 15 324 + + iv. 19 327 + 21 302 + + v. 31 15 + + vi. 28 275 + + vii. 4 20 + 5-9 272 + 12-14 14 + + ix. 11, x. 22 306 + + xi. 19 6 + + xii. 14 323 + + xiii. 18 90 + + xiv. 8 308 + + xv. 1 296 + 1-4 240 + 4 202 + + xvi. 1 6 + 10 274 + 13 308 + 14, 15 320 + + xvii. 1 353 + 23 291 + + xix. 4 272 + 15 304 + + xx. 2 272 + + xxi. 1-10 141 + 3-6 303 + + xxii. 1-9 295 + 10-12 3 + 13-19 63 + 17 272 + 20-30 80 + + xxiii., xxiv. 96 + + xxiii. 3-8 319 + 12 299, 302 + 14 272 + 25-27 288 + 25-32 340 + 33, 34 304 + 40 307 + + xxiv. 99 + 6, 7 319 + + xxv. 5 297 + 9 215 + 10 306, 307 + 12 316 + 15-38 211 + 34-38 101 + xxvi. 10 + 3 298 + 6 307 + + xxvii., xxviii. 115 + + xxvii. 9 340 + + xxix. 131 + 8 340 + 10 316 + 4-14 259 + 23 273 + + xxx., xxxi. 319 + + xxxi. 31-38 346 + + xxxii. 308 + 26-35 274 + 34, 35 285 + + xxxiii. 319 + + xxxiv. 141 + 2 305 + 21 304 + 22 305 + + xxxv. 44 + 15 297 + 17 304 + + xxxvi. 28 + 2 298 + 30, 31 63 + 31 83, 304 + + xxxvii. 1-10 141 + 8 305 + 11-21 155 + 12 309 + + xxxviii. 155 + + xxxix. 172 + 15-18 155 + + xl. 172 + + xli. 172 + + xlii., xliii. 187 + 8-13 220 + + xliv. 197 + 30 220, 229 + + xlv. 54 + + xlvi. 220 + 25 229 + + xlvii. 230 + + xlviii. 234 + + xlix. 1-6 242 + 7-22 243 + 23-27 248 + 28-33 251 + 34-39 255 + + l., li. 258 + + lii. 172 + + + + + CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE + + +In the present stage of investigation of Old Testament Chronology, +absolute accuracy cannot be claimed for such a table as the following. +Hardly any, if any, of these dates are supported by a general +consensus of opinion. On the other hand, the range of variation is, +for the most part, not more than three or four years, and the table +will furnish an approximately accurate idea of sequences and +synchronisms. In other respects also the data admit of alternative +interpretations, and the course of events is partly a matter of +theory--hence the occasional insertion of (?). + + ------------+----------------------+-----------------+---------------+ + CLASSICAL | JUDAH AND JEREMIAH | ASSYRIA | EGYPT | + SYNCHRONISMS| | | | + ------------+----------------------+-----------------+---------------+ + Traditional | | | | + date of the | MANASSEH (?) | | | + foundation | |=Esarhaddon=, 681| | + of Rome, 753| |=Assurbanipal=, | | + | | 668 |XXVIth Dynasty | + | | | Psammetichus | + | Jeremiah born, | | I., 666 | + | probably between 655 | | | + | and 645 | | | + | AMON, 640 | | | + | JOSIAH, 638 | | | + | |Last kings of | | + |Jeremiah's call in the| Assyria, number | =Psammetichus=| + | 13th year of Josiah, | and names |besieges Ashdod| + | 626 | uncertain, |for twenty-nine| + | Scythian inroad| 626-607-6 |years | + | into Western Asia| | | + |Habakkuk |-----------------| | + |Zephaniah | BABYLON. | | + | Publication of |=Nabopolassar=, | | + | Deuteronomy, 621 | 626 | | + |Josiah slain at | | =Necho=, | + | Megiddo, 608 | | 612 | + |JEHOAHAZ, 608 |_FALL OF | | + |(xxii. 10-12, Ch. I.) | NINEVEH,_ | | + | | 607-6 | | + |Deposed by Necho, who | | | + | appoints | | | + |JEHOIAKIM, | | | + | 608 | | | + |(xxii. 13-19, xxxvi. | | | + | 30, 31, VI.) | | | + |Jeremiah predicts ruin| | | + | of Judah and is | | | + | tried for blasphemy | | | + | (xxvi., II.) | | | + | | | | + |_FOURTH YEAR OF_ | _BATTLE OF CARCHEMISH_ | + |_JEHOIAKIM_, 605-4 | (xlvi., XVII.) | + | | | | + |Nebuchadnezzar[1] | | | + | advances into Syria,| | | + | is suddenly recalled|=Nebuchadnezzar,=| | + | to Babylon-- | 604 | | + | _before_ | | | + | subduing Judah (?) | | | + | | | | + |Baruch writes | | | + | Jeremiah's prophecies| | | + | in a roll, which is | | | + | read successively to | | | + | the people, the | | | + | nobles, and | | | + | Jehoiakim, and | | | + | destroyed by the king| | | + | (xxxvi., III.; xlv., | | | + | V.) | | | + | | | | + |Nebuchadnezzar invades| | | + | Judah (?), the | | | + | Rechabites take | | | + | refuge in | | | + | Jerusalem (?), the | | | + | Jews rebuked by their| | | + | example (xxxv., IV.) | | | + | | | | + |Jehoiakim submits to | | | + | Nebuchadnezzar, | | | + | revolts after three | | | + | years, is attacked by| | | + | various "bands," but | | | + | dies before | | | + | Nebuchadnezzar | | | + | arrives | | | + |JEHOIACHIN, 597 | | | + | (xxii. 20-30, VII.)| | | + | | | | + |Continues revolt, but | | | + | surrenders to | | | + | Nebuchadnezzar on his| | | + | arrival; is deposed | | | + | and carried to | | | + | Babylon with many of | | | + | his subjects. | | | + | Nebuchadnezzar | | | + | appoints | | | + | | | | + |ZEDEKIAH, 596 | |=Psammetichus= | + | | |=II.=, 596 | + |Jeremiah attempts to | | | + | keep Zedekiah loyal | | | + | to Nebuchadnezzar, | Ezekiel | | + | and contends with | | | + | priests and prophets | | | + | who support Egyptian | | | + | party (xxiii., xxiv.,| | | + | VIII.) | | | + | | | | + Solon's |Proposed confederation| | | + legislation,| against | | | + 594 | Nebuchadnezzar | | | + | denounced by | |=Hophra=, | + | Jeremiah, but | | 591 | + | supported by | | | + | Hananiah; proposal | | | + | abandoned; Hananiah | | | + | dies (xxvii., | | | + | xxviii., IX.), 593-2 | | | + | | | | + |Controversy by letter | | | + | with hostile prophets| | | + | at Babylon (xxix., | | | + | X.) | | | + | | | | + |Judah revolts, | | | + | encouraged by Hophra.| | | + | Jerusalem is besieged| | | + | by Chaldeans. There | | | + | being no prospect of | | | + | relief by Egypt, | | | + | Jeremiah regains his | | | + | influence and pledges| | | + | the people by | | | + | covenant to release | | | + | their slaves. | | | + | | | | + |On the news of | | | + | Hophra's advance, the| | | + | Chaldeans raise the | | | + | siege; the Egyptian | | | + | party again become | | | + | supreme and annul the| | | + | covenant (xxi. 1-10, | | | + | xxxiv., xxxvii. 1-10,| | | + | XI.) | | | + | | | | + |Jeremiah attempts to | | | + | leave the city, is | | | + | arrested and | | | + | imprisoned | | | + |Hophra retreats into | | | + | Egypt and the | | | + | Chaldeans renew the | | | + | siege (xxxvii. 11-21,| | | + | xxxviii., xxxix. | | | + | 15-18, XII.) | | | + | | | | + |While imprisoned | | | + | Jeremiah buys his | | | + | kinsman's inheritance| | | + | (xxxii., XXX.) | | | + | | | | + |_DESTRUCTION OF | Siege of Tyre | | + | JERUSALEM_, 586 | | | + | | | | + |Jeremiah remains for a| | | + | month a prisoner | | | + | amongst the other | | | + | captives. Nebuzaradan| | | + | arrives; arranges for| | | + | deportation of bulk | | | + | of population; | | | + | appoints Gedaliah | | | + | governor of residue; | | | + | releases Jeremiah, | | | + | who elects to join | | | + | Gedaliah at Mizpah. | | | + | Gedaliah murdered. | | | + | Jeremiah carried off,| | | + | but rescued by | | | + | Johanan (xxxix.-xli.,| | | + | lii., XIII.) | | | + | | | | + |Johanan, in spite of | | | + | Jeremiah's protest, | | | + | goes down to Egypt | | | + | and takes Jeremiah | | | + | with him (xlii., | | | + | xliii., XIV.) | | | + | | | | + |Jews in Egypt hold | | | + | festival in honour of| | | + | Queen of Heaven. | |=Amasis=, | + | Ineffectual protest | | 570 | + | of Jeremiah (xliv., | | | + | XV.) | | | + | |Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt, (?)| + | | 568 | + Pistratus, | |=Evil-Merodach=, | | + 560-527 |Release of Jehoiachin | 561 | | + | | | | + |_CYRUS CONQUERS BABYLON AND GIVES_ | | + |_THE JEWS PERMISSION TO RETURN,_ | | + |_538_ | | + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] For spelling see note, page 4 + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + PREFACE v + + INDEX OF CHAPTERS vii + + CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE ix + + BOOK I + + _PERSONAL UTTERANCES AND + NARRATIVES_ + + CHAPTER I + + INTRODUCTORY: JEHOAHAZ. xxii. 10-12 3 + + "Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for + him that goeth away: for he shall return no more."--xxii, 10 + + CHAPTER II + + A TRIAL FOR HERESY. xxvi.: cf. vii.-x. 10 + + "When Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had + commanded him to speak unto all the people, the priests and the + prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt + surely die."--xxvi. 8 + + CHAPTER III + + THE ROLL. xxxvi. 28 + + "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that + I have spoken unto thee."--xxxvi. 2 + + CHAPTER IV + + THE RECHABITES. xxxv. 44 + + "Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me + for ever."--xxxv. 19 + + CHAPTER V + + BARUCH. xlv. 54 + + "Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey."--xlv. 5 + + CHAPTER VI + + THE JUDGMENT ON JEHOIAKIM. xxii. 13-19, xxxvi. 30, 31 63 + + "Jehoiakim ... slew him (Uriah) with the sword, and cast his dead + body into the graves of the common people."--xxvi. 23 + + "Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, ... He shall + be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond + the gates of Jerusalem."--xxii. 18, 19 + + Jehoiakim ... did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, + according to all that his fathers had done.--2 KINGS xxiii. 36, 37 + + CHAPTER VII + + JEHOIACHIN. xxii. 20-30 80 + + "A despised broken vessel."--xxii. 28 + + "A young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became + a young lion and he learned to catch the prey, he devoured + men."--EZEK. xix. 5, 6 + + "Jehoiachin ... did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all + that his father had done."--2 KINGS xxiv. 8, 9 + + CHAPTER VIII + + BAD SHEPHERDS AND FALSE PROPHETS. xxiii.; xxiv. 96 + + "Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My + pasture!"--xxii. 1 + + "Of what avail is straw instead of grain?... Is not My word like + fire, ... like a hammer that shattereth the rocks?"--xxiii. 28, 29 + + CHAPTER IX + + HANANIAH. xxvii., xxviii. 115 + + "Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest + this people to trust in a lie."--xxviii. 15 + + CHAPTER X + + CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EXILES. xxix. 131 + + "Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of + Babylon roasted in the fire."--xxix. 22 + + CHAPTER XI + + A BROKEN COVENANT. xxi. 1-10, xxxiv.; xxxvii. 1-10 141 + + "All the princes and people ... changed their minds and reduced to + bondage again all the slaves whom they had set free."--xxxiv. 10, + 11 + + CHAPTER XII + + JEREMIAH'S IMPRISONMENT. xxxvii. 11-21, xxxviii., + xxxix. 15-18 155 + + "Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that + Jerusalem was taken."--xxxviii. 28 + + CHAPTER XIII + + GEDALIAH. xxxix.-xli., lii. 172 + + "Then arose Ishmael ben Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with + him, and smote with the sword and slew Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben + Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon had made king over the + land."--xli. 2 + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE DESCENT INTO EGYPT. xlii., xliii. 187 + + "They came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice + of Jehovah."--xliii. 7 + + CHAPTER XV + + THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. xliv. 197 + + "Since we left off burning incense and offering libations to the + Queen of Heaven, we have been in want of everything, and have been + consumed by the sword and the famine."--xliv. 18 + + + BOOK II + + _PROPHECIES CONCERNING FOREIGN + NATIONS_ + + CHAPTER XVI + + JEHOVAH AND THE NATIONS. xxv. 15-38 211 + + "Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations."--xxv. 31 + + CHAPTER XVII + + EGYPT. xliii. 8-13, xliv. 30, xlvi. 220 + + "I will visit Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods + and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in + him."--xlvi. 25 + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE PHILISTINES. xlvii. 230 + + "O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up + thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still."--xlvii. 6 + + CHAPTER XIX + + MOAB. xlviii. 234 + + "Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath + magnified himself against Jehovah."--xlviii. 42 + + "Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israel ... and I took + it ... and I took from it the vessels of Jehovah, and offered them + before Chemosh."--MOABITE STONE. + + "Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter + days."--xlviii. 47 + + CHAPTER XX + + AMMON. xlix. 1-6 242 + + "Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth Moloch + possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?"--xlix. 1 + + CHAPTER XXI + + EDOM. xlix. 7-22 243 + + "Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a + curse."--xlix. 13 + + CHAPTER XXII + + DAMASCUS. xlix. 23-27 248 + + "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour + the palaces of Benhadad."--xlix. 27 + + CHAPTER XXIII + + KEDAR AND HAZOR. xlix. 28-33 251 + + "Concerning Kedar, and the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadnezzar + king of Babylon smote."--xlix. 28 + + CHAPTER XXIV + + ELAM. xlix. 34-39 255 + + "I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might."--xlix. + 35 + + CHAPTER XXV + + BABYLON. l., li. 258 + + "Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in + pieces."--l. 2 + + + BOOK III + + _JEREMIAH'S TEACHING CONCERNING + ISRAEL AND JUDAH_ + + CHAPTER XXVI + + INTRODUCTORY 267 + + "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall + be My people."--xxxi. 1 + + CHAPTER XXVII + + SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CORRUPTION 270 + + "Very bad figs, ... too bad to be eaten."--xxiv. 2, 8, xxix. 17 + + CHAPTER XXVIII + + PERSISTENT APOSTASY 283 + + "They have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and + worshipped other gods, and served them."--xxii. 9 + + "Every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his heart."--xxiii. + 17 + + CHAPTER XXIX + + RUIN. xxii. 1-9, xxvi. 14 295 + + "The sword, the pestilence, and the famine."--xxi, 9 _and passim_. + + "Terror on every side."--vi. 25, xx. 10, xlvi. 5, xlix. 29; _also + as proper name_, MAGOR-MISSABIB, xx. 3 + + CHAPTER XXX + + RESTORATION--I. THE SYMBOL. xxxii. 308 + + "And I bought the field of Hanameel."--xxxii. 9 + + CHAPTER XXXI + + RESTORATION--II. THE NEW ISRAEL. xxiii. 3-8, xxiv. + 6, 7, xxx., xxxi., xxxiii. 319 + + "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell + safely: and this is the name whereby she shall be called, Jehovah + our Righteousness."--xxxiii. 16 + + CHAPTER XXXII + + RESTORATION--III. REUNION. xxxi. 329 + + "I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the + seed of man, and with the seed of beast."--xxxi. 27 + + CHAPTER XXXIII + + RESTORATION--IV. THE NEW COVENANT. xxxi. 31-38: + cf. Hebrews viii. 346 + + "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house + of Judah."--xxxi. 31 + + CHAPTER XXXIV + + RESTORATION--V. REVIEW. xxx.-xxxiii. 357 + + + EPILOGUE + + CHAPTER XXXV + + JEREMIAH AND CHRIST 367 + + "Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from amongst + thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye + hearken."--DEUT. xviii. 15 + + "Jesus ... asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the + Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, + Elijah: and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."--MATT. xvi. + 13, 14 + + + + + BOOK I + + _PERSONAL UTTERANCES AND NARRATIVES_ + + + + + CHAPTER I + + _INTRODUCTORY:_[2] _JEHOAHAZ_ + + xxii. 10-12. + + "Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for + him that goeth away: for he shall return no more."--JER. xxii. 10. + + +As the prophecies of Jeremiah are not arranged in the order in which +they were delivered, there is no absolute chronological division +between the first twenty chapters and those which follow. For the most +part, however, chapters xxi.-lii. fall in or after the fourth year of +Jehoiakim (B.C. 605). We will therefore briefly consider the situation +at Jerusalem in this crisis. The period immediately preceding B.C. 605 +somewhat resembles the era of the dissolution of the Roman Empire or +of the Wars of the French Revolution. An old-established international +system was breaking in pieces, and men were quite uncertain what form +the new order would take. For centuries the futile assaults of the +Pharaohs had only served to illustrate the stability of the Assyrian +supremacy in Western Asia. Then in the last two decades of the seventh +century B.C. the Assyrian Empire collapsed, like the Roman Empire +under Honorius and his successors. It was as if by some swift +succession of disasters modern France or Germany were to become +suddenly and permanently annihilated as a military power. For the +moment, all the traditions and principles of European statesmanship +would lose their meaning, and the shrewdest diplomatist would be +entirely at fault. Men's reason would totter, their minds would lose +their balance at the stupendous spectacle of so unparalleled a +catastrophe. The wildest hopes would alternate with the extremity of +fear; everything would seem possible to the conqueror. + +Such was the situation in B.C. 605, to which our first great group of +prophecies belongs. Two oppressors of Israel--Assyria and Egypt--had +been struck down in rapid succession. When Nebuchadnezzar[3] was +suddenly recalled to Babylon by the death of his father, the Jews +would readily imagine that the Divine judgment had fallen upon Chaldea +and its king. Sanguine prophets announced that Jehovah was about to +deliver His people from all foreign dominion, and establish the +supremacy of the Kingdom of God. Court and people would be equally +possessed with patriotic hope and enthusiasm. Jehoiakim, it is true, +was a nominee of Pharaoh Necho; but his gratitude would be far too +slight to override the hopes and aspirations natural to a Prince of +the House of David. + +In Hezekiah's time, there had been an Egyptian and an Assyrian party +at the court of Judah; the recent supremacy of Egypt had probably +increased the number of her partisans. Assyria had disappeared, but +her former adherents would retain their antipathy to Egypt, and their +personal feuds with Jews of the opposite faction; they were as tools +lying ready to any hand that cared to use them. When Babylon succeeded +Assyria in the overlordship of Asia, she doubtless inherited the +allegiance of the anti-Egyptian party in the various Syrian states. +Jeremiah, like Isaiah, steadily opposed any dependence upon Egypt; it +was probably by his advice that Josiah undertook his ill-fated +expedition against Pharaoh Necho. The partisans of Egypt would be the +prophet's enemies; and though Jeremiah never became a mere dependent +and agent of Nebuchadnezzar, yet the friends of Babylon would be his +friends, if only because her enemies were his enemies. + +We are told in 2 Kings xxiii. 37 that Jehoiakim did evil in the sight +of Jehovah according to all that his father had done. Whatever other +sins may be implied by this condemnation, we certainly learn that the +king favoured a corrupt form of the religion of Jehovah in opposition +to the purer teaching which Jeremiah inherited from Isaiah. + +When we turn to Jeremiah himself, the date "the fourth year of +Jehoiakim" reminds us that by this time the prophet could look back upon +a long and sad experience; he had been called in the thirteenth year of +Josiah, some twenty-four years before. With what sometimes seems to our +limited intelligence the strange irony of Providence, this lover of +peace and quietness was called to deliver a message of ruin and +condemnation, a message that could not fail to be extremely offensive +to most of his hearers, and to make him the object of bitter hostility. + +Much of this Jeremiah must have anticipated, but there were some from +whose position and character the prophet expected acceptance, even of +the most unpalatable teaching of the Spirit of Jehovah. The personal +vindictiveness with which priests and prophets repaid his loyalty to +the Divine mission and his zeal for truth came to him with a shock of +surprise and bewilderment, which was all the greater because his most +determined persecutors were his sacerdotal kinsmen and neighbours at +Anathoth. "Let us destroy the tree," they said, "with the fruit +thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his +name may be no more remembered."[4] + +He was not only repudiated by his clan, but also forbidden by Jehovah +to seek consolation and sympathy in the closer ties of family life: +"Thou shalt not take a wife, thou shalt have no sons or daughters."[5] +Like Paul, it was good for Jeremiah "by reason of the present +distress" to deny himself these blessings. He found some compensation +in the fellowship of kindred souls at Jerusalem. We can well believe +that, in those early days, he was acquainted with Zephaniah, and that +they were associated with Hilkiah and Shaphan and King Josiah in the +publication of Deuteronomy and its recognition as the law of Israel. +Later on Shaphan's son Ahikam protected Jeremiah when his life was in +imminent danger. + +The twelve years that intervened between Josiah's Reformation and his +defeat at Megiddo were the happiest part of Jeremiah's ministry. It is +not certain that any of the extant prophecies belong to this period. +With Josiah on the throne and Deuteronomy accepted as the standard of +the national life, the prophet felt absolved for a season from his +mission to pluck up and break down, and perhaps began to indulge in +hopes that the time had come to build and to plant. Yet it is +difficult to believe that he had implicit confidence in the permanence +of the Reformation or the influence of Deuteronomy. The silence of +Isaiah and Jeremiah as to the ecclesiastical reforms of Hezekiah and +Josiah stands in glaring contrast to the great importance attached to +them by the Books of Kings and Chronicles. But, in any case, Jeremiah +must have found life brighter and easier than in the reigns that +followed. Probably, in these happier days, he was encouraged by the +sympathy and devotion of disciples like Baruch and Ezekiel. + +But Josiah's attempt to realise a Kingdom of God was short-lived; and, +in a few months, Jeremiah saw the whole fabric swept away. The king +was defeated and slain; and his religious policy was at once reversed +either by a popular revolution or a court intrigue. The people of the +land made Josiah's son Shallum king, under the name of Jehoahaz. This +young prince of twenty-three only reigned three months, and was then +deposed and carried into captivity by Pharaoh Necho; yet it is +recorded of him, that he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according +to all that his fathers had done.[6] He--or, more probably, his +ministers, especially the queen-mother[7]--must have been in a hurry +to undo Josiah's work. Jeremiah utters no condemnation of Jehoahaz; he +merely declares that the young king will never return from his exile, +and bids the people lament over his captivity as a more grievous fate +than the death of Josiah:-- + + "Weep not for the dead, + Neither lament over him: + But weep sore for him that goeth into captivity; + For he shall return no more, + Neither shall he behold his native land."[8] + +Ezekiel adds admiration to sympathy: Jehoahaz was a young lion skilled +to catch the prey, he devoured men, the nations heard of him, he was +taken in their pit, and they brought him with hooks into the land of +Egypt.[9] Jeremiah and Ezekiel could not but feel some tenderness +towards the son of Josiah; and probably they had faith in his personal +character, and believed that in time he would shake off the yoke of +evil counsellors and follow in his father's footsteps. But any such +hopes were promptly disappointed by Pharaoh Necho, and Jeremiah's +spirit bowed beneath a new burden as he saw his country completely +subservient to the dreaded influence of Egypt. + +Thus, at the time when we take up the narrative, the government was in +the hands of the party hostile to Jeremiah, and the king, Jehoiakim, +seems to have been his personal enemy. Jeremiah himself was somewhere +between forty and fifty years old, a solitary man without wife or +child. His awful mission as the herald of ruin clouded his spirit with +inevitable gloom. Men resented the stern sadness of his words and +looks, and turned from him with aversion and dislike. His unpopularity +had made him somewhat harsh; for intolerance is twice curst, in that +it inoculates its victims with the virus of its own bitterness. His +hopes and illusions lay behind him; he could only watch with +melancholy pity the eager excitement of these stirring times. If he +came across some group busily discussing the rout of the Egyptians at +Carchemish, or the report that Nebuchadnezzar was posting in hot haste +to Babylon, and wondering as to all that this might mean for Judah, +his countrymen would turn to look with contemptuous curiosity at the +bitter, disappointed man who had had his chance and failed, and now +grudged them their prospect of renewed happiness and prosperity. +Nevertheless Jeremiah's greatest work still lay before him. Jerusalem +was past saving; but more was at stake than the existence of Judah and +its capital. But for Jeremiah the religion of Jehovah might have +perished with His Chosen People. It was his mission to save Revelation +from the wreck of Israel. Humanly speaking, the religious future of +the world depended upon this stern solitary prophet. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] Cf. Preface. + +[3] We know little of Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns. In 2 Kings xxiv. 1 +we are told that Nebuchadnezzar "came up" in the days of Jehoiakim, +and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. It is not clear whether +Nebuchadnezzar "came up" immediately after the battle of Carchemish, +or at a later time after his return to Babylon. In either case the +impression made by his hasty departure from Syria would be the same. +Cf. Cheyne, _Jeremiah_ (Men of the Bible), p. 132. I call the Chaldean +king Nebuchadnezzar--not Nebuchadrezzar--because the former has been +an English household word for centuries. + +[4] xi. 19. + +[5] xvi. 2. + +[6] 2 Kings xxiii. 30-32. + +[7] Cf. xxii. 26. + +[8] xxii. 10-12. + +[9] Ezek. xix. 3, 4. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + _A TRIAL FOR HERESY_ + + xxvi.: cf. vii.-x. + + "When Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had + commanded him to speak unto all the people, the priests and the + prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt + surely die."--JER. xxvi. 8. + + +The date of this incident is given, somewhat vaguely, as the beginning +of the reign of Jehoiakim. It was, therefore, earlier than B.C. 605, +the point reached in the previous chapter. Jeremiah could offer no +political resistance to Jehoiakim and his Egyptian suzerain; yet it +was impossible for him to allow Josiah's policy to be reversed without +a protest. Moreover, something, perhaps much, might yet be saved for +Jehovah. The king, with his court and prophets and priests, was not +everything. Jeremiah was only concerned with sanctuaries, ritual, and +priesthoods as means to an end. For him the most important result of +the work he had shared with Josiah was a pure and holy life for the +nation and individuals. Renan--in some passages, for he is not always +consistent--is inclined to minimise the significance of the change +from Josiah to Jehoiakim; in fact, he writes very much as a cavalier +might have done of the change from Cromwell to Charles II. Both the +Jewish kings worshipped Jehovah, each in his own fashion: Josiah was +inclined to a narrow puritan severity of a life; Jehoiakim was a +liberal, practical man of the world. Probably this is a fair modern +equivalent of the current estimate of the kings and their policy, +especially on the part of Jehoiakim's friends; but then, as unhappily +still in some quarters, "narrow puritan severity" was a convenient +designation for a decent and honourable life, for a scrupulous and +self-denying care for the welfare of others. Jeremiah dreaded a +relapse into the old half-heathen ideas that Jehovah would be pleased +with homage and service that satisfied Baal, Moloch, and Chemosh. Such +a relapse would lower the ethical standard, and corrupt or even +destroy any beginnings of spiritual life. Our English Restoration is +an object-lesson as to the immoral effects of political and +ecclesiastical reaction; if such things were done in sober England, +what must have been possible to hot Eastern blood! In protesting +against the attitude of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah would also seek to save +the people from the evil effects of the king's policy. He knew from +his own experience that a subject might trust and serve God with his +whole heart, even when the king was false to Jehovah. What was +possible for him was possible for others. He understood his countrymen +too well to expect that the nation would continue to advance in paths +of righteousness which its leaders and teachers had forsaken; but, +scattered here and there through the mass of the people, was Isaiah's +remnant, the seed of the New Israel, men and women to whom the +Revelation of Jehovah had been the beginning of a higher life. He +would not leave them without a word of counsel and encouragement. + +At the command of Jehovah, Jeremiah appeared before the concourse of +Jews, assembled at the Temple for some great fast or festival. No +feast is expressly mentioned, but he is charged to address "all the +cities of Judah"[10]; _all_ the outlying population would only meet at +the Temple on some specially holy day. Such an occasion would +naturally be chosen by Jeremiah for his deliverance, just as Christ +availed Himself of the opportunities offered by the Passover and the +Feast of Tabernacles, just as modern philanthropists seek to find a +place for their favourite topics on the platform of May Meetings. + +The prophet was to stand in the court of the Temple and repeat once +more to the Jews his message of warning and judgment, "all that I have +charged thee to speak unto them, thou shalt not keep back a single +word." The substance of this address is found in the various +prophecies which expose the sin and predict the ruin of Judah. They +have been dealt with in the former volume[11] on Jeremiah in this +series, and are also referred to in Book III. + +According to the universal principle of Hebrew prophecy, the +predictions of ruin were conditional; they were still coupled with the +offer of pardon to repentance, and Jehovah did not forbid his prophet +to cherish a lingering hope that "perchance they may hearken and turn +every one from his evil way, so that I may repent Me of the evil I +purpose to inflict upon them because of the evil of their doings." +Probably the phrase "every one from his evil way" is primarily +collective rather than individual, and is intended to describe a +national reformation, which would embrace all the individual citizens; +but the actual words suggest another truth, which must also have been +in Jeremiah's mind. The nation is, after all, an aggregate of men and +women; there can be no national reformation, except through the +repentance and amendment of individuals. + +Jeremiah's audience, it must be observed, consisted of worshippers on +the way to the Temple, and would correspond to an ordinary congregation +of church-goers, rather than to the casual crowd gathered round a street +preacher, or to the throngs of miners and labourers who listened to +Whitfield and Wesley. As an acknowledged prophet, he was well within his +rights in expecting a hearing from the attendants at the feast, and men +would be curious to see and hear one who had been the dominant influence +in Judah during the reign of Josiah. Moreover, in the absence of evening +newspapers and shop-windows, a prophet was too exciting a distraction to +be lightly neglected. From Jehovah's charge to speak all that He had +commanded him to speak and not to keep back a word, we may assume that +Jeremiah's discourse was long: it was also avowedly an old sermon[12]; +most of his audience had heard it before, all of them were quite +familiar with its main topics. They listened in the various moods of a +modern congregation "sitting under" a distinguished preacher. Jeremiah's +friends and disciples welcomed the ideas and phrases that had become +part of their spiritual life. Many enjoyed the speaker's earnestness and +eloquence, without troubling themselves about the ideas at all. There +was nothing specially startling about the well-known threats and +warnings; they had become + + "A tale of little meaning tho' the words were strong." + +Men hardened their hearts against inspired prophets as easily as they +do against the most pathetic appeals of modern evangelists. Mingled +with the crowd were Jeremiah's professional rivals, who detested both +him and his teaching--priests who regarded him as a traitor to his own +caste, prophets who envied his superior gifts and his force of +passionate feeling. To these almost every word he uttered was +offensive, but for a while there was nothing that roused them to very +vehement anger. He was allowed to finish what he had to say, "to make +an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him." But in this +peroration he had insisted on a subject that stung the indifferent +into resentment and roused the priests and prophets to fury. + +"Go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name +to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of +My people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith +Jehovah, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye +heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not: therefore will I do +unto the house, that is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto +the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to +Shiloh."[13] + +The Ephraimite sanctuary of Shiloh, long the home of the Ark and its +priesthood, had been overthrown in some national catastrophe. +Apparently when it was destroyed it was no mere tent, but a +substantial building of stone, and its ruins remained as a permanent +monument of the fugitive glory of even the most sacred shrine. + +The very presence of his audience in the place where they were met +showed their reverence for the Temple: the priests were naturally +devotees of their own shrine; of the prophets Jeremiah himself had said, +"The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule in accordance with +their teaching."[14] Can we wonder that "the priests and the prophets +and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt surely die"? For +the moment there was an appearance of religious unity in Jerusalem; the +priests, the prophets, and the pious laity on one side, and only the +solitary heretic on the other. It was, though on a small scale, as if +the obnoxious teaching of some nineteenth-century prophet of God had +given an unexpected stimulus to the movement for Christian reunion; as +if cardinals and bishops, chairmen of unions, presidents of conferences, +moderators of assemblies, with great preachers and distinguished laymen, +united to hold monster meetings and denounce the Divine message as +heresy and blasphemy. In like manner Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians +found a basis of common action in their hatred of Christ, and Pilate and +Herod were reconciled by His cross. + +Meanwhile the crowd was increasing: new worshippers were arriving, and +others as they left the Temple were attracted to the scene of the +disturbance. Doubtless too the mob, always at the service of +persecutors, hurried up in hope of finding opportunities for mischief +and violence. Some six and a half centuries later, history repeated +itself on the same spot, when the Asiatic Jews saw Paul in the Temple +and "laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the +man, that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the law +and this place, ... and all the city was moved, and the people ran +together and laid hold on Paul."[15] + +Our narrative, as it stands, is apparently incomplete: we find Jeremiah +before the tribunal of the princes, but we are not told how he came +there; whether the civil authorities intervened to protect him, as +Claudius Lysias came down with his soldiers and centurions and rescued +Paul, or whether Jeremiah's enemies observed legal forms, as Annas and +Caiaphas did when they arrested Christ. But, in any case, "the princes +of Judah, when they heard these things, came up from the palace into the +Temple, and took their seats as judges at the entry of the new gate of +the Temple." The "princes of Judah" play a conspicuous part in the last +period of the Jewish monarchy: we have little definite information about +them, and are left to conjecture that they were an aristocratic +oligarchy or an official clique, or both; but it is clear that they were +a dominant force in the state, with recognised constitutional status, +and that they often controlled the king himself. We are also ignorant as +to the "new gate"; it may possibly be the upper gate built by +Jotham[16] about a hundred and fifty years earlier. + +Before these judges, Jeremiah's ecclesiastical accusers brought a +formal charge; they said, almost in the very words which the high +priest and the Sanhedrin used of Christ, "This man is worthy of death, +for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your +ears"--_i.e._ when he said, "This house shall be like Shiloh, and this +city shall be desolate without inhabitant." Such accusations have been +always on the lips of those who have denounced Christ and His +disciples as heretics. One charge against Himself was that He said, "I +will destroy this Temple that is made with hands, and in three days I +will build another that is made without hands."[17] Stephen was +accused of speaking incessantly against the Temple and the Law, and +teaching that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the Temple and change +the customs handed down from Moses. When he asserted that "the Most +High dwelleth not in temples made with hands," the impatience of his +audience compelled him to bring his defence to an abrupt +conclusion.[18] Of Paul we have already spoken. + +How was it that these priests and prophets thought that their princes +might be induced to condemn Jeremiah to death for predicting the +destruction of the Temple? A prophet would not run much risk nowadays +by announcing that St. Paul's should be made like Stonehenge, or St. +Peter's like the Parthenon. Expositors of Daniel and the Apocalypse +habitually fix the end of the world a few years in advance of the +date at which they write, and yet they do not incur any appreciable +unpopularity. It is true that Jeremiah's accusers were a little afraid +that his predictions might be fulfilled, and the most bitter +persecutors are those who have a lurking dread that their victims are +right, while they themselves are wrong. But such fears could not very +well be evidence or argument against Jeremiah before any court of law. + +In order to realise the situation we must consider the place which the +Temple held in the hopes and affections of the Jews. They had always +been proud of their royal sanctuary at Jerusalem, but within the last +hundred and fifty years it had acquired a unique importance for the +religion of Israel. First Hezekiah, and then Josiah, had taken away +the other high places and altars at which Jehovah was worshipped, and +had said to Judah and Jerusalem, "Ye shall worship before this +altar."[19] Doubtless the kings were following the advice of Isaiah +and Jeremiah. These prophets were anxious to abolish the abuses of the +local sanctuaries, which were a continual incentive to an extravagant +and corrupt ritual. Yet they did not intend to assign any supreme +importance to a priestly caste or a consecrated building. Certainly +for them the hope of Israel and the assurance of its salvation did not +consist in cedar and hewn stones, in silver and gold. And yet the +unique position given to the Temple inevitably became the +starting-point for fresh superstition. Once Jehovah could be +worshipped not only at Jerusalem, but at Beersheba and Bethel and many +other places where He had chosen to set His name. Even then, it was +felt that the Divine Presence must afford some protection for His +dwelling-places. But now that Jehovah dwelt nowhere else but at +Jerusalem, and only accepted the worship of His people at this single +shrine, how could any one doubt that He would protect His Temple and +His Holy City against all enemies, even the most formidable? Had He +not done so already? + +When Hezekiah abolished the high places, did not Jehovah set the seal +of approval upon his policy by destroying the army of Sennacherib? Was +not this great deliverance wrought to guard the Temple against +desecration and destruction, and would not Jehovah work out a like +salvation in any future time of danger? The destruction of Sennacherib +was essential to the religious future of Israel and of mankind; but it +had a very mingled influence upon the generations immediately +following. They were like a man who has won a great prize in a +lottery, or who has, quite unexpectedly, come into an immense +inheritance. They ignored the unwelcome thought that the Divine +protection depended on spiritual and moral conditions, and they clung +to the superstitious faith that at any moment, even in the last +extremity of danger and at the eleventh hour, Jehovah might, nay, even +_must_, intervene. The priests and the inhabitants of Jerusalem could +look on with comparative composure while the country was ravaged, and +the outlying towns were taken and pillaged; Jerusalem itself might +seem on the verge of falling into the hands of the enemy, but they +still trusted in their Palladium. Jerusalem could not perish, because +it contained the one sanctuary of Jehovah; they sought to silence +their own fears and to drown the warning voice of the prophet by +vociferating their watchword: "The Temple of Jehovah! the Temple of +Jehovah! The Temple of Jehovah is in our midst!"[20] + +In prosperous times a nation may forget its Palladium, and may +tolerate doubts as to its efficacy; but the strength of the Jews was +broken, their resources were exhausted, and they were clinging in an +agony of conflicting hopes and fears to their faith in the +inviolability of the Temple. To destroy their confidence was like +snatching away a plank from a drowning man. When Jeremiah made the +attempt, they struck back with the fierce energy of despair. It does +not seem that at this time the city was in any immediate danger; the +incident rather falls in the period of quiet submission to Pharaoh +Necho that preceded the battle of Carchemish. But the disaster of +Megiddo was fresh in men's memories, and in the unsettled state of +Eastern Asia no one knew how soon some other invader might advance +against the city. On the other hand, in the quiet interval, hopes +began to revive, and men were incensed when the prophet made haste to +nip these hopes in the bud, all the more so because their excited +anticipations of future glory had so little solid basis. Jeremiah's +appeal to the ill-omened precedent of Shiloh naturally roused the +sanguine and despondent alike into frenzy. + +Jeremiah's defence was simple and direct: "Jehovah sent me to prophesy +all that ye have heard against this house and against this city. Now +therefore amend your ways and your doings, and hearken unto the voice +of Jehovah your God, that He may repent Him of the evil that He hath +spoken against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hands: do unto me +as it seems good and right unto you. Only know assuredly that, if ye +put me to death, ye will bring the guilt of innocent blood upon +yourselves, and upon this city and its inhabitants: for of a truth +Jehovah sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears." There +is one curious feature in this defence. Jeremiah contemplates the +possibility of two distinct acts of wickedness on the part of his +persecutors: they may turn a deaf ear to his appeal that they should +repent and reform, and their obstinacy will incur all the +chastisements which Jeremiah had threatened; they may also put him to +death and incur additional guilt. Scoffers might reply that his +previous threats were so awful and comprehensive that they left no +room for any addition to the punishment of the impenitent. Sinners +sometimes find a grim comfort in the depth of their wickedness; their +case is so bad that it cannot be made worse, they may now indulge +their evil propensities with a kind of impunity. But Jeremiah's +prophetic insight made him anxious to save his countrymen from further +sin, even in their impenitence; the Divine discrimination is not taxed +beyond its capabilities even by the extremity of human wickedness. + +But to return to the main feature in Jeremiah's defence. His accusers' +contention was that his teaching was so utterly blasphemous, so +entirely opposed to every tradition and principle of true +religion--or, as we should say, so much at variance with all +orthodoxy--that it could not be a word of Jehovah. Jeremiah does not +attempt to discuss the relation of his teaching to the possible limits +of Jewish orthodoxy. He bases his defence on the bare assertion of his +prophetic mission--Jehovah had sent him. He assumes that there is no +room for evidence or discussion; it is a question of the relative +authority of Jeremiah and his accusers, whether he or they had the +better right to speak for God. The immediate result seemed to justify +him in this attitude. He was no obscure novice, seeking for the first +time to establish his right to speak in the Divine name. The princes +and people had been accustomed for twenty years to listen to him, as +to the most fully acknowledged mouthpiece of Heaven; they could not +shake off their accustomed feeling of deference, and once more +succumbed to the spell of his fervid and commanding personality. "Then +said the princes and all the people unto the priests and the prophets, +This man is not worthy of death; for he hath spoken to us in the name +of Jehovah our God." For the moment the people were won over and the +princes convinced; but priests and prophets were not so easily +influenced by inspired utterances; some of these probably thought that +they had an inspiration of their own, and their professional +experience made them callous. + +At this point again the sequence of events is not clear; possibly the +account was compiled from the imperfect recollections of more than one +of the spectators. The pronouncement of the princes and the people +seems, at first sight, a formal acquittal that should have ended the +trial, and left no room for the subsequent intervention of "certain of +the elders," otherwise the trial seems to have come to no definite +conclusion, and the incident simply terminated in the personal +protection given to Jeremiah by Ahikam ben Shaphan. Possibly, however, +the tribunal of the princes was not governed by any strict rules of +procedure; and the force of the argument used by the elders does not +depend on the exact stage of the trial at which it was introduced. + +Either Jeremiah was not entirely successful in his attempt to get the +matter disposed of on the sole ground of his own prophetic authority, or +else the elders were anxious to secure weight and finality for the +acquittal, by bringing forward arguments in its support. The elders were +an ancient Israelite institution, and probably still represented the +patriarchal side of the national life; nothing is said as to their +relation to the princes, and this might not be very clearly defined. The +elders appealed, by way of precedent, to an otherwise unrecorded +incident of the reign of Hezekiah. Micah the Morasthite had uttered +similar threats against Jerusalem and the Temple: "Zion shall be +ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain +of the house as the high places of the forest."[21] But Hezekiah and his +people, instead of slaying Micah, had repented, and the city had been +spared. They evidently wished that the precedent could be wholly +followed in the present instance; but, at any rate, it was clear that +one of the most honoured and successful of the kings of Judah had +accepted a threat against the Temple as a message from Jehovah. +Therefore the mere fact that Jeremiah had uttered such a threat was +certainly not _primâ facie_ evidence that he was a false prophet. We are +not told how this argument was received, but the writer of the chapter, +possibly Baruch, does not attribute Jeremiah's escape either to his +acquittal by the princes or to the reasoning of the elders. The people +apparently changed sides once more, like the common people in the New +Testament, who heard Christ gladly and with equal enthusiasm clamoured +for His crucifixion. At the end of the chapter we find them eager to +have the prophet delivered into their hands that they may put him to +death. Apparently the prophets and priests, having brought matters into +this satisfactory position, had retired from the scene of action; the +heretic was to be delivered over to the secular arm. The princes, like +Pilate, seemed inclined to yield to popular pressure; but Ahikam, a son +of the Shaphan who had to do with the finding of Deuteronomy, stood by +Jeremiah, as John of Gaunt stood by Wyclif, and the Protestant Princes +by Luther, and the magistrates of Geneva by Calvin; and Jeremiah could +say with the Psalmist:-- + + "I have heard the defaming of many, + Terror on every side: + While they took counsel together against me, + They devised to take away my life. + But I trusted in Thee, O Jehovah: + I said, Thou art my God. + My times are in Thy hand: + Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that + persecute me. + + * * * * * + + Let the lying lips be dumb, + Which speak against the righteous insolently, + With pride and contempt. + Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for + them that fear Thee, + Which Thou hast wrought for them that put their trust in + Thee, before the sons of men."[22] + +We have here an early and rudimentary example of religious toleration, +of the willingness, however reluctant, to hear as a possible Divine +message unpalatable teaching, at variance with current theology; we +see too the fountain-head of that freedom which since has "broadened +down from precedent to precedent." + +But unfortunately no precedent can bind succeeding generations, and both +Judaism and Christianity have sinned grievously against the lesson of +this chapter. Jehoiakim himself soon broke through the feeble restraint +of this new-born tolerance. The writer adds an incident that must have +happened somewhat later,[23] to show how real was Jeremiah's danger, and +how transient was the liberal mood of the authorities. A certain Uriah +ben Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim had the courage to follow in Jeremiah's +footsteps and speak against the city "according to all that Jeremiah had +said." With the usual meanness of persecutors, Jehoiakim and his +captains and princes vented upon this obscure prophet the ill-will which +they had not dared to indulge in the case of Jeremiah, with his +commanding personality and influential friends. Uriah fled into Egypt, +but was brought back and slain, and his body cast out unburied into the +common cemetery. We can understand Jeremiah's fierce and bitter +indignation against the city where such things were possible. + +This chapter is so full of suggestive teaching that we can only touch +upon two or three of its more obvious lessons. The dogma which shaped +the charge against Jeremiah and caused the martyrdom of Uriah was the +inviolability of the Temple and the Holy City. This dogma was a +perversion of the teaching of Isaiah, and especially of Jeremiah +himself,[24] which assigned a unique position to the Temple in the +religion of Israel. The carnal man shows a fatal ingenuity in sucking +poison out of the most wholesome truth. He is always eager to discover +that something external, material, physical, concrete--some building, +organisation, ceremony, or form of words--is a fundamental basis of +the faith and essential to salvation. If Jeremiah had died with +Josiah, the "priests and prophets" would doubtless have quoted his +authority against Uriah. The teaching of Christ and His apostles, of +Luther and Calvin and their fellow-reformers, has often been twisted +and forged into weapons to be used against their true followers. We +are often tempted in the interest of our favourite views to lay undue +stress on secondary and accidental statements of great teachers. We +fail to keep the due proportion of truth which they themselves +observed, and in applying their precepts to new problems we sacrifice +the kernel and save the husk. The warning of Jeremiah's persecutors +might often "give us pause." We need not be surprised at finding +priests and prophets eager and interested champions of a perversion of +revealed truth. Ecclesiastical office does not necessarily confer any +inspiration from above. The hereditary priest follows the traditions +of his caste, and even the prophet may become the mouthpiece of the +passions and prejudices of those who accept and applaud him. When men +will not endure sound doctrine, they heap to themselves teachers +after their own lusts; having itching ears, they turn away their ears +from the truth and turn unto fables.[25] Jeremiah's experience shows +that even an apparent consensus of clerical opinion is not always to +be trusted. The history of councils and synods is stained by many foul +and shameful blots; it was the Œcumenical Council at Constance that +burnt Huss, and most Churches have found themselves, at some time or +other, engaged in building the tombs of the prophets whom their own +officials had stoned in days gone by. We forget that _Athanasius +contra mundum_ implies also _Athanasius contra ecclesiam_. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The expression is curious; it usually means all the cities of +Judah, except Jerusalem; the LXX. reading varies between "all the +Jews" and "all Judah." + +[11] See especially the exposition of chaps. vii.-x., which are often +supposed to be a reproduction of Jeremiah's utterance on this occasion. + +[12] The Hebrew apparently implies that the discourse was a repetition +of former prophecies. + +[13] vii. 12-14. Even if chaps. vii.-x. are not a report of Jeremiah's +discourse on this occasion, the few lines in xxvi. are evidently a +mere summary, and vii. will best indicate the substance of his +utterance. The verses quoted occur towards the beginning of vii.-x., +but from the emphatic reference to Shiloh in the brief abstract in +xxvi., Jeremiah must have dwelt on this topic, and the fact that the +outburst followed his conclusion suggests that he reserved this +subject for his peroration. + +[14] v. 31. + +[15] Acts xxi. 27-30. + +[16] 2 Kings xv. 35. + +[17] Mark xiv. 58. + +[18] Acts vi. 13, 14, vii. 48. + +[19] 2 Kings xviii. 4, xxiii.; Isa. xxxvi. 7. + +[20] vii. 4. + +[21] Micah iii. 12. As the quotation exactly agrees with the verse in +our extant Book of Micah, we may suppose that the elders were +acquainted with his prophecies in writing. + +[22] Psalm xxxi. 13-15, 18, 19. The Psalm is sometimes ascribed to +Jeremiah, because it can be so readily applied to this incident. The +reader will recognise his characteristic phrase "Terror on every side" +(Magor-missabib). + +[23] This incident cannot be part of the speech of the elders; it would +only have told against the point they were trying to make. The various +phases--prophesy, persecution, flight, capture, and execution--must have +taken some time, and can scarcely have preceded Jeremiah's utterance "at +the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim." + +[24] Assuming his sympathy with Deuteronomy. + +[25] 2 Tim. iv. 3. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE ROLL + + xxxvi. + + "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that + I have spoken unto thee."--JER. xxxvi. 2. + + +The incidents which form so large a proportion of the contents of our +book do not make up a connected narrative; they are merely a series of +detached pictures: we can only conjecture the doings and experiences +of Jeremiah during the intervals. Chapter xxvi. leaves him still +exposed to the persistent hostility of the priests and prophets, who +had apparently succeeded in once more directing popular feeling +against their antagonist. At the same time, though the princes were +not ill-disposed towards him, they were not inclined to resist the +strong pressure brought to bear upon them. Probably the attitude of +the populace varied from time to time, according to the presence among +them of the friends or enemies of the prophet; and, in the same way, +we cannot think of "the princes" as a united body, governed by a +single impulse. The action of this group of notables might be +determined by the accidental preponderance of one or other of two +opposing parties. Jeremiah's only real assurance of safety lay in the +personal protection extended to him by Ahikam ben Shaphan. Doubtless +other princes associated themselves with Ahikam in his friendly +action on behalf of the prophet. + +Under these circumstances, Jeremiah would find it necessary to restrict +his activity. Utter indifference to danger was one of the most ordinary +characteristics of Hebrew prophets, and Jeremiah was certainly not +wanting in the desperate courage which may be found in any Mohammedan +dervish. At the same time he was far too practical, too free from morbid +self-consciousness, to court martyrdom for its own sake. If he had +presented himself again in the Temple when it was crowded with +worshippers, his life might have been taken in a popular tumult, while +his mission was still only half accomplished. Possibly his priestly +enemies had found means to exclude him from the sacred precincts. + +Man's extremity was God's opportunity; this temporary and partial +silencing of Jeremiah led to a new departure, which made the influence +of his teaching more extensive and permanent. He was commanded to +commit his prophecies to writing. The restriction of his active +ministry was to bear rich fruit, like Paul's imprisonment, and +Athanasius' exile, and Luther's sojourn in the Wartburg. A short time +since there was great danger that Jeremiah and the Divine message +entrusted to him would perish together. He did not know how soon he +might become once more the mark of popular fury, nor whether Ahikam +would still be able to protect him. The roll of the book could speak +even if he were put to death. + +But Jeremiah was not thinking chiefly about what would become of his +teaching if he himself perished. He had an immediate and particular end +in view. His tenacious persistence was not to be baffled by the +prospect of mob violence, or by exclusion from the most favourable +vantage-ground. Renan is fond of comparing the prophets to modern +journalists; and this incident is an early and striking instance of the +substitution of pen, ink, and paper for the orator's tribune. Perhaps +the closest modern parallel is that of the speaker who is howled down at +a public meeting and hands his manuscript to the reporters. + +In the record of the Divine command to Jeremiah, there is no express +statement as to what was to be done with the roll; but as the object +of writing it was that "perchance the house of Judah might hear and +repent," it is evident that from the first it was intended to be read +to the people. + +There is considerable difference of opinion[26] as to the contents of +the roll. They are described as: "All that I have spoken unto thee +concerning[27] Jerusalem[28] and Judah, and all the nations, since I +(first) spake unto thee, from the time of Josiah until now." At first +sight this would seem to include all previous utterances, and therefore +all the extant prophecies of a date earlier than B.C. 605, _i.e._ those +contained in chapters i.-xii. and some portions of xiv.-xx. (we cannot +determine which with any exactness), and probably most of those dated in +the fourth year of Jehoiakim, _i.e._ xxv. and parts of xlv.-xlix. +Cheyne,[29] however, holds that the roll simply contained the striking +and comprehensive prophecy in chapter xxv. The whole series of chapters +might very well be described as dealing with Jerusalem, Judah, and the +nations; but at the same time xxv. might be considered equivalent, by +way of summary, to all that had been spoken on these subjects. From +various considerations which will appear as we proceed with the +narrative, it seems probable that the larger estimate is the more +correct, _i.e._ that the roll contained a large fraction of our Book of +Jeremiah, and not merely one or two chapters. We need not, however, +suppose that every previous utterance of the prophet, even though still +extant, must have been included in the roll; the "all" would of course +be understood to be conditioned by relevancy; and the narratives of +various incidents are obviously not part of what Jehovah had spoken. + +Jeremiah dictated his prophecies, as St. Paul did his epistles, to an +amanuensis; he called his disciple Baruch[30] ben Neriah, and dictated +to him "all that Jehovah had spoken, upon a book, in the form of a +roll." + +It seems clear that, as in xxvi., the narrative does not exactly +follow the order of events,[31] and that verse 9, which records the +proclamation of a fast in the ninth month of Jehoiakim's fifth year, +should be read before verse 5, which begins the account of the +circumstances leading up to the actual reading of the roll. We are not +told in what month of Jehoiakim's fourth year Jeremiah received this +command to write his prophecies in a roll, but as they were not read +till the ninth month of the fifth year, there must have been an +interval of at least ten months or a year between the Divine command +and the reading by Baruch. We can scarcely suppose that all or nearly +all this delay was caused by Jeremiah and Baruch's waiting for a +suitable occasion. The long interval suggests that the dictation took +some time, and that therefore the roll was somewhat voluminous in its +contents, and that it was carefully compiled, not without a certain +amount of revision. + +When the manuscript was ready, its authors had to determine the right +time at which to read it; they found their desired opportunity in the +fast proclaimed in the ninth month. This was evidently an extraordinary +fast, appointed in view of some pressing danger; and, in the year +following the battle of Carchemish, this would naturally be the advance +of Nebuchadnezzar. As our incident took place in the depth of winter, +the months must be reckoned according to the Babylonian year, which +began in April; and the ninth month, Kisleu, would roughly correspond to +our December. The dreaded invasion would be looked for early in the +following spring, "at the time when kings go out to battle."[32] + +Jeremiah does not seem to have absolutely determined from the first +that the reading of the roll by Baruch was to be a substitute for his +own presence. He had probably hoped that some change for the better in +the situation might justify his appearance before a great gathering in +the Temple. But when the time came he was "hindered"[33]--we are not +told how--and could not go into the Temple. He may have been +restrained by his own prudence, or dissuaded by his friends, like Paul +when he would have faced the mob in the theatre at Ephesus; the +hindrance may have been some ban under which he had been placed by the +priesthood, or it may have been some unexpected illness, or legal +uncleanness, or some other passing accident, such as Providence often +uses to protect its soldiers till their warfare is accomplished. + +Accordingly it was Baruch who went up to the Temple. Though he is said +to have read the book "in the ears of all the people," he does not +seem to have challenged universal attention as openly as Jeremiah had +done; he did not stand forth in the court of the Temple,[34] but +betook himself to the "chamber" of the scribe,[35] or secretary of +state, Gemariah ben Shaphan, the brother of Jeremiah's protector +Ahikam. This chamber would be one of the cells built round the upper +court, from which the "new gate"[36] led into an inner court of the +Temple. Thus Baruch placed himself formally under the protection of +the owner of the apartment, and any violence offered to him would have +been resented and avenged by this powerful noble with his kinsmen and +allies. Jeremiah's disciple and representative took his seat at the +door of the chamber, and, in full view of the crowds who passed and +repassed through the new gate, opened his roll and began to read aloud +from its contents. His reading was yet another repetition of the +exhortations, warnings, and threats which Jeremiah had rehearsed on +the feast day when he spake to the people "all that Jehovah had +commanded him"; and still both Jehovah and His prophet promised +deliverance as the reward of repentance. Evidently the head and front +of the nation's offence had been no open desertion of Jehovah for +idols, else His servants would not have selected for their audience +His enthusiastic worshippers as they thronged to His Temple. The fast +itself might have seemed a token of penitence, but it was not accepted +by Jeremiah, or put forward by the people, as a reason why the +prophecies of ruin should not be fulfilled. No one offers the very +natural plea: "In this fast we are humbling ourselves under the mighty +hand of God, we are confessing our sins, and consecrating ourselves +afresh to service of Jehovah. What more does He expect of us? Why does +He still withhold His mercy and forgiveness? Wherefore have we fasted, +and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou +takest no knowledge?" Such a plea would probably have received an +answer similar to that given by one of Jeremiah's successors: "Behold, +in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and oppress all +your labourers. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to +smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make +your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? +the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a +rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this +a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?" + +"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of +wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go +free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the +hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? +when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not +thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the +morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily: and thy +righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy +rearward."[37] + +Jeremiah's opponents did not grudge Jehovah His burnt-offerings and +calves of a year old; He was welcome to thousands of rams, and ten +thousands of rivers of oil. They were even willing to give their +firstborn for their transgression, the fruit of their body for the sin +of their soul; but they were not prepared "to do justly, and to love +mercy, and to walk humbly with their God."[38] + +We are not told how Jeremiah and the priests and prophets formulated the +points at issue between them, which were so thoroughly and universally +understood that the record takes them for granted. Possibly Jeremiah +contended for the recognition of Deuteronomy, with its lofty ideals of +pure religion and a humanitarian order of society. But, in any case, +these incidents were an early phase of the age-long struggle of the +prophets of God against the popular attempt to make ritual and sensuous +emotion into excuses for ignoring morality, and to offer the cheap +sacrifice of a few unforbidden pleasures, rather than surrender the +greed of grain, the lust of power, and the sweetness of revenge. + +When the multitudes caught the sound of Baruch's voice and saw him +sitting in the doorway of Gemariah's chamber, they knew exactly what +they would hear. To them he was almost as antagonistic as a Protestant +evangelist would be to the worshippers at some great Romanist feast; +or perhaps we might find a closer parallel in a Low Church bishop +addressing a ritualistic audience. For the hearts of these hearers +were not steeled by the consciousness of any formal schism. Baruch and +the great prophet whom he represented did not stand outside the +recognised limits of Divine inspiration. While the priests and +prophets and their adherents repudiated his teaching as heretical, +they were still haunted by the fear that, at any rate, his threats +might have some Divine authority. Apart from all theology, the prophet +of evil always finds an ally in the nervous fears and guilty +conscience of his hearer. + +The feelings of the people would be similar to those with which they had +heard the same threats against Judah, the city and the Temple, from +Jeremiah himself. But the excitement aroused by the defeat of Pharaoh +and the hasty return of Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon had died away. The +imminence of a new invasion made it evident that this had not been the +Divine deliverance of Judah. The people were cowed by what must have +seemed to many the approaching fulfilments of former threatenings; the +ritual of a fast was in itself depressing; so that they had little +spirit to resent the message of doom. Perhaps too there was less to +resent: the prophecies were the same, but Baruch may have been less +unpopular than Jeremiah, and his reading would be tame and ineffective +compared to the fiery eloquence of his master. Moreover the powerful +protection which shielded him was indicated not only by the place he +occupied, but also by the presence of Gemariah's son, Micaiah. + +The reading passed off without any hostile demonstration on the part of +the people, and Micaiah went in search of his father to describe to him +the scene he had just witnessed. He found him in the palace, in the +chamber of the secretary of state, Elishama, attending a council of the +princes. There were present, amongst others, Elnathan ben Achbor, who +brought Uriah back from Egypt, Delaiah ben Shemaiah, and Zedekiah ben +Hananiah. Micaiah told them what he had heard. They at once sent for +Baruch and the roll. Their messenger, Jehudi ben Nethaniah, seems to +have been a kind of court-usher. His name signifies "the Jew," and as +his great-grandfather was Cushi, "the Ethiopian," it has been suggested +that he came of a family of Ethiopian descent, which had only attained +in his generation to Jewish citizenship.[39] + +When Baruch arrived, the princes greeted him with the courtesy and even +deference due to the favourite disciple of a distinguished prophet. They +invited him to sit down and read them the roll. Baruch obeyed; the +method of reading suited the enclosed room and the quiet, interested +audience of responsible men, better than the swaying crowd gathered +round the door of Gemariah's chamber. Baruch now had before him +ministers of state who knew from their official information and +experience how extremely probable it was that the words to which they +were listening would find a speedy and complete fulfilment. Baruch must +almost have seemed to them like a doomster who announces to a condemned +criminal the ghastly details of his coming execution. They exchanged +looks of dismay and horror, and when the reading was over, they said to +one another,[40] "We must tell the king of all these words." First, +however, they inquired concerning the exact circumstances under which +the roll had been written, that they might know how far responsibility +in this matter was to be divided between the prophet and his disciple, +and also whether all the contents rested upon the full authority of +Jeremiah. Baruch assured them that it was simply a case of dictation: +Jeremiah had uttered every word with his own mouth, and he had +faithfully written it down; everything was Jeremiah's own.[41] + +The princes were well aware that the prophet's action would probably be +resented and punished by Jehoiakim. They said to Baruch: "Do you and +Jeremiah go and hide yourselves, and let no one know where you are." +They kept the roll and laid it up in Elishama's room; then they went to +the king. They found him in his winter room, in the inner court of the +palace, sitting in front of a brasier of burning charcoal. On this +fast-day the king's mind might well be careful and troubled, as he +meditated on the kind of treatment that he, the nominee of Pharaoh +Necho, was likely to receive from Nebuchadnezzar. We cannot tell whether +he contemplated resistance or had already resolved to submit to the +conqueror. In either case he would wish to act on his own initiative, +and might be anxious lest a Chaldean party should get the upper hand in +Jerusalem and surrender him and the city to the invader. + +When the princes entered, their number and their manner would at once +indicate to him that their errand was both serious and disagreeable. He +seems to have listened in silence while they made their report of the +incident at the door of Gemariah's chamber and their own interview with +Baruch.[42] The king sent for the roll by Jehudi, who had accompanied +the princes into the presence chamber; and on his return the same +serviceable official read its contents before Jehoiakim and the princes, +whose number was now augmented by the nobles in attendance upon the +king. Jehudi had had the advantage of hearing Baruch read the roll, but +ancient Hebrew manuscripts were not easy to decipher, and probably +Jehudi stumbled somewhat; altogether the reading of prophecies by a +court-usher would not be a very edifying performance, or very gratifying +to Jeremiah's friends. Jehoiakim treated the matter with deliberate and +ostentatious contempt. At the end of every three or four columns,[43] he +put out his hand for the roll, cut away the portion that had been read, +and threw it on the fire; then he handed the remainder back to Jehudi, +and the reading was resumed till the king thought fit to repeat the +process. It at once appeared that the audience was divided into two +parties. When Gemariah's father, Shaphan, had read Deuteronomy to +Josiah, the king rent his clothes; but now the writer tells us, half +aghast, that neither Jehoiakim nor any of his servants were afraid or +rent their clothes, but the audience, including doubtless both court +officials and some of the princes, looked on with calm indifference. Not +so the princes who had been present at Baruch's reading: they had +probably induced him to leave the roll with them, by promising that it +should be kept safely; they had tried to keep it out of the king's hands +by leaving it in Elishama's room, and now they made another attempt to +save it from destruction. They entreated Jehoiakim to refrain from open +and insolent defiance of a prophet who might after all be speaking in +the name of Jehovah. But the king persevered. The alternate reading and +burning went on; the unfortunate usher's fluency and clearness would not +be improved by the extraordinary conditions under which he had to read; +and we may well suppose that the concluding columns were hurried over in +a somewhat perfunctory fashion, if they were read at all. As soon as the +last shred of parchment was shrivelling on the charcoal, Jehoiakim +commanded three of his officers[44] to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch. But +they had taken the advice of the princes and were not to be found: +"Jehovah hid them." + +Thus the career of Baruch's roll was summarily cut short. But it had +done its work; it had been read on three separate occasions, first +before the people, then before the princes, and last of all before the +king and his court. If Jeremiah had appeared in person, he might have +been at once arrested, and put to death like Uriah. No doubt this +threefold recital was, on the whole, a failure; Jeremiah's party among +the princes had listened with anxious deference, but the appeal had +been received by the people with indifference and by the king with +contempt. Nevertheless it must have strengthened individuals in the +true faith, and it had proclaimed afresh that the religion of Jehovah +gave no sanction to the policy of Jehoiakim: the ruin of Judah would +be a proof of the sovereignty of Jehovah and not of His impotence. But +probably this incident had more immediate influence over the king than +we might at first sight suppose. When Nebuchadnezzar arrived in +Palestine, Jehoiakim submitted to him, a policy entirely in accordance +with the views of Jeremiah. We may well believe that the experiences +of this fast-day had strengthened the hands of the prophet's friends, +and cooled the enthusiasm of the court for more desperate and +adventurous courses. Every year's respite for Judah fostered the +growth of the true religion of Jehovah. + +The sequel showed how much more prudent it was to risk the existence +of a roll rather than the life of a prophet. Jeremiah was only +encouraged to persevere. By the Divine command, he dictated his +prophecies afresh to Baruch, adding besides unto them many like words. +Possibly other copies were made of the whole or parts of this roll, +and were secretly circulated, read, and talked about. We are not told +whether Jehoiakim ever heard this new roll; but, as one of the many +like things added to the older prophecies was a terrible personal +condemnation of the king,[45] we may be sure that he was not allowed +to remain in ignorance, at any rate, of this portion of it. + +The second roll was, doubtless, one of the main sources of our +present Book of Jeremiah, and the narrative of this chapter is of +considerable importance for Old Testament criticism. It shows that a +prophetic book may not go back to any prophetic autograph at all; its +most original sources may be manuscripts written at the prophet's +dictation, and liable to all the errors which are apt to creep into +the most faithful work of an amanuensis. It shows further that, even +when a prophet's utterances were written down during his lifetime, the +manuscript may contain only his recollections[46] of what he said +years before, and that these might be either expanded or abbreviated, +sometimes even unconsciously modified, in the light of subsequent +events. Verse 32 shows that Jeremiah did not hesitate to add to the +record of his former prophecies "many like words": there is no reason +to suppose that these were all contained in an appendix; they would +often take the form of annotations. + +The important part played by Baruch as Jeremiah's secretary and +representative must have invested him with full authority to speak for +his master and expound his views; such authority points to Baruch as +the natural editor of our present book, which is virtually the "Life +and Writings" of the prophet. The last words of our chapter are +ambiguous, perhaps intentionally. They simply state that many like +words were added, and do not say by whom; they might even include +additions made later on by Baruch from his own reminiscences. + +In conclusion, we may notice that both the first and second copies of +the roll were written by the direct Divine command, just as in the +Hexateuch and the Book of Samuel we read of Moses, Joshua, and Samuel +committing certain matters to writing at the bidding of Jehovah. We +have here the recognition of the inspiration of the scribe, as +ancillary to that of the prophet. Jehovah not only gives His word to +His servants, but watches over its preservation and transmission.[47] +But there is no inspiration to _write_ any new revelation: the spoken +word, the consecrated life, are inspired; the book is only a record of +inspired speech and action. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[26] See Cheyne, Giesebrecht, Orelli, etc. + +[27] R.V. "against." The Hebrew is ambiguous. + +[28] So Septuagint. The Hebrew text has Israel, which is a less +accurate description of the prophecies, and is less relevant to this +particular occasion. + +[29] _Jeremiah_ (Men of the Bible), p. 132. + +[30] Cf. Chap. V. on "Baruch." + +[31] Verses 5-8 seem to be a brief alternative account to 9-26. + +[32] 1 Chron. xx. i. + +[33] _'ĀCÛR_: A.V., R.V., "shut up"; R.V. margin, "restrained." The +term is used in xxxiii. 1, xxxix. 15, in the sense of "imprisoned," +but here Jeremiah appears to be at liberty. The phrase _'ĀC̦ÛR W +ĀZÛBH_, A.V. "shut up or left" (Deut. xxxii. 36, etc.), has been +understood, those under the restraints imposed upon ceremonial +uncleanness and those free from these restraints, _i.e._ everybody; +the same meaning has been given to _'ĀC̦ÛR_ here. + +[34] xxvi. 2. + +[35] So Cheyne; the Hebrew does not make it clear whether the title +"scribe" refers to the father or the son. Giesebrecht understands it +of Shaphan, who appears as scribe in 2 Kings xxii. 8. He points out +that in verse 20 Elishama is called the scribe, but we cannot assume +that the title was limited to a single officer of state. + +[36] Cf. xxvi. 10. + +[37] Isa. lviii. 3-8. + +[38] Micah vi. 6-8. + +[39] So Orelli, _in loco_. + +[40] Hebrew text "to Baruch," which LXX. omits. + +[41] In verse 18 the word "with ink" is not in the LXX., and may be an +accidental repetition of the similar word for "his mouth." + +[42] The A.V. and R.V. "all the words" is misleading: it should rather +be "everything"; the princes did not recite all the contents of the +roll. + +[43] The English tenses "cut," "cast," are ambiguous, but the Hebrew +implies that the "cutting" and "casting on the fire" were repeated +again and again. + +[44] One is called Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech (A.V.), or "the +king's son" (R.V.); if the latter is correct we must understand merely +a prince of the blood-royal and not a son of Jehoiakim, who was only +thirty. + +[45] For verses 29-31 see Chap. VI., where they are dealt with in +connection with xxii. 13-19. + +[46] The supposition that Jeremiah had written notes of previous +prophecies is not an impossible one, but it is a pure conjecture. + +[47] Cf. Orelli, _in loco_. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + _THE RECHABITES_ + + xxxv. + + "Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me + for ever."--JER. xxxv. 19. + + +This incident is dated "in the days of Jehoiakim." We learn from verse +11 that it happened at a time when the open country of Judah was +threatened by the advance of Nebuchadnezzar with a Chaldean and Syrian +army. If Nebuchadnezzar marched into the south of Palestine +immediately after the battle of Carchemish, the incident may have +happened, as some suggest, in the eventful fourth year of Jehoiakim; +or if he did not appear in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem till after +he had taken over the royal authority at Babylon, Jeremiah's interview +with the Rechabites may have followed pretty closely upon the +destruction of Baruch's roll. But we need not press the words +"Nebuchadnezzar ... came up into the land"; they may only mean that +Judah was invaded by an army acting under his orders. The mention of +Chaldeans and Assyrians suggests that this invasion is the same as +that mentioned in 2 Kings xxiv. 1, 2, where we are told that Jehoiakim +served Nebuchadnezzar three years and then rebelled against him, +whereupon Jehovah sent against him bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, +Moabites, and Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it. +If this is the invasion referred to in our chapter it falls towards +the end of Jehoiakim's reign, and sufficient time had elapsed to allow +the king's anger against Jeremiah to cool, so that the prophet could +venture out of his hiding-place. + +The marauding bands of Chaldeans and their allies had driven the +country people in crowds into Jerusalem, and among them the nomad clan +of the Rechabites. According to 1 Chron. ii. 55, the Rechabites traced +their descent to a certain Hemath, and were a branch of the Kenites, +an Edomite tribe dwelling for the most part in the south of Palestine. +These Kenites had maintained an ancient and intimate alliance with +Judah, and in time the allies virtually became a single people, so +that after the Return from the Captivity all distinction of race +between Kenites and Jews was forgotten, and the Kenites were reckoned +among the families of Israel. In this fusion of their tribe with +Judah, the Rechabite clan would be included. It is clear from all the +references both to Kenites and to Rechabites that they had adopted the +religion of Israel and worshipped Jehovah. We know nothing else of the +early history of the Rechabites. The statement in Chronicles that the +father of the house of Rechab was Hemath perhaps points to their +having been at one time settled at some place called Hemath near Jabez +in Judah. Possibly too Rechab, which means "rider," is not a personal +name, but a designation of the clan as horsemen of the desert. + +These Rechabites were conspicuous among the Jewish farmers and +townsfolk by their rigid adherence to the habits of nomad life; and it +was this peculiarity that attracted the notice of Jeremiah, and made +them a suitable object-lesson to the recreant Jews. The traditional +customs of the clan had been formulated into positive commands by +Jonadab, the son of Rechab, _i.e._ the Rechabite. This must be the +same Jonadab who co-operated with Jehu in overthrowing the house of +Omri and suppressing the worship of Baal. Jehu's reforms concluded the +long struggle of Elijah and Elisha against the house of Omri and its +half-heathen religion. Hence we may infer that Jonadab and his +Rechabites had come under the influence of these great prophets, and +that their social and religious condition was one result of Elijah's +work. Jeremiah stood in the true line of succession from the northern +prophets in his attitude towards religion and politics; so that there +would be bonds of sympathy between him and these nomad refugees. + +The laws or customs of Jonadab, like the Ten Commandments, were +chiefly negative: "Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons +for ever: neither shall ye build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant +vineyards, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; +that ye may live many days in the land wherein ye are strangers." + +Various parallels have been found to the customs of the Rechabites. The +Hebrew Nazarites abstained from wine and strong drink, from grapes and +grape juice and everything made of the vine, "from the kernels even to +the husk."[48] Mohammed forbade his followers to drink any sort of wine +or strong drink. But the closest parallel is one often quoted from +Diodorus Siculus,[49] who, writing about B.C. 8, tells us that the +Nabatean Arabs were prohibited under the penalty of death from sowing +corn or planting fruit trees, using wine or building houses. Such +abstinence is not primarily ascetic; it expresses the universal contempt +of the wandering hunter and herdsman for tillers of the ground, who are +tied to one small spot of earth, and for burghers, who further imprison +themselves in narrow houses and behind city walls. The nomad has a not +altogether unfounded instinct that such acceptance of material +restraints emasculates both soul and body. A remarkable parallel to the +laws of Jonadab ben Rechab is found in the injunctions of the dying +highlander, Ranald of the Mist, to his heir: "Son of the Mist! be free +as thy forefathers. Own no lord--receive no law--take no hire--give no +stipend--build no hut--enclose no pasture--sow no grain."[50] The +Rechabite faith in the higher moral value of their primitive habits had +survived their alliance with Israel, and Jonadab did his best to protect +his clan from the taint of city life and settled civilisation. +Abstinence from wine was not enjoined chiefly, if at all, to guard +against intoxication, but because the fascinations of the grape might +tempt the clan to plant vineyards, or, at any rate, would make them +dangerously dependent upon vine-dressers and wine-merchants. + +Till this recent invasion, the Rechabites had faithfully observed +their ancestral laws, but the stress of circumstances had now driven +them into a fortified city, possibly even into houses, though it is +more probable that they were encamped in some open space within the +walls.[51] Jeremiah was commanded to go and bring them into the +Temple, that is, into one of the rooms in the Temple buildings, and +offer them wine. The narrative proceeds in the first person, "I took +Jaazaniah," so that the chapter will have been composed by the prophet +himself. In somewhat legal fashion he tells us how he took "Jaazaniah +ben Jeremiah, ben Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and +all the clan of the Rechabites." All three names are compounded of the +Divine name Iah, Jehovah, and serve to emphasise the devotion of the +clan to the God of Israel. It is a curious coincidence that the +somewhat rare name Jeremiah[52] should occur twice in this connection. +The room to which the prophet took his friends is described as the +chamber of the disciples of the man of God[53] Hanan ben Igdaliah, +which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber +of the keeper of the threshold, Maaseiah ben Shallum. Such minute +details probably indicate that this chapter was committed to writing +while these buildings were still standing and still had the same +occupants as at the time of this incident, but to us the topography is +unintelligible. The "man of God" or prophet Hanan was evidently in +sympathy with Jeremiah, and had a following of disciples who formed a +sort of school of the prophets, and were a sufficiently permanent body +to have a chamber assigned to them in the Temple buildings. The +keepers of the threshold were Temple officials of high standing. The +"princes" may have been the princes of Judah, who might very well have +a chamber in the Temple courts; but the term is general, and may +simply refer to other Temple officials. Hanan's disciples seem to have +been in good company. + +These exact specifications of person and place are probably designed +to give a certain legal solemnity and importance to the incident, and +seem to warrant us in rejecting Reuss' suggestion that our narrative +is simply an elaborate prophetic figure.[54] + +After these details Jeremiah next tells us how he set before his +guests bowls of wine and cups, and invited them to drink. Probably +Jaazaniah and his clansmen were aware that the scene was intended to +have symbolic religious significance. They would not suppose that the +prophet had invited them all, in this solemn fashion, merely to take a +cup of wine; and they would welcome an opportunity of showing their +loyalty to their own peculiar customs. They said: "We will drink no +wine: for our father Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded us, saying, +Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons for ever." They +further recounted Jonadab's other commands and their own scrupulous +obedience in every point, except that now they had been compelled to +seek refuge in a walled city. + +Then the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah; he was commanded to make +yet another appeal to the Jews, by contrasting their disobedience with +the fidelity of the Rechabites. The Divine King and Father of Israel had +been untiring in His instruction and admonitions: "I have spoken unto +you, rising up early and speaking." He had addressed them in familiar +fashion through their fellow-countrymen: "I have sent also unto you all +My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them." Yet they +had not hearkened unto the God of Israel or His prophets. The Rechabites +had received no special revelation; they had not been appealed to by +numerous prophets. Their Torah had been simply given them by their +father Jonadab; nevertheless the commands of Jonadab had been regarded +and those of Jehovah had been treated with contempt. + +Obedience and disobedience would bring forth their natural fruit. "I +will bring upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all +the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken +unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but +they have not answered." But because the Rechabites obeyed the +commandment of their father Jonadab, "Therefore thus saith Jehovah +Sabaoth, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand +before Me for ever." + +Jehovah's approval of the obedience of the Rechabites is quite +independent of the specific commands which they obeyed. It does not +bind us to abstain from wine any more than from building houses and +sowing seed. Jeremiah himself, for instance, would have had no more +hesitation in drinking wine than in sowing his field at Anathoth. The +tribal customs of the Rechabites had no authority whatever over him. +Nor is it exactly his object to set forth the merit of obedience and +its certain and great reward. These truths are rather touched upon +incidentally. What Jeremiah seeks to emphasise is the gross, extreme, +unique wickedness of Israel's disobedience. Jehovah had not looked for +any special virtue in His people. His Torah was not made up of +counsels of perfection. He had only expected the loyalty that Moab +paid to Chemosh, and Tyre and Sidon to Baal. He would have been +satisfied if Israel had observed His laws as faithfully as the nomads +of the desert kept up their ancestral habits. Jehovah had spoken +through Jeremiah long ago and said: "Pass over the isles of Chittim, +and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if +there be any such thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are +yet no gods? but My people have changed their glory for that which +doth not profit."[55] Centuries later Christ found Himself constrained +to upbraid the cities of Israel, "wherein most of His mighty works +were done": "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if +the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and +Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.... It +shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than +for you."[56] And again and again in the history of the Church the +Holy Spirit has been grieved because those who profess and call +themselves Christians, and claim to prophesy and do many mighty works +in the name of Christ, are less loyal to the gospel than the heathen +to their own superstitions. + +Buddhists and Mohammedans have been held up as modern examples to +rebuke the Church, though as a rule with scant justification. Perhaps +material for a more relevant contrast may be found nearer home. +Christian societies have been charged with conducting their affairs by +methods to which a respectable business firm would not stoop; they are +said to be less scrupulous in their dealings and less chivalrous in +their honour than the devotees of pleasure; at their gatherings they +are sometimes supposed to lack the mutual courtesy of members of a +Legislature or a Chamber of Commerce. The history of councils and +synods and Church meetings gives colour to such charges, which could +never have been made if Christians had been as jealous for the Name of +Christ as a merchant is for his credit or a soldier for his honour. + +And yet these contrasts do not argue any real moral and religious +superiority of the Rechabites over the Jews or of unbelievers over +professing Christians. It was comparatively easy to abstain from wine +and to wander over wide pasture lands instead of living cooped up in +cities--far easier than to attain to the great ideals of Deuteronomy +and the prophets. It is always easier to conform to the code of +business and society than to live according to the Spirit of Christ. +The fatal sin of Judah was not that it fell so far short of its +ideals, but that it repudiated them. So long as we lament our own +failures and still cling to the Name and Faith of Christ, we are not +shut out from mercy; our supreme sin is to crucify Christ afresh, by +denying the power of His gospel, while we retain its empty form. + +The reward promised to the Rechabites for their obedience was that +"Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me for +ever"; to stand before Jehovah is often used to describe the exercise +of priestly or prophetic ministry. It has been suggested that the +Rechabites were hereby promoted to the status of the true Israel, "a +kingdom of priests"; but this phrase may merely mean that their clan +should continue in existence. Loyal observance of national law, the +subordination of individual caprice and selfishness to the interests +of the community, make up a large part of that righteousness that +establisheth a nation. + +Here, as elsewhere, students of prophecy have been anxious to discover +some literal fulfilment; and have searched curiously for any trace of +the continued existence of the Rechabites. The notice in Chronicles +implies that they formed part of the Jewish community of the +Restoration. Apparently Alexandrian Jews were acquainted with +Rechabites at a still later date. Psalm lxxi. is ascribed by the +Septuagint to "the sons of Jonadab." Eusebius[57] mentions "priests of +the sons of Rechab," and Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveller of the +twelfth century, states that he met with them in Arabia. More recent +travellers have thought that they discovered the descendants of Rechab +amongst the nomads in Arabia or the Peninsula of Sinai that still +practised the old ancestral customs. + +But the fidelity of Jehovah to His promises does not depend upon our +unearthing obscure tribes in distant deserts. The gifts of God are +without repentance, but they have their inexorable conditions; no +nation can flourish for centuries on the virtues of its ancestors. The +Rechabites may have vanished in the ordinary stream of history, and +yet we can hold that Jeremiah's prediction has been fulfilled and is +still being fulfilled. No scriptural prophecy is limited in its +application to an individual or a race, and every nation possessed by +the spirit of true patriotism shall "stand before Jehovah for ever." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] Num. vi. 2. + +[49] xix. 94. + +[50] Scott, _Legend of Montrose_, chap. xxii. + +[51] The term "house of the Rechabites" in verse 2 means "family" or +"clan," and does not refer to a building. + +[52] Eight Jeremiahs occur in O.T. + +[53] Literally "sons of Hanan." + +[54] Jeremiah, according to this view, had no interview with the +Rechabites, but made an imaginary incident a text for his discourse. + +[55] ii. 10, 11. + +[56] Matt. xi. 21, 22. + +[57] _Ch. Hist._, ii. 23. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + _BARUCH_ + + xlv. + + "Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey."--JER. xlv. 5. + + +The editors of the versions and of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament +have assigned a separate chapter to this short utterance concerning +Baruch; thus paying an unconscious tribute to the worth and importance +of Jeremiah's disciple and secretary, who was the first to bear the +familiar Jewish name, which in its Latinised form of Benedict has been a +favourite with saints and popes. Probably few who read of these great +ascetics and ecclesiastics give a thought to the earliest recorded +Baruch, nor can we suppose that Christian Benedicts have been named +after him. One thing they may all have in common: either their own faith +or that of their parents ventured to bestow upon a "man born unto +trouble as the sparks fly upward" the epithet "Blessed." We can scarcely +suppose that the life of any Baruch or Benedict has run so smoothly as +to prevent him or his friends from feeling that such faith has not been +outwardly justified and that the name suggested an unkind satire. +Certainly Jeremiah's disciple, like his namesake Baruch Spinoza, had to +recognise his blessings disguised as distress and persecution. + +Baruch ben Neriah is said by Josephus[58] to have belonged to a most +distinguished family, and to have been exceedingly well educated in his +native language. These statements are perhaps legitimate deductions from +the information supplied by our book. His title "scribe"[59] and his +position as Jeremiah's secretary imply that he possessed the best +culture of his time; and we are told in li. 59 that Seraiah ben Neriah, +who must be Baruch's brother, was chief chamberlain (R.V.) to Zedekiah. +According to the Old Latin Version of the Apocryphal Book of Baruch (i. +1) he was of the tribe of Simeon, a statement by no means improbable in +view of the close connection between Judah and Simeon, but needing the +support of some better authority. + +Baruch's relation to Jeremiah is not expressly defined, but it is +clearly indicated in the various narratives in which he is referred +to. We find him in constant attendance upon the prophet, acting both +as his "scribe," or secretary, and as his mouthpiece. The relation was +that of Joshua to Moses, of Elisha to Elijah, of Gehazi to Elisha, of +Mark to Paul and Barnabas, and of Timothy to Paul. It is described in +the case of Joshua and Mark by the term "minister," while Elisha is +characterised as having "poured water on the hands of Elijah." The +"minister" was at once personal attendant, disciple, representative, +and possible successor of the prophet. The position has its analogue +in the service of the squire to the mediæval knight, and in that of an +unpaid private secretary to a modern cabinet minister. Squires +expected to become knights, and private secretaries hope for a seat in +future cabinets. Another less perfect parallel is the relation of the +members of a German theological "seminar" to their professor. + +Baruch is first[60] introduced to us in the narrative concerning the +roll. He appears as Jeremiah's amanuensis and representative, and is +entrusted with the dangerous and honourable task of publishing his +prophecies to the people in the Temple. Not long before, similar +utterances had almost cost the master his life, so that the disciple +showed high courage and devotion in undertaking such a commission. He +was called to share with his master at once the same cup of +persecution--and the same Divine protection. + +We next hear of Baruch in connection with the symbolic purchase of the +field at Anathoth.[61] He seems to have been attending on Jeremiah +during his imprisonment in the court of the guard, and the documents +containing the evidence of the purchase were entrusted to his care. +Baruch's presence in the court of the guard does not necessarily imply +that he was himself a prisoner. The whole incident shows that +Jeremiah's friends had free access to him; and Baruch probably not +only attended to his master's wants in prison, but also was his +channel of communication with the outside world. + +We are nowhere told that Baruch himself was either beaten or +imprisoned, but it is not improbable that he shared Jeremiah's +fortunes even to these extremities. We next hear of him as carried +down to Egypt[62] with Jeremiah, when the Jewish refugees fled thither +after the murder of Gedaliah. Apparently he had remained with Jeremiah +throughout the whole interval, had continued to minister to him +during his imprisonment, and had been among the crowd of Jewish +captives whom Nebuchadnezzar found at Ramah. Josephus probably makes a +similar conjecture[63] in telling us that, when Jeremiah was released +and placed under the protection of Gedaliah at Mizpah, he asked and +obtained from Nebuzaradan the liberty of his disciple Baruch. At any +rate Baruch shared with his master the transient hope and bitter +disappointment of this period; he supported him in dissuading the +remnant of Jews from fleeing into Egypt, and was also compelled to +share their flight. According to a tradition recorded by Jerome, +Baruch and Jeremiah died in Egypt. But the Apocryphal Book of Baruch +places him at Babylon, whither another tradition takes him after the +death of Jeremiah in Egypt.[64] These legends are probably mere +attempts of wistful imagination to supply unwelcome blanks in history. + +It has often been supposed that our present Book of Jeremiah, in some +stage of its formation, was edited or compiled by Baruch, and that +this book may be ranked with biographies--like Stanley's Life of +Arnold--of great teachers by their old disciples. He was certainly the +amanuensis of the roll, which must have been the most valuable +authority for any editor of Jeremiah's prophecies. And the amanuensis +might very easily become the editor. If an edition of the book was +compiled in Jeremiah's lifetime, we should naturally expect him to use +Baruch's assistance; if it first took shape after the prophet's death, +and if Baruch survived, no one would be better able to compile the +"Life and Works of Jeremiah" than his favourite and faithful +disciple. The personal prophecy about Baruch does not occur in its +proper place in connection with the episode of the roll, but is +appended at the end of the prophecies,[65] possibly as a kind of +subscription on the part of the editor. These data do not constitute +absolute proof, but they afford strong probability that Baruch +compiled a book, which was substantially our Jeremiah. The evidence is +similar in character to, but much more conclusive than, that adduced +for the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews by Apollos. + +Almost the final reference to Baruch suggests another aspect of his +relation to Jeremiah. The Jewish captains accused him of unduly +influencing his master against Egypt and in favour of Chaldea. Whatever +truth there may have been in this particular charge, we gather that +popular opinion credited Baruch with considerable influence over +Jeremiah, and probably popular opinion was not far wrong. Nothing said +about Baruch suggests any vein of weakness in his character, such as +Paul evidently recognised in Timothy. His few appearances upon the scene +rather leave the impression of strength and self-reliance, perhaps even +self-assertion. If we knew more about him, possibly indeed if any one +else had compiled these "Memorabilia," we might discover that much in +Jeremiah's policy and teaching was due to Baruch, and that the master +leaned somewhat heavily upon the sympathy of the disciple. The qualities +that make a successful man of action do not always exempt their +possessor from being directed or even controlled by his followers. It +would be interesting to discover how much of Luther is Melanchthon. Of +many a great minister, his secretaries and subordinates might say +safely, in private, _Cujus pars magna fuimus_. + +The short prophecy which has furnished a text for this chapter shows +that Jeremiah was not unaware of Baruch's tendency to self-assertion, +and even felt that sometimes it required a check. Apparently chapter +xlv. once formed the immediate continuation of chapter xxxvi., the +narrative of the incident of the roll. It was "the word spoken by +Jeremiah the prophet to Baruch ben Neriah, when he wrote these words +in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah in the fourth year of +Jehoiakim." The reference evidently is to xxxvi. 32, where we are told +that Baruch wrote, at Jeremiah's dictation, all the words of the book +that had been burnt, and many like words. + +Clearly Baruch had not received Jeremiah's message as to the sin and +ruin of Judah without strong protest. It was as distasteful to him as +to all patriotic Jews and even to Jeremiah himself. Baruch had not yet +been able to accept this heavy burden or to look beyond to the +brighter promise of the future. He broke out into bitter complaint: +"Woe is me now! for Jehovah hath added sorrow to my pain; I am weary +with my groaning, and find no rest."[66] Strong as these words are, +they are surpassed by many of Jeremiah's complaints to Jehovah, and +doubtless even now they found an echo in the prophet's heart. Human +impatience of suffering revolts desperately against the conviction +that calamity is inevitable; hope whispers that some unforeseen +Providence will yet disperse the storm-clouds, and the portents of +ruin will dissolve like some evil dream. Jeremiah had, now as always, +the harsh, unwelcome task of compelling himself and his fellows to +face the sad and appalling reality. "Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I am +breaking down that which I built, I am plucking up that which I +planted."[67] This was his familiar message concerning Judah, but he +had also a special word for Baruch: "And as for thee, dost thou seek +great things for thyself?" What "great things" could a devout and +patriotic Jew, a disciple of Jeremiah, seek for himself in those +disastrous times? The answer is at once suggested by the renewed +prediction of doom. Baruch, in spite of his master's teaching, had +still ventured to look for better things, and had perhaps fancied that +he might succeed where Jeremiah had failed and might become the +mediator who should reconcile Israel to Jehovah. He may have thought +that Jeremiah's threats and entreaties had prepared the way for some +message of reconciliation. Gemariah ben Shaphan and other princes had +been greatly moved when Baruch read the roll. Might not their emotion +be an earnest of the repentance of the people? If he could carry on +his master's work to a more blessed issue than the master himself had +dared to hope, would not this be a "great thing" indeed? We gather +from the tone of the chapter that Baruch's aspirations were unduly +tinged with personal ambition. While kings, priests, and prophets were +sinking into a common ruin from which even the most devoted servants +of Jehovah would not escape, Baruch was indulging himself in visions +of the honour to be obtained from a glorious mission, successfully +accomplished. Jeremiah reminds him that he will have to take his +share in the common misery. Instead of setting his heart upon "great +things" which are not according to the Divine purpose, he must be +prepared to endure with resignation the evil which Jehovah "is +bringing upon all flesh." Yet there is a word of comfort and promise: +"I will give thee thy life for a prey in all places whither thou +goest." Baruch was to be protected from violent or premature death. + +According to Renan,[68] this boon was flung to Baruch +half-contemptuously, in order to silence his unworthy and unseasonable +importunity:-- + +"Dans une catastrophe qui va englober l'humanité tout entière, il est +beau de venir réclamer de petites faveurs d'exception! Baruch aura la +vie sauve partout où il ira; qu'il s'en contente!" + +We prefer a more generous interpretation. To a selfish man, unless +indeed he clung to bare life in craven terror or mere animal tenacity, +such an existence as Baruch was promised would have seemed no boon at +all. Imprisonment in a besieged and starving city, captivity and exile, +his fellow-countrymen's ill-will and resentment from first to +last--these experiences would be hard to recognise as privileges +bestowed by Jehovah. Had Baruch been wholly self-centred, he might well +have craved death instead, like Job, nay, like Jeremiah himself. But +life meant for him continued ministry to his master, the high privilege +of supporting him in his witness to Jehovah. If, as seems almost +certain, we owe to Baruch the preservation of Jeremiah's prophecies, +then indeed the life that was given him for a prey must have been +precious to him as the devoted servant of God. Humanly speaking, the +future of revealed religion and of Christianity depended on the survival +of Jeremiah's teaching, and this hung upon the frail thread of Baruch's +life. After all, Baruch was destined to achieve "great things," even +though not those which he sought after; and as no editor's name is +prefixed to our book, he cannot be accused of self-seeking. So too for +every faithful disciple, his life, even if given for a prey, even if +spent in sorrow, poverty, and pain, is still a Divine gift, because +nothing can spoil its opportunity of ministering to men and glorifying +God, even if only by patient endurance of suffering. + +We may venture on a wider application of the promise, "Thy life shall +be given thee for a prey." Life is not merely continued existence in +the body: life has come to mean spirit and character, so that Christ +could say, "He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." In +this sense the loyal servant of God wins as his prey, out of all +painful experiences, a fuller and nobler life. Other rewards may come +in due season, but this is the most certain and the most sufficient. +For Baruch, constant devotion to a hated and persecuted master, +uncompromising utterance of unpopular truth, had their chief issue in +the redemption of his own inward life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[58] _Antt._, x. 9, 1. + +[59] xxxvi. 26, 32. + +[60] In order of time, ch. xxxvi. + +[61] xxxii. + +[62] xliii. + +[63] _Antt._, x. 9, 1. + +[64] Bissell's Introduction to Baruch in Lange's Commentary. + +[65] So LXX., which here probably gives the true order. + +[66] The clause "I am weary with my groaning" also occurs in Psalm vi. +6. + +[67] The concluding clause of the verse is omitted by LXX., and is +probably a gloss added to indicate that the ruin would not be confined +to Judah, but would extend "over the whole earth." Cf. Kautzsch. + +[68] _Hist. of Israel_, iii., 293. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + _THE JUDGMENT ON JEHOIAKIM_ + + xxii. 13-19, xxxvi. 30, 31. + + "Jehoiakim ... slew him (Uriah) with the sword, and cast his dead + body into the graves of the common people."--JER. xxvi. 23. + + "Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, ... He shall be + buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the + gates of Jerusalem."--JER. xxii. 18, 19. + + "Jehoiakim ... did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, + according to all that his fathers had done."--2 KINGS xxiii. 36, 37. + + +Our last four chapters have been occupied with the history of Jeremiah +during the reign of Jehoiakim, and therefore necessarily with the +relations of the prophet to the king and his government. Before we +pass on to the reigns of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, we must consider +certain utterances which deal with the personal character and career +of Jehoiakim. We are helped to appreciate these passages by what we +here read, and by the brief paragraph concerning this reign in the +Second Book of Kings. In Jeremiah the king's policy and conduct are +specially illustrated by two incidents, the murder of the prophet +Uriah and the destruction of the roll. The historian states his +judgment of the reign, but his brief record[69] adds little to our +knowledge of the sovereign. + +Jehoiakim was placed upon the throne as the nominee and tributary of +Pharaoh Necho; but he had the address or good fortune to retain his +authority under Nebuchadnezzar, by transferring his allegiance to the +new suzerain of Western Asia. When a suitable opportunity offered, the +unwilling and discontented vassal naturally "turned and rebelled +against" his lord. Even then his good fortune did not forsake him; +although in his latter days Judah was harried by predatory bands of +Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, yet Jehoiakim "slept with +his fathers" before Nebuchadnezzar had set to work in earnest to +chastise his refractory subject. He was not reserved, like Zedekiah, +to endure agonies of mental and physical torture, and to rot in a +Babylonian dungeon. + +Jeremiah's judgment upon Jehoiakim and his doings is contained in the +two passages which form the subject of this chapter. The utterance in +xxxvi. 30, 31, was evoked by the destruction of the roll, and we may +fairly assume that xxii. 13-19 was also delivered after that incident. +The immediate context of the latter paragraph throws no light on the +date of its origin. Chapter xxii. is a series of judgments on the +successors of Josiah, and was certainly composed after the deposition +of Jehoiachin, probably during the reign of Zedekiah; but the section +on Jehoiakim must have been uttered at an earlier period. Renan indeed +imagines[70] that Jeremiah delivered this discourse at the gate of the +royal palace at the very beginning of the new reign. The nominee of +Egypt was scarcely seated on the throne, his "new name" Jehoiakim--"He +whom Jehovah establisheth"--still sounded strange in his ears, when +the prophet of Jehovah publicly menaced the king with condign +punishment. Renan is naturally surprised that Jehoiakim tolerated +Jeremiah, even for a moment. But, here as often elsewhere, the French +critic's dramatic instinct has warped his estimate of evidence. We +need not accept the somewhat unkind saying that picturesque anecdotes +are never true, but, at the same time, we have always to guard against +the temptation to accept the most dramatic interpretation of history +as the most accurate. The contents of this passage, the references to +robbery, oppression, and violence, clearly imply that Jehoiakim had +reigned long enough for his government to reveal itself as hopelessly +corrupt. The final breach between the king and the prophet was marked +by the destruction of the roll, and xxii. 13-19, like xxxvi. 30, 31, +may be considered a consequence of this breach. + +Let us now consider these utterances. In xxxvi. 30_a_ we read, +"Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, He +shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." Later on,[71] a like +judgment was pronounced upon Jehoiakim's son and successor Jehoiachin. +The absence of this threat from xxii. 13-19 is doubtless due to the +fact that the chapter was compiled when the letter of the prediction +seemed to have been proved to be false by the accession of Jehoiachin. +Its spirit and substance were amply satisfied by the latter's +deposition and captivity after a brief reign of a hundred days. + +The next clause in the sentence on Jehoiakim runs: "His dead body +shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the +frost." The same doom is repeated in the later prophecy:-- + + "They shall not lament for him, + Alas my brother! Alas my brother! + They shall not lament for him, + Alas lord! Alas lord![72] + He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, + Dragged forth and cast away without the gates of Jerusalem." + +Jeremiah did not need to draw upon his imagination for this vision of +judgment. When the words were uttered, his memory called up the murder +of Uriah ben Shemaiah and the dishonour done to his corpse. Uriah's +only guilt had been his zeal for the truth that Jeremiah had +proclaimed. Though Jehoiakim and his party had not dared to touch +Jeremiah or had not been able to reach him, they had struck his +influence by killing Uriah. But for their hatred of the master, the +disciple might have been spared. And Jeremiah had neither been able to +protect him, nor allowed to share his fate. Any generous spirit will +understand how Jeremiah's whole nature was possessed and agitated by a +tempest of righteous indignation, how utterly humiliated he felt to be +compelled to stand by in helpless impotence. And now, when the tyrant +had filled up the measure of his iniquity, when the imperious impulse +of the Divine Spirit bade the prophet speak the doom of his king, +there breaks forth at last the long pent-up cry for vengeance: +"Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saint"--let the persecutor suffer the +agony and shame which he inflicted on God's martyr, fling out the +murderer's corpse unburied, let it lie and rot upon the dishonoured +grave of his victim. + +Can we say, Amen? Not perhaps without some hesitation. Yet surely, if +our veins run blood and not water, our feelings, had we been in +Jeremiah's place, would have been as bitter and our words as fierce. +Jehoiakim was more guilty than our Queen Mary, but the memory of the +grimmest of the Tudors still stinks in English nostrils. In our own +days, we have not had time to forget how men received the news of +Hannington's murder at Uganda, and we can imagine what European +Christians would say and feel if their missionaries were massacred in +China. + +And yet, when we read such a treatise as Lactantius wrote _Concerning +the Deaths of Persecutors_, we cannot but recoil. We are shocked at the +stern satisfaction he evinces in the miserable ends of Maximin and +Galerius, and other enemies of the true faith. Discreet historians have +made large use of this work, without thinking it desirable to give an +explicit account of its character and spirit. Biographers of Lactantius +feel constrained to offer a half-hearted apology for the _De Morte +Persecutorum_. Similarly we find ourselves of one mind with Gibbon,[73] +in refusing to derive edification from a sermon in which Constantine the +Great, or the bishop who composed it for him, affected to relate the +miserable end of all the persecutors of the Church. Nor can we share the +exultation of the Covenanters in the Divine judgment which they saw in +the death of Claverhouse; and we are not moved to any hearty sympathy +with more recent writers, who have tried to illustrate from history the +danger of touching the rights and privileges of the Church. Doubtless +God will avenge His own elect; nevertheless _Nemo me impune lacessit_ is +no seemly motto for the Kingdom of God. Even Greek mythologists taught +that it was perilous for men to wield the thunderbolts of Zeus. Still +less is the Divine wrath a weapon for men to grasp in their differences +and dissensions, even about the things of God. Michael the Archangel, +even when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, +durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord +rebuke thee.[74] + +How far Jeremiah would have shared such modern sentiment, it is hard +to say. At any rate his personal feeling is kept in the background; it +is postponed to the more patient and deliberate judgment of the Divine +Spirit, and subordinated to broad considerations of public morality. +We have no right to contrast Jeremiah with our Lord and His +proto-martyr Stephen, because we have no prayer of the ancient prophet +to rank with, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," +or again with, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Christ and +His disciple forgave wrongs done to themselves: they did not condone +the murder of their brethren. In the Apocalypse, which concludes the +English Bible, and was long regarded as God's final revelation, His +last word to man, the souls of the martyrs cry out from beneath the +altar: "How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and +avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"[75] + +Doubtless God will avenge His own elect, and the appeal for justice +may be neither ignoble nor vindictive. But such prayers, beyond all +others, must be offered in humble submission to the Judge of all. When +our righteous indignation claims to pass its own sentence, we do well +to remember that our halting intellect and our purblind conscience +are ill qualified to sit as assessors of the Eternal Justice. + +When Saul set out for Damascus, "breathing out threatening and +slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," the survivors of his +victims cried out for a swift punishment of the persecutor, and +believed that their prayers were echoed by martyred souls in the +heavenly Temple. If that ninth chapter of the Acts had recorded how +Saul of Tarsus was struck dead by the lightnings of the wrath of God, +preachers down all the Christian centuries would have moralised on the +righteous Divine judgment. Saul would have found his place in the +homiletic Chamber of Horrors with Ananias and Sapphira, Herod and +Pilate, Nero and Diocletian. Yet the Captain of our salvation, +choosing His lieutenants, passes over many a man with blameless +record, and allots the highest post to this blood-stained persecutor. +No wonder that Paul, if only in utter self-contempt, emphasised the +doctrine of Divine election. Verily God's ways are not our ways and +His thoughts are not our thoughts. + +Still, however, we easily see that Paul and Jehoiakim belong to two +different classes. The persecutor who attempts in honest but misguided +zeal to make others endorse his own prejudices, and turn a deaf ear +with him to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, must not be ranked with +politicians who sacrifice to their own private interests the +Revelation and the Prophets of God. + +This prediction which we have been discussing of Jehoiakim's shameful +end is followed in the passage in chapter xxxvi. by a general +announcement of universal judgment, couched in Jeremiah's usual +comprehensive style:-- + +"I will visit their sin upon him and upon his children and upon his +servants, and I will bring upon them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem +and the men of Judah all the evil which I spake unto them and they did +not hearken." + +In chapter xxii. the sentence upon Jehoiakim is prefaced by a +statement of the crimes for which he was punished. His eyes and his +heart were wholly possessed by avarice and cruelty; as an +administrator he was active in oppression and violence.[76] But +Jeremiah does not confine himself to these general charges; he +specifies and emphasises one particular form of Jehoiakim's +wrong-doing, the tyrannous exaction of forced labour for his +buildings. To the sovereigns of petty Syrian states, old Memphis and +Babylon were then what London and Paris are to modern Ameers, +Khedives, and Sultans. Circumstances, indeed, did not permit a Syrian +prince to visit the Egyptian or Chaldean capital with perfect comfort +and unrestrained enjoyment. Ancient Eastern potentates, like mediæval +suzerains, did not always distinguish between a guest and a hostage. +But the Jewish kings would not be debarred from importing the luxuries +and imitating the vices of their conquerors. + +Renan says[77] of this period: "L'Egypte était, à cette époque, le +pays où les industries de luxe étaient le plus développées. Tout le +monde raffolaient, en particulier, de sa carrosserie et de ses meubles +ouvragés. Joiaquin et la noblesse de Jérusalem ne songeaient qu'à se +procurer ces beaux objets, qui réalisaient ce qu'on avait vu de plus +exquis en fait de goût jusque-là." + +The supreme luxury of vulgar minds is the use of wealth as a means of +display, and monarchs have always delighted in the erection of vast +and ostentatious buildings. At this time Egypt and Babylon vied with +one another in pretentious architecture. In addition to much useful +engineering work, Psammetichus I. made large additions to the temples +and public edifices at Memphis, Thebes, Sais, and elsewhere, so that +"the entire valley of the Nile became little more than one huge +workshop, where stone-cutters and masons, bricklayers and carpenters, +laboured incessantly."[78] This activity in building continued even +after the disaster to the Egyptian arms at Carchemish. + +Nebuchadnezzar had an absolute mania for architecture. His numerous +inscriptions are mere catalogues of his achievements in building. His +home administration and even his extensive conquests are scarcely +noticed; he held them of little account compared with his temples and +palaces--"this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal +dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my +majesty."[79] Nebuchadnezzar created most of the magnificence that +excited the wonder and admiration of Herodotus a century later. + +Jehoiakim had been moved to follow the notable example of Chaldea and +Egypt. By a strange irony of fortune, Egypt, once the cynosure of +nations, has become in our own time the humble imitator of Western +civilisation, and now boulevards have rendered the suburbs of Cairo "a +shabby reproduction of modern Paris." Possibly in the eyes of Egyptians +and Chaldeans Jehoiakim's efforts only resulted in a "shabby +reproduction" of Memphis or Babylon. Nevertheless these foreign luxuries +are always expensive; and minor states had not then learnt the art of +trading on the resources of their powerful neighbours by means of +foreign loans. Moreover Judah had to pay tribute first to Pharaoh Necho, +and then to Nebuchadnezzar. The times were bad, and additional taxes for +building purposes must have been felt as an intolerable oppression. +Naturally the king did not pay for his labour; like Solomon and all +other great Eastern despots, he had recourse to the _corvee_, and for +this in particular Jeremiah denounced him. + + "Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness + And his chambers by injustice; + That maketh his neighbour toil without wages, + And giveth him no hire; + That saith, 'I will build me a wide house + And spacious chambers,' + And openeth out broad windows, with woodwork of cedar + And vermilion painting." + +Then the denunciation passes into biting sarcasm:-- + + "Art thou indeed a king, + Because thou strivest to excel in cedar?"[80] + +Poor imitations of Nebuchadnezzar's magnificent structures could not +conceal the impotence and dependence of the Jewish king. The +pretentiousness of Jehoiakim's buildings challenged a comparison which +only reminded men that he was a mere puppet, with its strings pulled now +by Egypt and now by Babylon. At best he was only reigning on sufferance. + +Jeremiah contrasts Jehoiakim's government both as to justice and +dignity with that of Josiah:-- + + "Did not thy father eat and drink?"[81] + +(He was no ascetic, but, like the Son of Man, lived a full, natural, +human life.) + + "And do judgment and justice? + Then did he prosper. + He judged the cause of the poor and needy, + Then was there prosperity. + Is not this to know Me? + Jehovah hath spoken it." + +Probably Jehoiakim claimed by some external observance, or through +some subservient priest or prophet, to "know Jehovah"; and Jeremiah +repudiates the claim. + +Josiah had reigned in the period when the decay of Assyria left Judah +dominant in Palestine, until Egypt or Chaldea could find time to +gather up the outlying fragments of the shattered empire. The wisdom +and justice of the Jewish king had used this breathing space for the +advantage and happiness of his people; and during part of his reign +Josiah's power seems to have been as extensive as that of any of his +predecessors on the throne of Judah. And yet, according to current +theology, Jeremiah's appeal to the prosperity of Josiah as a proof of +God's approbation was a startling anomaly. Josiah had been defeated +and slain at Megiddo in the prime of his manhood, at the age of +thirty-nine. None but the most independent and enlightened spirits +could believe that the Reformer's premature death, at the moment when +his policy had resulted in national disaster, was not an emphatic +declaration of Divine displeasure. Jeremiah's contrary belief might be +explained and justified. Some such justification is suggested by the +prophet's utterance concerning Jehoahaz: "Weep not for the dead, +neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away." Josiah had +reigned with real authority, he died when independence was no longer +possible; and therein he was happier and more honourable than his +successors, who held a vassal throne by the uncertain tenure of +time-serving duplicity, and were for the most part carried into +captivity. "The righteous was taken away from the evil to come."[82] + +The warlike spirit of classical antiquity and of Teutonic chivalry +welcomed a glorious death upon the field of battle:-- + + "And how can man die better + Than facing fearful odds, + For the ashes of his fathers, + And the temples of his Gods?" + +No one spoke of Leonidas as a victim of Divine wrath. Later Judaism +caught something of the same temper. Judas Maccabæus, when in extreme +danger, said, "It is better for us to die in battle, than to look upon +the evils of our people and our sanctuary"; and later on, when he +refused to flee from inevitable death, he claimed that he would leave +behind him no stain upon his honour.[83] Islam also is prodigal in its +promises of future bliss to those soldiers who fall fighting for its +sake. + +But the dim and dreary Sheôl of the ancient Hebrews was no glorious +Valhalla or houri-peopled Paradise. The renown of the battle-field was +poor compensation for the warm, full-blooded life of the upper air. +When David sang his dirge for Saul and Jonathan, he found no comfort +in the thought that they had died fighting for Israel. Moreover the +warrior's self-sacrifice for his country seems futile and inglorious, +when it neither secures victory nor postpones defeat. And at Megiddo +Josiah and his army perished in a vain attempt to come + + "Between the pass and fell incensed points + Of mighty opposites." + +We can hardly justify to ourselves Jeremiah's use of Josiah's reign as +an example of prosperity as the reward of righteousness; his +contemporaries must have been still more difficult to convince. We +cannot understand how the words of this prophecy were left without any +attempt at justification, or why Jeremiah did not meet by anticipation +the obvious and apparently crushing rejoinder that the reign +terminated in disgrace and disaster. + +Nevertheless these difficulties do not affect the terms of the +sentence upon Jehoiakim, or the ground upon which he was condemned. We +shall be better able to appreciate Jeremiah's attitude and to discover +its lessons if we venture to reconsider his decisions. We cannot +forget that there was, as Cheyne puts it, a duel between Jeremiah and +Jehoiakim; and we should hesitate to accept the verdict of Hildebrand +upon Henry IV. of Germany, or of Thomas à Becket on Henry II. of +England. Moreover the data upon which we have to base our judgment, +including the unfavourable estimate in the Book of Kings, come to us +from Jeremiah or his disciples. Our ideas about Queen Elizabeth would +be more striking than accurate if our only authorities for her reign +were Jesuit historians of England. But Jeremiah is absorbed in lofty +moral and spiritual issues; his testimony is not tainted with that +sectarian and sacerdotal casuistry which is always so ready to +subordinate truth to the interests of "the Church." He speaks of facts +with a simple directness which leaves us in no doubt as to their +reality; his picture of Jehoiakim may be one-sided, but it owes +nothing to an inventive imagination. + +Even Renan, who, in Ophite fashion, holds a brief for the bad +characters of the Old Testament, does not seriously challenge +Jeremiah's statements of fact. But the judgment of the modern critic +seems at first sight more lenient than that of the Hebrew prophet: the +former sees in Jehoiakim "un prince libéral et modéré,"[84] but when +this favourable estimate is coupled with an apparent comparison with +Louis Philippe, we must leave students of modern history to decide +whether Renan is really less severe than Jeremiah. Cheyne, on the +other hand, holds[85] that "we have no reason to question Jeremiah's +verdict upon Jehoiakim, who, alike from a religious and a political +point of view, appears to have been unequal to the crisis in the +fortunes of Israel." No doubt this is true; and yet perhaps Renan is +so far right that Jehoiakim's failure was rather his misfortune than +his fault. We may doubt whether any king of Israel or Judah would have +been equal to the supreme crisis which Jehoiakim had to face. Our +scanty information seems to indicate a man of strong will, determined +character, and able statesmanship. Though the nominee of Pharaoh +Necho, he retained his sceptre under Nebuchadnezzar, and held his own +against Jeremiah and the powerful party by which the prophet was +supported. Under more favourable conditions he might have rivalled +Uzziah or Jeroboam II. In the time of Jehoiakim, a supreme political +and military genius would have been as helpless on the throne of Judah +as were the Palæologi in the last days of the Empire at +Constantinople. Something may be said to extenuate his religious +attitude. In opposing Jeremiah he was not defying clear and +acknowledged truth. Like the Pharisees in their conflict with Christ, +the persecuting king had popular religious sentiment on his side. +According to that current theology which had been endorsed in some +measure even by Isaiah and Jeremiah, the defeat at Megiddo proved that +Jehovah repudiated the religious policy of Josiah and his advisers. +The inspiration of the Holy Spirit enabled Jeremiah to resist this +shallow conclusion, and to maintain through every crisis his unshaken +faith in the profounder truth. Jehoiakim was too conservative to +surrender at the prophet's bidding the long-accepted and fundamental +doctrine of retribution, and to follow the forward leading of +Revelation. He "stood by the old truth" as did Charles V. at the +Reformation. "Let him that is without sin" in this matter "first cast +a stone at" him. + +Though we extenuate Jehoiakim's conduct, we are still bound to condemn +it; not however because he was exceptionally wicked, but because he +failed to rise above a low spiritual average: yet in this judgment we +also condemn ourselves for our own intolerance, and for the prejudice +and self-will which have often blinded our eyes to the teachings of +our Lord and Master. + +But Jeremiah emphasises one special charge against the king--his +exaction of forced and unpaid labour. This form of taxation was in +itself so universal that the censure can scarcely be directed against +its ordinary and moderate exercise. If Jeremiah had intended to +inaugurate a new departure, he would have approached the subject in a +more formal and less casual fashion. It was a time of national danger +and distress, when all moral and material resources were needed to +avert the ruin of the state, or at any rate to mitigate the sufferings +of the people; and at such a time Jehoiakim exhausted and embittered +his subjects--that he might dwell in spacious halls with woodwork of +cedar. The Temple and palaces of Solomon had been built at the expense +of a popular resentment, which survived for centuries, and with which, +as their silence seems to show, the prophets fully sympathised. If +even Solomon's exactions were culpable, Jehoiakim was altogether +without excuse. + +His sin was that common to all governments, the use of the authority of +the state for private ends. This sin is possible not only to sovereigns +and secretaries of state, but to every town councillor and every one who +has a friend on a town council, nay, to every clerk in a public office +and to every workman in a government dockyard. A king squandering public +revenues on private pleasures, and an artisan pilfering nails and iron +with an easy conscience because they only belong to the state, are +guilty of crimes essentially the same. On the one hand, Jehoiakim as the +head of the state was oppressing individuals; and although modern states +have grown comparatively tender as to the rights of the individual, yet +even now their action is often cruelly oppressive to insignificant +minorities. But, on the other hand, the right of exacting labour was +only vested in the king as a public trust; its abuse was as much an +injury to the community as to individuals. If Jeremiah had to deal with +modern civilisation, we might, perchance, be startled by his passing +lightly over our religious and political controversies to denounce the +squandering of public resources in the interests of individuals and +classes, sects and parties. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[69] 2 Kings xxiii. 34-xxiv. 7. + +[70] iii. 274. + +[71] xxii. 30. + +[72] R.V., "Ah my brother! or Ah sister!... Ah lord! or Ah his glory!" +The text is based on an emendation of Graetz, following the Syriac. +(Giesebrecht.) + +[73] Chap. xiii. + +[74] Jude 9. + +[75] Apc. vi. 10. + +[76] xxii. 17. The exact meaning of the word translated "violence" (so +A.V., R.V.) is very doubtful. + +[77] _Hist._, etc., iii. 266. + +[78] Rawlinson, _Ancient Egypt_ (Story of the Nations). + +[79] Dan. iv. 30. + +[80] I have followed R.V., but the text is probably corrupt. Cheyne +follows LXX. (A) in reading "because thou viest with Ahab": LXX. (B) has +"Ahaz" (so Ewald). Giesebrecht proposes to neglect the accents and +translate, "viest in cedar buildings with thy father" (_i.e._ Solomon). + +[81] According to Giesebrecht (cf. however the last note) this clause +is an objection which the prophet puts into the mouth of the king. "My +father enjoyed the good things of life--why should not I?" The prophet +rejoins, "Nay, but he did judgment," etc. + +[82] Isa. lvii. (English Versions). + +[83] Macc. ii. 59, ix. 10. + +[84] iii. 269. + +[85] P. 142. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + _JEHOIACHIN_[86] + + xxii. 20-30. + + "A despised broken vessel,"--JER. xxii. 28. + + "A young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became + a young lion and he learned to catch the prey, he devoured + men."--EZEK. xix. 5, 6. + + "Jehoiachin ... did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all + that his father had done."--2 KINGS xxiv. 8, 9. + + +We have seen that our book does not furnish a consecutive biography of +Jeremiah; we are not even certain as to the chronological order of the +incidents narrated. Yet these chapters are clear and full enough to +give us an accurate idea of what Jeremiah did and suffered during the +eleven years of Jehoiakim's reign. He was forced to stand by while the +king lent the weight of his authority to the ancient corruptions of +the national religion, and conducted his home and foreign policy +without any regard to the will of Jehovah, as expressed by His +prophet. His position was analogous to that of a Romanist priest under +Elizabeth or a Protestant divine in the reign of James II. According +to some critics, Nebuchadnezzar was to Jeremiah what Philip of Spain +was to the priest and William of Orange to the Puritan. + +During all these long and weary years, the prophet watched the ever +multiplying tokens of approaching ruin. He was no passive spectator, +but a faithful watchman to the house of Israel; again and again he +risked his life in a vain attempt to make his fellow-countrymen aware +of their danger.[87] The vision of the coming sword was ever before +his eyes, and he blew the trumpet and warned the people; but they +would not be warned, and the prophet knew that the sword would come +and take them away in their iniquity. He paid the penalty of his +faithfulness; at one time or another he was beaten, imprisoned, +proscribed, and driven to hide himself; still he persevered in his +mission, as time and occasion served. Yet he survived Jehoiakim, +partly because he was more anxious to serve Jehovah than to gain the +glorious deliverance of martyrdom; partly because his royal enemy +feared to proceed to extremities against a prophet of Jehovah, who was +befriended by powerful nobles, and might possibly have relations with +Nebuchadnezzar himself. Jehoiakim's religion--for like the Athenians +he was probably "very religious"--was saturated with superstition, and +it was only when deeply moved that he lost the sense of an external +sanctity attaching to Jeremiah's person. In Israel prophets were +hedged by a more potent divinity than kings. + +Meanwhile Jeremiah was growing old in years and older in experience. +When Jehoiakim died, it was nearly forty years since the young priest +had first been called "to pluck up and to break down, and to destroy +and to overthrow; to build and to plant"; it was more than eleven +since his brighter hopes were buried in Josiah's grave. Jehovah had +promised that He would make His servant into "an iron pillar and +brasen walls."[88] The iron was tempered and hammered into shape +during these days of conflict and endurance, like-- + + " ... iron dug from central gloom, + And heated hot with burning fears + And dipt in baths of hissing tears, + And battered with the shocks of doom, + To shape and use." + +He had long lost all trace of that sanguine youthful enthusiasm which +promises to carry all before it. His opening manhood had felt its happy +illusions, but they did not dominate his soul and they soon passed away. +At the Divine bidding, he had surrendered his most ingrained prejudices, +his dearest desires. He had consented to be alienated from his brethren +at Anathoth, and to live without home or family; although a patriot, he +accepted the inevitable ruin of his nation as the just judgment of +Jehovah; he was a priest, imbued by heredity and education with the +religious traditions of Israel, yet he had yielded himself to Jehovah, +to announce, as His herald, the destruction of the Temple, and the +devastation of the Holy Land. He had submitted his shrinking flesh and +reluctant spirit to God's most unsparing demands, and had dared the +worst that man could inflict. Such surrender and such experiences +wrought in him a certain stern and terrible strength, and made his life +still more remote from the hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows of +common men. In his isolation and his inspired self-sufficiency he had +become an "iron pillar." Doubtless he seemed to many as hard and cold as +iron; but this pillar of the faith could still glow with white heat of +indignant passion, and within the shelter of the "brasen walls" there +still beat a human heart, touched with tender sympathy for those less +disciplined to endure. + +We have thus tried to estimate the development of Jeremiah's character +during the second period of his ministry, which began with the death +of Josiah and terminated with the brief reign of Jehoiachin. Before +considering Jeremiah's judgment upon this prince we will review the +scanty data at our disposal to enable us to appreciate the prophet's +verdict. + +Jehoiakim died while Nebuchadnezzar was on the march to punish his +rebellion. His son Jehoiachin, a youth of eighteen,[89] succeeded his +father and continued his policy. Thus the accession of the new king +was no new departure, but merely a continuance of the old order; the +government was still in the hands of the party attached to Egypt, and +opposed to Babylon and hostile to Jeremiah. Under these circumstances +we are bound to accept the statement of Kings that Jehoiakim "slept +with his fathers," _i.e._ was buried in the royal sepulchre.[90] There +was no literal fulfilment of the prediction that he should "be buried +with the burial of an ass." Jeremiah had also declared concerning +Jehoiakim: "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David."[91] +According to popular superstition, the honourable burial of Jehoiakim +and the succession of his son to the throne further discredited +Jeremiah and his teaching. Men read happy omens in the mere observance +of ordinary constitutional routine. The curse upon Jehoiakim seemed so +much spent breath: why should not Jeremiah's other predictions of ruin +and exile also prove a mere _vox et præterea nihil_? In spite of a +thousand disappointments, men's hopes still turned to Egypt; and if +earthly resources failed they trusted to Jehovah Himself to intervene, +and deliver Jerusalem from the advancing hosts of Nebuchadnezzar, as +from the army of Sennacherib. + +Ezekiel's elegy over Jehoiachin suggests that the young king displayed +energy and courage worthy of a better fortune:-- + + "He walked up and down among the lions, + He became a young lion; + He learned to catch the prey, + He devoured men. + He broke down[92] their palaces, + He wasted their cities; + The land, was desolate, and the fulness thereof, + At the noise of his roaring."[93] + +However figurative these lines may be, the hyperbole must have had some +basis in fact. Probably before the regular Babylonian army entered +Judah, Jehoiachin distinguished himself by brilliant but useless +successes against the marauding bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, +and Ammonites, who had been sent to prepare the way for the main body. +He may even have carried his victorious arms into the territory of Moab +or Ammon. But his career was speedily cut short: "The servants of +Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem and besieged the +city." Pharaoh Necho made no sign, and Jehoiachin was forced to retire +before the regular forces of Babylon, and soon found himself shut up in +Jerusalem. Still for a time he held out, but when it was known in the +beleaguered city that Nebuchadnezzar was present in person in the camp +of the besiegers, the Jewish captains lost heart. Perhaps too they hoped +for better treatment, if they appealed to the conqueror's vanity by +offering him an immediate submission which they had refused to his +lieutenants. The gates were thrown open; Jehoiachin and the Queen +Mother, Nehushta, with his ministers and princes and the officers of his +household, passed out in suppliant procession, and placed themselves and +their city at the disposal of the conqueror. In pursuance of the policy +which Nebuchadnezzar had inherited from the Assyrians, the king and his +court and eight thousand picked men were carried away captive to +Babylon.[94] For thirty-seven years Jehoiachin languished in a Chaldean +prison, till at last his sufferings were mitigated by an act of grace, +which signalised the accession of a new king of Babylon. +Nebuchadnezzar's successor Evil Merodach, "in the year when he began to +reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison, and +spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings +that were with him in Babylon. And Jehoiachin changed his prison +garments, and ate at the royal table continually all the days of his +life, and had a regular allowance given him by the king, a daily +portion, all the days of his life."[95] At the age of fifty-five, the +last survivor of the reigning princes of the house of David emerges from +his dungeon, broken in mind and body by his long captivity, to be a +grateful dependent upon the charity of Evil Merodach, just as the +survivor of the house of Saul had sat at David's table. The young lion +that devoured the prey and caught men and wasted cities was thankful to +be allowed to creep out of his cage and die in comfort--"a despised +broken vessel." + +We feel a shock of surprise and repulsion as we turn from this +pathetic story to Jeremiah's fierce invectives against the unhappy +king. But we wrong the prophet and misunderstand his utterance if we +forget that it was delivered during that brief frenzy in which the +young king and his advisers threw away the last chance of safety for +Judah. Jehoiachin might have repudiated his father's rebellion against +Babylon; Jehoiakim s death had removed the chief offender, no personal +blame attached to his successor, and a prompt submission might have +appeased Nebuchadnezzar's wrath against Judah and obtained his favour +for the new king. If a hot-headed young rajah of some protected Indian +state revolted against the English suzerainty and exposed his country +to the misery of a hopeless war, we should sympathise with any of his +counsellors who condemned such wilful folly; we have no right to find +fault with Jeremiah for his severe censure of the reckless vanity +which precipitated his country's fate. + +Jeremiah's deep and absorbing interest in Judah and Jerusalem is +indicated by the form of this utterance; it is addressed to the +"Daughter of Zion"[96]:-- + + "Go up to Lebanon, and lament, + And lift up thy voice in Bashan, + And lament from Abarim,[97] + For thy lovers are all destroyed!" + +Her "lovers," her heathen allies, whether gods or men, are impotent, +and Judah is as forlorn and helpless as a lonely and unfriended woman; +let her bewail her fate upon the mountains of Israel, like Jephthah's +daughter in ancient days. + + "I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; + Thou saidst, I will not hearken. + This hath been thy way from thy youth, + That thou hast not obeyed My voice. + The tempest shall be the shepherd to all thy shepherds." + +Kings and nobles, priests and prophets, shall be carried off by the +Chaldean invaders, as trees and houses are swept away by a hurricane. +These shepherds who had spoiled and betrayed their flock would +themselves be as silly sheep in the hands of robbers. + + "Thy lovers shall go into captivity. + Then, verily, shalt thou be ashamed and confounded + Because of all thy wickedness. + O thou that dwellest in Lebanon! + O thou that hast made thy nest in the cedar!" + +The former mention of Lebanon reminded Jeremiah of Jehoiakim's halls +of cedar. With grim irony he links together the royal magnificence of +the palace and the wild abandonment of the people's lamentation. + + "How wilt thou groan[98] when pangs come upon thee, + Anguish as of a woman in travail!" + +The nation is involved in the punishment inflicted upon her rulers. In +such passages the prophets largely identify the nation with the +governing classes--not without justification. No government, whatever +the constitution may be, can ignore a strong popular demand for +righteous policy, at home and abroad. A special responsibility of +course rests on those who actually wield the authority of the state, +but the policy of rulers seldom succeeds in effecting much either for +good or evil without some sanction of public feeling. Our revolution +which replaced the Puritan Protectorate by the restored Monarchy was +rendered possible by the change of popular sentiment. Yet even under +the purest democracy men imagine that they divest themselves of civic +responsibility by neglecting their civic duties; they stand aloof, and +blame officials and professional politicians for the injustice and +crime wrought by the state. National guilt seems happily disposed of +when laid on the shoulders of that convenient abstraction "the +government"; but neither the prophets nor the Providence which they +interpret recognise this convenient theory of vicarious atonement: the +king sins, but the prophet's condemnation is uttered against and +executed upon the nation. + +Nevertheless a special responsibility rests upon the ruler, and now +Jeremiah turns from the nation to its king. + + "As I live--Jehovah hath spoken it-- + Though Coniah ben Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring + upon My right hand----" + +By a forcible Hebrew idiom Jehovah, as it were, turns and confronts +the king and specially addresses him:-- + + "Yet would I pluck thee thence." + +A signet ring was valuable in itself, and, as far as an inanimate object +could be, was an "_alter ego_" of the sovereign; it scarcely ever left +his finger, and when it did, it carried with it the authority of its +owner. A signet ring could not be lost or even cast away without some +reflection upon the majesty of the king. Jehoiachin's character was by +no means worthless; he had courage, energy, and patriotism. The heir of +David and Solomon, the patron and champion of the Temple, dwelt, as it +were, under the very shadow of the Almighty. Men generally believed that +Jehovah's honour was engaged to defend Jerusalem and the house of David. +He Himself would be discredited by the fall of the elect dynasty and the +captivity of the chosen people. Yet everything must be sacrificed--the +career of a gallant young prince, the ancient association of the sacred +Name with David and Zion, even the superstitious awe with which the +heathen regarded the God of the Exodus and of the deliverance from +Sennacherib. Nothing will be allowed to stand in the way of the Divine +judgment. And yet we still sometimes dream that the working out of the +Divine righteousness will be postponed in the interests of +ecclesiastical traditions and in deference to the criticisms of ungodly +men! + + "And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy + life, + Into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, + Into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the + Chaldeans. + And I will hurl thee and the mother that bare thee into + another land, where ye were not born: + There shall ye die. + And unto the land whereunto their soul longeth to return, + Thither they shall not return." + +Again the sudden change in the person addressed emphasises the scope +of the Divine proclamation; the doom of the royal house is not only +announced to them, but also to the world at large. The mention of the +Queen Mother, Nehushta, reveals what we should in any case have +conjectured, that the policy of the young prince was largely +determined by his mother. Her importance is also indicated by xiii. +18, usually supposed to be addressed to Jehoiachin and Nehushta:--- + + "Say unto the king and the queen mother, + Leave your thrones and sit in the dust, + For your glorious diadems are fallen." + +The Queen Mother is a characteristic figure of polygamous Eastern +dynasties, but we may be helped to understand what Nehushta was to +Jehoiachin if we remember the influence of Eleanor of Poitou over +Richard I. and John, and the determined struggle which Margaret of +Anjou made on behalf of her ill-starred son. + +The next verse of our prophecy seems to be a protest against the +severe sentence pronounced in the preceding clauses:-- + + "Is then this man Coniah a despised vessel, only fit to be + broken? + Is he a tool, that no one wants?" + +Thus Jeremiah imagines the citizens and warriors of Jerusalem crying +out against him, for his sentence of doom against their darling prince +and captain. The prophetic utterance seemed to them monstrous and +incredible, only worthy to be met with impatient scorn. We may find a +mediæval analogy to the situation at Jerusalem in the relations of +Clement IV. to Conradin, the last heir of the house of Hohenstaufen. +When this youth of sixteen was in the full career of victory, the Pope +predicted that his army would be scattered like smoke, and pointed out +the prince and his allies as victims for the sacrifice. When Conradin +was executed after his defeat at Tagliacozzo, Christendom was filled +with abhorrence at the suspicion that Clement had countenanced the +doing to death of the hereditary enemy of the Papal See. Jehoiachin's +friends felt towards Jeremiah somewhat as these thirteenth-century +Ghibellines towards Clement. + +Moreover the charge against Clement was probably unfounded; Milman[99] +says of him, "He was doubtless moved with inner remorse at the +cruelties of 'his champion' Charles of Anjou." Jeremiah too would +lament the doom he was constrained to utter. Nevertheless he could not +permit Judah to be deluded to its ruin by empty dreams of glory:-- + + "O land, land, land, + Hear the word of Jehovah." + +Isaiah had called all Nature, heaven and earth to bear witness against +Israel, but now Jeremiah is appealing with urgent importunity to Judah. +"O Chosen Land of Jehovah, so richly blessed by His favour, so sternly +chastised by His discipline, Land of prophetic Revelation, now at last, +after so many warnings, believe the word of thy God and submit to His +judgment. Hasten not thy unhappy fate by shallow confidence in the +genius and daring of Jehoiachin: he is no true Messiah." + + "For saith Jehovah, + Write this man childless, + A man whose life shall not know prosperity: + For none of his seed shall prosper; + None shall sit upon the throne of David, + Nor rule any more over Judah." + +Thus, by Divine decree, the descendants of Jehoiakim were +disinherited; Jehoiachin was to be recorded in the genealogies of +Israel as having no heir. He might have offspring,[100] but the +Messiah, the Son of David, would not come of his line. + +Two points suggest themselves in connection with this utterance of +Jeremiah; first as to the circumstances under which it was uttered, +then as to its application to Jehoiachin. + +A moment's reflection will show that this prophecy implied great courage +and presence of mind on the part of Jeremiah--his enemies might even +have spoken of his barefaced audacity. He had predicted that Jehoiakim's +corpse should be cast forth without any rites of honourable sepulture; +and that no son of his should sit upon the throne. Jehoiakim had been +buried like other kings, he slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his +son reigned in his stead. The prophet should have felt himself utterly +discredited; and yet here was Jeremiah coming forward unabashed with new +prophecies against the king, whose very existence was a glaring disproof +of his prophetic inspiration. Thus the friends of Jehoiachin. They would +affect towards Jeremiah's message the same indifference which the +present generation feels for the expositors of Daniel and the +Apocalypse, who confidently announce the end of the world for 1866, and +in 1867 fix a new date with cheerful and undiminished assurance. But +these students of sacred records can always save the authority of +Scripture by acknowledging the fallibility of their calculations. When +their predictions fail, they confess that they have done their sum wrong +and start it afresh. But Jeremiah's utterances were not published as +human deductions from inspired data; he himself claimed to be inspired. +He did not ask his hearers to verify and acknowledge the accuracy of his +arithmetic or his logic, but to submit to the Divine message from his +lips. And yet it is clear that he did not stake the authority of Jehovah +or even his own prophetic status upon the accurate and detailed +fulfilment of his predictions. Nor does he suggest that, in announcing a +doom which was not literally accomplished, he had misunderstood or +misinterpreted his message. The details which both Jeremiah and those +who edited and transmitted his words knew to be unfulfilled were allowed +to remain in the record of Divine Revelation--not, surely, to illustrate +the fallibility of prophets, but to show that an accurate forecast of +details is not of the essence of prophecy; such details belong to its +form and not to its substance. Ancient Hebrew prophecy clothed its ideas +in concrete images; its messages of doom were made definite and +intelligible in a glowing series of definite pictures. The prophets were +realists and not impressionists. But they were also spiritual men, +concerned with the great issues of history and religion. Their message +had to do with _these_: they were little interested in minor matters; +and they used detailed imagery as a mere instrument of exposition. +Popular scepticism exulted when subsequent facts did not exactly +correspond to Jeremiah's images, but the prophet himself was +unconscious of either failure or mistake. Jehoiakim might be +magnificently buried, but his name was branded with eternal dishonour; +Jehoiachin might reign for a hundred days, but the doom of Judah was not +averted, and the house of David ceased for ever to rule in Jerusalem. + +Our second point is the application of this prophecy to Jehoiachin. +How far did the king deserve his sentence? Jeremiah indeed does not +explicitly blame Jehoiachin, does not specify his sins as he did those +of his royal sire. The estimate recorded in the Book of Kings +doubtless expresses the judgment of Jeremiah, but it may be directed +not so much against the young king as against his ministers. Yet the +king cannot have been entirely innocent of the guilt of his policy and +government. In chapter xxiv., however, Jeremiah speaks of the captives +at Babylon, those carried away with Jehoiachin, as "good figs"; but we +scarcely suppose he meant to include the king himself in this +favourable estimate, otherwise we should discern some note of sympathy +in the personal sentence upon him. We are left, therefore, to conclude +that Jeremiah's judgment was unfavourable; although, in view of the +prince's youth and limited opportunities, his guilt must have been +slight compared to that of his father. + +And, on the other hand, we have the manifest sympathy and even +admiration of Ezekiel. The two estimates stand side by side in the +sacred record to remind us that God neither tolerates man's sins +because there is a better side to his nature, nor yet ignores his +virtues on account of his vices. For ourselves we may be content to +leave the last word on this matter with Jeremiah. When he declares +God's sentence on Jehoiachin, he does not suggest that it was +undeserved, but he refrains from any explicit reproach. Probably if he +had known how entirely his prediction would be fulfilled, if he had +foreseen the seven-and-thirty weary years which the young lion was to +spend in his Babylonian cage, Jeremiah would have spoken more tenderly +and pitifully even of the son of Jehoiakim. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[86] Also called Coniah and Jeconiah. + +[87] Considerable portions of chaps. i.-xx. are referred to the reigns +of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin: see previous volume on Jeremiah. + +[88] i. 18. + +[89] The Chronicler's account of Jehoiakim's end (2 Chron. xxviii. +6-8) is due to a misunderstanding of the older records. According to +Chronicles Jehoiachin was only eight, but all our data indicate that +Kings is right. + +[90] In LXX. of 2 Chron. xxxvi. 8, Jehoiakim, like Manasseh and Amon, +was "buried in the garden of Uzza": B, Ganozæ; A, Ganozan. Cheyne is +inclined to accept this statement, which he regards as derived from +tradition. + +[91] xxxvi. 30. + +[92] So A. B. Davidson in Cambridge Bible, etc., by a slight +conjectural emendation; there have been many other suggested +corrections of the text. The Hebrew text as it stands would mean +literally "he knew their widows" (R.V. margin); A.V., R.V., by a +slight change, "he knew their (A.V. desolate) palaces." + +[93] Ezek. xix. 5-7. + +[94] 2 Kings xxiv. 8-17. + +[95] 2 Kings xxv. 27-30; Jer. lii. 31-34. + +[96] The Hebrew verbs are in 2 s. fem.; the person addressed is not +named, but from analogy she can only be the "Daughter of Zion," _i.e._ +Jerusalem personified. + +[97] Identified with the mountains of Moab. + +[98] R.V. margin, with LXX., Vulg., and Syr. + +[99] Milman's _Latin Christianity_, vi. 392. + +[100] 1 Chron. iii. 17 mentions the "sons" of Jeconiah, and in Matt. +i. 12 Shealtiel is called his "son," but in Luke iii. 27 Shealtiel is +called the son of Neri. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + _BAD SHEPHERDS AND FALSE PROPHETS_ + + xxiii., xxiv. + + "Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My + pasture!"--JER. xxiii. 1. + + "Of what avail is straw instead of grain?... Is not My word like + fire, ... like a hammer that shattereth the rocks?"--JER. xxiii. + 28, 29. + + +The captivity of Jehoiachin and the deportation of the flower of the +people marked the opening of the last scene in the tragedy of Judah and +of a new period in the ministry of Jeremiah. These events, together with +the accession of Zedekiah as Nebuchadnezzar's nominee, very largely +altered the state of affairs in Jerusalem. And yet the two main features +of the situation were unchanged--the people and the government +persistently disregarded Jeremiah's exhortations. "Neither Zedekiah, nor +his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of +Jehovah which He spake by the prophet Jeremiah."[101] They would not +obey the will of Jehovah as to their life and worship, and they would +not submit to Nebuchadnezzar. "Zedekiah ... did evil in the sight of +Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done; ... and Zedekiah +rebelled against the king of Babylon."[102] + +It is remarkable that though Jeremiah consistently urged submission to +Babylon, the various arrangements made by Nebuchadnezzar did very little +to improve the prophet's position or increase his influence. The +Chaldean king may have seemed ungrateful only because he was ignorant of +the services rendered to him--Jeremiah would not enter into direct and +personal co-operation with the enemy of his country, even with him whom +Jehovah had appointed to be the scourge of His disobedient people--but +the Chaldean policy served Nebuchadnezzar as little as it profited +Jeremiah. Jehoiakim, in spite of his forced submission, remained the +able and determined foe of his suzerain, and Zedekiah, to the best of +his very limited ability, followed his predecessor's example. + +Zedekiah was uncle of Jehoiachin, half-brother of Jehoiakim, and own +brother to Jehoahaz.[103] Possibly the two brothers owed their bias +against Jeremiah and his teaching to their mother, Josiah's wife +Hamutal, the daughter of another Jeremiah, the Libnite. Ezekiel thus +describes the appointment of the new king: "The king of Babylon ... +took one of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him; he also put +him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land: that the +kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by +keeping of his covenant it might stand."[104] Apparently +Nebuchadnezzar was careful to choose a feeble prince for his "base +kingdom"; all that we read of Zedekiah suggests that he was weak and +incapable. Henceforth the sovereign counted for little in the +internal struggles of the tottering state. Josiah had firmly +maintained the religious policy of Jeremiah, and Jehoiakim, as firmly, +the opposite policy; but Zedekiah had neither the strength nor the +firmness to enforce a consistent policy and to make one party +permanently dominant. Jeremiah and his enemies were left to fight it +out amongst themselves, so that now their antagonism grew more bitter +and pronounced than during any other reign. + +But whatever advantage the prophet might derive from the weakness of +the sovereign was more than counterbalanced by the recent deportation. +In selecting the captives Nebuchadnezzar had sought merely to weaken +Judah by carrying away every one who would have been an element of +strength to the "base kingdom." Perhaps he rightly believed that +neither the prudence of the wise nor the honour of the virtuous would +overcome their patriotic hatred of subjection; weakness alone would +guarantee the obedience of Judah. He forgot that even weakness is apt +to be foolhardy--when there is no immediate prospect of penalty. + +One result of his policy was that the enemies and friends of Jeremiah +were carried away indiscriminately; there was no attempt to leave +behind those who might have counselled submission to Babylon as the +acceptance of a Divine judgment, and thus have helped to keep Judah +loyal to its foreign master. On the contrary Jeremiah's disciples were +chiefly thoughtful and honourable men, and Nebuchadnezzar's policy in +taking away "the mighty of the land" bereft the prophet of many +friends and supporters, amongst them his disciple Ezekiel and +doubtless a large class of whom Daniel and his three friends might be +taken as types. When Jeremiah characterises the captives as "good +figs" and those left behind as "bad figs,"[105] and the judgment is +confirmed and amplified by Ezekiel,[106] we may be sure that most of +the prophet's adherents were in exile. + +We have already had occasion to compare the changes in the religious +policy of the Jewish government to the alternations of Protestant and +Romanist sovereigns among the Tudors; but no Tudor was as feeble as +Zedekiah. He may rather be compared to Charles IX. of France, helpless +between the Huguenots and the League. Only the Jewish factions were +less numerous, less evenly balanced; and by the speedy advance of +Nebuchadnezzar civil dissensions were merged in national ruin. + +The opening years of the new reign passed in nominal allegiance to +Babylon. Jeremiah's influence would be used to induce the vassal king to +observe the covenant he had entered into and to be faithful to his oath +to Nebuchadnezzar. On the other hand a crowd of "patriotic" prophets +urged Zedekiah to set up once more the standard of national +independence, to "come to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Let +us then briefly consider Jeremiah's polemic against the princes, +prophets, and priests of his people. While Ezekiel in a celebrated +chapter[107] denounces the idolatry of the princes, priests, and women +of Judah, their worship of creeping things and abominable beasts, their +weeping for Tammuz, their adoration of the sun, Jeremiah is chiefly +concerned with the perverse policy of the government and the support it +receives from priests and prophets, who profess to speak in the name of +Jehovah. Jeremiah does not utter against Zedekiah any formal judgment +like those on his three predecessors. Perhaps the prophet did not regard +this impotent sovereign as the responsible representative of the state, +and when the long-expected catastrophe at last befell the doomed people, +neither Zedekiah nor his doings distracted men's attention from their +own personal sufferings and patriotic regrets. At the point where a +paragraph on Zedekiah would naturally have followed that on Jehoiachin, +we have by way of summary and conclusion to the previous sections a +brief denunciation of the shepherds of Israel. + +"Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My +pasture!... Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have +not cared for them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your +doings." + +These "shepherds" are primarily the kings, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and +Jehoiachin, who have been condemned by name in the previous chapter, +together with the unhappy Zedekiah, who is too insignificant to be +mentioned. But the term shepherds will also include the ruling and +influential classes of which the king was the leading representative. + +The image is a familiar one in the Old Testament and is found in the +oldest literature of Israel,[108] but the denunciation of the rulers of +Judah as unfaithful shepherds is characteristic of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, +and one of the prophecies appended to the Book of Zechariah.[109] +Ezekiel xxxiv. expands this figure and enforces its lessons:-- + + "Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! + Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? Ye eat the fat, and + ye clothe you with the wool. + Ye kill the fatlings; but ye feed not the sheep. + The diseased have ye not strengthened, + Neither have ye healed the sick, + Neither have ye bound up the bruised, + Neither have ye brought back again that which was driven + away, + Neither have ye sought for that which was lost, + But your rule over them has been harsh and violent. + And for want of a shepherd, they were scattered, + And became food for every beast of the field."[110] + +So in Zechariah ix., etc., Jehovah's anger is kindled against the +shepherds, because they do not pity His flock.[111] Elsewhere[112] +Jeremiah speaks of the kings of all nations as shepherds, and pronounces +against them also a like doom. All these passages illustrate the concern +of the prophets for good government. They were neither Pharisees nor +formalists; their religious ideals were broad and wholesome. Doubtless +the elect remnant will endure through all conditions of society; but the +Kingdom of God was not meant to be a pure Church in a rotten state. This +present evil world is no manure heap to fatten the growth of holiness: +it is rather a mass for the saints to leaven. + +Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel turn from the unfaithful shepherds whose +"hungry sheep look up and are not fed" to the true King of Israel, the +"Shepherd of Israel that led Joseph like a flock, and dwelt between +the Cherubim." In the days of the Restoration He will raise up +faithful shepherds, and over them a righteous Branch, the real Jehovah +Zidqenu, instead of the sapless twig who disgraced the name +"Zedekiah." Similarly Ezekiel promises that God will set up one +shepherd over His people, "even My servant David." The pastoral care +of Jehovah for His people is most tenderly and beautifully set forth +in the twenty-third Psalm. Our Lord, the root and the offspring of +David, claims to be the fulfilment of ancient prophecy when He calls +Himself "the Good Shepherd." The words of Christ and of the Psalmist +receive new force and fuller meaning when we contrast their pictures +of the true Shepherd with the portraits of the Jewish kings drawn by +the prophets. Moreover the history of this metaphor warns us against +ignoring the organic life of the Christian society, the Church, in our +concern for the spiritual life of the individual. As Sir Thomas More +said, in applying this figure to Henry VIII., "Of the multitude of +sheep cometh the name of a shepherd."[113] A shepherd implies not +merely a sheep, but a flock; His relation to each member is tender and +personal, but He bestows blessings and requires service in fellowship +with the Family of God. + +By a natural sequence the denunciation of the unfaithful shepherds is +followed by a similar utterance "concerning the prophets." It is true +that the prophets are not spoken of as shepherds; and Milton's use of +the figure in _Lycidas_ suggests the New Testament rather than the +Old. Yet the prophets had a large share in guiding the destinies of +Israel in politics as well as in religion, and having passed sentence +on the shepherds--the kings and princes--Jeremiah turns to the +ecclesiastics, chiefly, as the heading implies, to the prophets. The +priests indeed do not escape, but Jeremiah seems to feel that they are +adequately dealt with in two or three casual references. We use the +term "ecclesiastics" advisedly; the prophets were now a large +professional class, more important and even more clerical than the +priests. The prophets and priests together were the clergy of Israel. +They claimed to be devoted servants of Jehovah, and for the most part +the claim was made in all sincerity; but they misunderstood His +character, and mistook for Divine inspiration the suggestions of their +own prejudice and self-will. + +Jeremiah's indictment against them has various counts. He accuses them +of speaking without authority, and also of time-serving, plagiarism, +and cant. + +First, then, as to their unauthorised utterances: Jeremiah finds them +guilty of an unholy licence in prophesying, a distorted caricature of +that "liberty of prophesying" which is the prerogative of God's +accredited ambassadors. + + "Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto + you. + They make fools of you: + The visions which they declare are from their own hearts, + And not from the mouth of Jehovah. + + * * * * * + + Who hath stood in the council of Jehovah, + To perceive and hear His word? + Who hath marked His word and heard it? + I sent not the prophets--yet they ran; + I spake not unto them--yet they prophesied." + +The evils which Jeremiah describes are such as will always be found in +any large professional class. To use modern terms--in the Church, as +in every profession, there will be men who are not qualified for the +vocation which they follow. They are indeed not called to their +vocation; they "follow," but do not overtake it. They are not sent of +God, yet they run; they have no Divine message, yet they preach. They +have never stood in the council of Jehovah; they might perhaps have +gathered up scraps of the King's purposes from His true councillors; +but when they had opportunity they neither "marked nor heard"; and yet +they discourse concerning heavenly things with much importance and +assurance. But their inspiration, at its best, has no deeper or richer +source than their own shallow selves; their visions are the mere +product of their own imaginations. Strangers to the true fellowship, +their spirit is not "a well of water springing up unto eternal life," +but a stagnant pool. And, unless the judgment and mercy of God +intervene, that pool will in the end be fed from a fountain whose +bitter waters are earthly, sensual, devilish. + +We are always reluctant to speak of ancient prophecy or modern +preaching as a "profession." We may gladly dispense with the word, if +we do not thereby ignore the truth which it inaccurately expresses. +Men lived by prophecy, as, with Apostolic sanction, men live by "the +gospel." They were expected, as ministers are now, though in a less +degree, to justify their claims to an income and an official status, +by discharging religious functions so as to secure the approval of the +people or the authorities. Then, as now, the prophet's reputation, +influence, and social standing, probably even his income, depended +upon the amount of visible success that he could achieve. + +In view of such facts, it is futile to ask men of the world not to +speak of the clerical life as a profession. They discern no ethical +difference between a curate's dreams of a bishopric and the +aspirations of a junior barrister to the woolsack. Probably a refusal +to recognise the element common to the ministry with law, medicine, +and other professions, injures both the Church and its servants. One +peculiar difficulty and most insidious temptation of the Christian +ministry consists in its mingled resemblances to and differences from +the other professions. The minister has to work under similar worldly +conditions, and yet to control those conditions by the indwelling +power of the Spirit. He has to "run," it may be twice or even three +times a week, whether he be sent or no: how can he always preach only +that which God has taught him? He is consciously dependent upon the +exercise of his memory, his intellect, his fancy: how can he avoid +speaking "the visions of his own heart"? The Church can never allow +its ministers to regard themselves as mere professional teachers and +lecturers, and yet if they claim to be more, must they not often fall +under Jeremiah's condemnation? + +It is one of those practical dilemmas which delight casuists and +distress honest and earnest servants of God. In the early Christian +centuries similar difficulties peopled the Egyptian and Syrian deserts +with ascetics, who had given up the world as a hopeless riddle. A full +discussion of the problem would lead us too far away from the exposition +of Jeremiah, and we will only venture to make two suggestions. + +The necessity, which most ministers are under, of "living by the +gospel," may promote their own spiritual life and add to their +usefulness. It corrects and reduces spiritual pride, and helps them to +understand and sympathise with their lay brethren, most of whom are +subject to a similar trial. + +Secondly, as a minister feels the ceaseless pressure of strong +temptation to speak from and live for himself--his lower, egotistic +self--he will be correspondingly driven to a more entire and persistent +surrender to God. The infinite fulness and variety of Revelation is +expressed by the manifold gifts and experience of the prophets. If only +the prophet be surrendered to the Spirit, then what is most +characteristic of himself may become the most forcible expression of his +message. His constant prayer will be that he may have the child's heart +and may never resist the Holy Ghost, that no personal interest or +prejudice, no bias of training or tradition or current opinion, may dull +his hearing when he stands in the council of the Lord, or betray him +into uttering for Christ's gospel the suggestions of his own self-will +or the mere watchwords of his ecclesiastical faction. + +But to return to the ecclesiastics who had stirred Jeremiah's wrath. +The professional prophets naturally adapted their words to the itching +ears of their clients. They were not only officious, but also +time-serving. Had they been true prophets, they would have dealt +faithfully with Judah; they would have sought to convince the people +of sin, and to lead them to repentance; they would thus have given +them yet another opportunity of salvation. + + "If they had stood in My council, + They would have caused My people to hear My words; + They would have turned them from their evil way, + And from the evil of their doings." + +But now:-- + + "They walk in lies and strengthen the hands of evildoers, + That no one may turn away from his sin. + + * * * * * + + They say continually unto them that despise the word of + Jehovah,[114] + Ye shall have peace; + And unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his + heart they say, + No evil shall come upon you." + +Unfortunately, when prophecy becomes professional in the lowest sense +of the word, it is governed by commercial principles. A sufficiently +imperious demand calls forth an abundant supply. A sovereign can "tune +the pulpits"; and a ruling race can obtain from its clergy formal +ecclesiastical sanction for such "domestic institutions" as slavery. +When evildoers grow numerous and powerful, there will always be +prophets to strengthen their hands and encourage them not to turn away +from their sin. But to give the lie to these false prophets God sends +Jeremiahs, who are often branded as heretics and schismatics, +turbulent fellows who turn the world upside-down. + +The self-important, self-seeking spirit leads further to the sin of +plagiarism:-- + + "Therefore I am against the prophets, is the utterance of + Jehovah, + Who steal My word from one another." + +The sin of plagiarism is impossible to the true prophet, partly +because there are no rights of private property in the word of +Jehovah. The Old Testament writers make free use of the works of their +predecessors. For instance, Isaiah ii. 2-4 is almost identical with +Micah iv. 1-3; yet neither author acknowledges his indebtedness to the +other or to any third prophet.[115] Uriah ben Shemaiah prophesied +according to all the words of Jeremiah,[116] who himself owes much to +Hosea, whom he never mentions. Yet he was not conscious of stealing +from his predecessor, and he would have brought no such charge against +Isaiah or Micah or Uriah. In the New Testament 2 Peter and Jude have +so much in common that one must have used the other without +acknowledgment. Yet the Church has not, on that ground, excluded +either Epistle from the Canon. In the goodly fellowship of the +prophets and the glorious company of the apostles no man says that the +things which he utters are his own. But the mere hireling has no part +in the spiritual communism wherein each may possess all things because +he claims nothing. When a prophet ceases to be the messenger of God, +and sinks into the mercenary purveyor of his own clever sayings and +brilliant fancies, then he is tempted to become a clerical Autolycus, +"a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." Modern ideas furnish a curious +parallel to Jeremiah's indifference to the borrowings of the true +prophet, and his scorn of the literary pilferings of the false. We +hear only too often of stolen sermons, but no one complains of +plagiarism in prayers. Doubtless among these false prophets charges of +plagiarism were bandied to and fro with much personal acrimony. But it +is interesting to notice that Jeremiah is not denouncing an injury +done to himself; he does not accuse them of thieving from him, but +from one another. Probably assurance and lust of praise and power +would have overcome any awe they felt for Jeremiah. He was only free +from their depredations, because--from their point of view--his words +were not worth stealing. There was nothing to be gained by repeating +his stern denunciations, and even his promises were not exactly suited +to the popular taste. + +These prophets were prepared to cater for the average religious +appetite in the most approved fashion--in other words, they were +masters of cant. Their office had been consecrated by the work of true +men of God like Elijah and Isaiah. They themselves claimed to stand in +the genuine prophetic succession, and to inherit the reverence felt +for their great predecessors, quoting their inspired utterances and +adopting their weighty phrases. As Jeremiah's contemporaries listened +to one of their favourite orators, they were soothed by his assurances +of Divine favour and protection, and their confidence in the speaker +was confirmed by the frequent sound of familiar formulæ in his +unctuous sentences. These had the true ring; they were redolent of +sound doctrine, of what popular tradition regarded as orthodox. + +The solemn attestation NE'UM YAHWE, "It is the utterance of Jehovah," +is continually appended to prophecies, almost as if it were the +sign-manual of the Almighty. Isaiah and other prophets frequently use +the term MASSA (A.V., R.V., "burden") as a title, especially for +prophecies concerning neighbouring nations. The ancient records loved +to tell how Jehovah revealed Himself to the patriarchs in dreams. +Jeremiah's rivals included dreams in their clerical apparatus:-- + + "Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams-- + _Ne'um Yahwe_-- + And tell them, and lead astray My people + By their lies and their rodomontade; + It was not I who sent or commanded them, + Neither shall they profit this people at all, + _Ne'um Yahwe_" + +These prophets "thought to cause the Lord's people to forget His name, +as their fathers forgot His name for Baal, by their dreams which they +told one another." + +Moreover they could glibly repeat the sacred phrases as part of their +professional jargon:-- + + "Behold, I am against the prophets, + It is the utterance of Jehovah (_Ne'um Yahwe_), + That use their tongues + To utter utterances (_Wayyin'amu Ne'um_)." + +"To utter utterances"--the prophets uttered them, not Jehovah. These +sham oracles were due to no Diviner source than the imagination of +foolish hearts. But for Jeremiah's grim earnestness, the last clause +would be almost blasphemous. It is virtually a caricature of the most +solemn formula of ancient Hebrew religion. But this was really +degraded when it was used to obtain credence for the lies which men +prophesied out of the deceit of their own heart. Jeremiah's seeming +irreverence was the most forcible way of bringing this home to his +hearers. There are profanations of the most sacred things which can +scarcely be spoken of without an apparent breach of the Third +Commandment. The most awful taking in vain of the name of the Lord God +is not heard among the publicans and sinners, but in pulpits and on +the platforms of religious meetings. + +But these prophets and their clients had a special fondness for the +phrase "The burden of Jehovah," and their unctuous use of it most +especially provoked Jeremiah's indignation:-- + + "When this people, priest, or prophet shall ask thee, + What is the burden of Jehovah? + Then say unto them, Ye are the burden.[117] + But I will cast you off, _Ne'um Yahwe_. + If priest or prophet or people shall say, The burden of + Jehovah, + I will punish that man and his house. + And ye shall say to one another, + What hath Jehovah answered? and, What hath Jehovah spoken? + And ye shall no more make mention of the burden of Jehovah: + For (if ye do) men's words shall become a burden to + themselves. + + * * * * * + + Thus shall ye inquire of a prophet, + What hath Jehovah answered thee? + What hath Jehovah spoken unto thee? + But if ye say, The burden of Jehovah, + Thus saith Jehovah: Because ye say this word, The burden of + Jehovah, + When I have sent unto you the command, + Ye shall not say, The burden of Jehovah, + Therefore I will assuredly take you up, + And will cast away from before Me both you and the city which + I gave to you and to your fathers. + I will bring upon you everlasting reproach + And everlasting shame, that shall not be forgotten." + +Jeremiah's insistence and vehemence speak for themselves. Their moral +is obvious, though for the most part unheeded. The most solemn +formulæ, hallowed by ancient and sacred associations, used by inspired +teachers as the vehicle of revealed truths, may be debased till they +become the very legend of Antichrist, blazoned on the _Vexilla Regis +Inferni_. They are like a motto of one of Charles's Paladins flaunted +by his unworthy descendants to give distinction to cruelty and vice. +The Church's line of march is strewn with such dishonoured relics of +her noblest champions. Even our Lord's own words have not escaped. +There is a fashion of discoursing upon "the gospel" which almost +tempts reverent Christians to wish they might never hear that word +again. Neither is this debasing of the moral currency confined to +religious phrases; almost every political and social watchword has +been similarly abused. One of the vilest tyrannies the world has ever +seen--the Reign of Terror--claimed to be an incarnation of "Liberty, +Equality, and Fraternity." + +Yet the Bible, with that marvellous catholicity which lifts it so high +above the level of all other religious literature, not only records +Jeremiah's prohibition to use the term "Burden," but also tells us that +centuries later Malachi could still speak of "the burden of the word of +Jehovah." A great phrase that has been discredited by misuse may yet +recover itself; the tarnished and dishonoured sword of faith may be +baptised and burnished anew, and flame in the forefront of the holy war. + +Jeremiah does not stand alone in his unfavourable estimate of the +professional prophets of Judah; a similar depreciation seems to be +implied by the words of Amos: "I am neither a prophet nor of the sons +of the prophets."[118] One of the unknown authors whose writings have +been included in the Book of Zechariah takes up the teaching of Amos +and Jeremiah and carries it a stage further:-- + + "In that day (it is the utterance of Jehovah Sabaoth) I will + cut off the names of the idols from the land, + They shall not be remembered any more; + Also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness + Will I expel from the land. + When any shall yet prophesy, + His father and mother that begat him shall say unto him, + Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of + Jehovah: + And his father and mother that begat him shall thrust him + through when he prophesieth. + In that day every prophet when he prophesieth shall be + ashamed of his vision; + Neither shall any wear a hairy mantle to deceive: + He shall say, I am no prophet; + I am a tiller of the ground, + I was sold for a slave in my youth."[119] + +No man with any self-respect would allow his fellows to dub him +prophet; slave was a less humiliating name. No family would endure the +disgrace of having a member who belonged to this despised caste; +parents would rather put their son to death than see him a prophet. To +such extremities may the spirit of time-serving and cant reduce a +national clergy. We are reminded of Latimer's words in his famous +sermon to Convocation in 1536: "All good men in all places accuse your +avarice, your exactions, your tyranny. I commanded you that ye should +feed my sheep, and ye earnestly feed yourselves from day to day, +wallowing in delights and idleness. I commanded you to teach my law; +you teach your own traditions, and seek your own glory."[120] + +Over against their fluent and unctuous cant Jeremiah sets the terrible +reality of his Divine message. Compared to this, their sayings are like +chaff to the wheat; nay, this is too tame a figure--Jehovah's word is +like fire, like a hammer that shatters rocks. He says of himself:-- + + "My heart within me is broken; all my bones shake: + I am like a drunken man, like a man whom wine hath overcome, + Because of Jehovah and His holy words." + +Thus we have in chapter xxiii. a full and formal statement of the +controversy between Jeremiah and his brother-prophets. On the one +hand, self-seeking and self-assurance winning popularity by orthodox +phrases, traditional doctrine, and the prophesying of smooth things; +on the other hand, a man to whom the word of the Lord was like a fire +in his bones, who had surrendered prejudice and predilection that he +might himself become a hammer to shatter the Lord's enemies, a man +through whom God wrought so mightily that he himself reeled and +staggered with the blows of which he was the instrument. + +The relation of the two parties was not unlike that of St. Paul and +his Corinthian adversaries: the prophet, like the Apostle, spoke "in +demonstration of the Spirit and of power"; he considered "not the word +of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is +not in word, but in power." In our next chapter we shall see the +practical working of this antagonism which we have here set forth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] xxxvii. 2. + +[102] 2 Kings xxiv. 18-20. + +[103] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10 makes Zedekiah the brother of Jehoiachin, +possibly using the word in the general sense of "relation." Zedekiah's +age shows that he cannot have been the son of Jehoiakim. + +[104] Ezek. xvii. 13, 14. + +[105] xxiv. + +[106] vii.-xi. + +[107] viii. + +[108] Gen. xlix. 24, J. from older source. Micah v. 5. + +[109] ix.-xi., xiii. 7-9. + +[110] Ezek. xxxiv. 2-5. + +[111] Zech. x. 3, xi. 5. + +[112] xxv. 34-38. + +[113] Froude, i. 205. + +[114] LXX. See R.V. margin. + +[115] Possibly, however, the insertion of this passage in one of the +books may have been the work of an editor, and we cannot be sure that, +in Jeremiah's time, collections entitled Isaiah and Micah both +included this section. + +[116] xxvi. 20. + +[117] So LXX. and modern editors: see Giesebrecht, _in loco_. R.V. +"What burden!" + +[118] vii. 14; but cf. R.V.; "I was," etc. + +[119] Zech. xiii. 2-5. Post-exilic, according to most critics +(Driver's _Introduction, in loco_). + +[120] Froude, ii. 474. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + _HANANIAH_ + + xxvii., xxviii. + + "Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest + this people to trust in a lie."--JER. xxviii. 15. + + +The most conspicuous point at issue between Jeremiah and his opponents +was political rather than ecclesiastical. Jeremiah was anxious that +Zedekiah should keep faith with Nebuchadnezzar, and not involve Judah +in useless misery by another hopeless revolt. The prophets preached +the popular doctrine of an imminent Divine intervention to deliver +Judah from her oppressors. They devoted themselves to the easy task of +fanning patriotic enthusiasm, till the Jews were ready for any +enterprise, however reckless. + +During the opening years of the new reign, Nebuchadnezzar's recent +capture of Jerusalem and the consequent wholesale deportation were +fresh in men's minds; fear of the Chaldeans together with the +influence of Jeremiah kept the government from any overt act of +rebellion. According to li. 59, the king even paid a visit to Babylon, +to do homage to his suzerain. + +It was probably in the fourth year of his reign[121] that the +tributary Syrian states began to prepare for a united revolt against +Babylon. The Assyrian and Chaldean annals constantly mention such +combinations, which were formed and broken up and reformed with as +much ease and variety as patterns in a kaleidoscope. On the present +occasion the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon sent their +ambassadors to Jerusalem to arrange with Zedekiah for concerted +action. But there were more important persons to deal with in that +city than Zedekiah. Doubtless the princes of Judah welcomed the +opportunity for a new revolt. But before the negotiations were very +far advanced, Jeremiah heard what was going on. By Divine command, he +made "bands and bars," _i.e._ yokes, for himself and for the +ambassadors of the allies, or possibly for them to carry home to their +masters. They received their answer, not from Zedekiah, but from the +true King of Israel, Jehovah Himself. They had come to solicit armed +assistance to deliver them from Babylon; they were sent back with +yokes to wear as a symbol of their entire and helpless subjection to +Nebuchadnezzar. This was the word of Jehovah:-- + + "The nation and the kingdom that will not put its neck beneath + the yoke of the king of Babylon, + That nation will I visit with sword and famine and pestilence + until I consume them by his hand." + +The allied kings had been encouraged to revolt by oracles similar to +those uttered by the Jewish prophets in the name of Jehovah; but:-- + + "As for you, hearken not to your prophets, diviners, dreams, + soothsayers and sorcerers, + When they speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king + of Babylon. + They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your + land; + That I should drive you out, and that you should perish. + But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of + the king of Babylon, and serve him, + That nation will I maintain in their own land (it is the + utterance of Jehovah), and they shall till it and + dwell in it." + +When he had sent his message to the foreign envoys, Jeremiah addressed +an almost identical admonition to his own king. He bids him submit to +the Chaldean yoke, under the same penalties for disobedience--sword, +pestilence, and famine for himself and his people. He warns him also +against delusive promises of the prophets, especially in the matter of +the sacred vessels. + +The popular doctrine of the inviolable sanctity of the Temple had +sustained a severe shock when Nebuchadnezzar carried off the sacred +vessels to Babylon. It was inconceivable that Jehovah would patiently +submit to so gross an indignity. In ancient days the Ark had plagued +its Philistine captors till they were only too thankful to be rid of +it. Later on a graphic narrative in the Book of Daniel told with what +swift vengeance God punished Belshazzar for his profane use of these +very vessels. So now patriotic prophets were convinced that the golden +candlestick, the bowls and chargers of gold and silver, would soon +return in triumph, like the Ark of old; and their return would be the +symbol of the final deliverance of Judah from Babylon. Naturally the +priests above all others would welcome such a prophecy, and would +industriously disseminate it. But Jeremiah "spake to the priests and +all this people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah:-- + + "Hearken not unto the words of your prophets, which prophesy + unto you, + Behold, the vessels of the house of Jehovah shall be brought + back from Babylon now speedily: + For they prophesy a lie unto you." + +How could Jehovah grant triumphant deliverance to a carnally minded +people who would not understand His Revelation, and did not discern +any essential difference between Him and Moloch and Baal? + + "Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live. + Why should this city become a desolation?" + +Possibly, however, even now, the Divine compassion might have spared +Jerusalem the agony and shame of her final siege and captivity. God +would not at once restore what was lost, but He might spare what was +still left. Jeremiah could not endorse the glowing promises of the +prophets, but he would unite with them to intercede for mercy upon the +remnant of Israel. + + "If they are prophets and the word of Jehovah is with them, + Let them intercede with Jehovah Sabaoth, that the rest of the + vessels of the Temple, the Palace, and the City may + not go to Babylon." + +The God of Israel was yet ready to welcome any beginning of true +repentance. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He would meet His +people when they were on the way back to Him. Any stirring of filial +penitence would win an instant and gracious response. + +We can scarcely suppose that this appeal by Jeremiah to his +brother-prophets was merely sarcastic and denunciatory. Passing +circumstances may have brought Jeremiah into friendly intercourse with +some of his opponents; personal contact may have begotten something +of mutual kindliness; and hence there arose a transient gleam of hope +that reconciliation and co-operation might still be possible. But it +was soon evident that the "patriotic" party would not renounce their +vain dreams; Judah must drink the cup of wrath to the dregs: the +pillars, the sea, the bases, the rest of the vessels left in Jerusalem +must also be carried to Babylon, and remain there till Jehovah should +visit the Jews and bring them back and restore them to their own land. + +Thus did Jeremiah meet the attempt of the government to organise a +Syrian revolt against Babylon, and thus did he give the lie to the +promises of Divine blessing made by the prophets. In the face of his +utterances, it was difficult to maintain the popular enthusiasm +necessary to a successful revolt. In order to neutralise, if possible, +the impression made by Jeremiah, the government put forward one of +their prophetic supporters to deliver a counter-blast. The place and +the occasion were similar to those chosen by Jeremiah for his own +address to the people and for Baruch's reading of the roll--the court +of the Temple where the priests and "all the people" were assembled. +Jeremiah himself was there. Possibly it was a feast-day. The incident +came to be regarded as of special importance, and a distinct heading +is attached to it, specifying its exact date, "in the same year"--as +the incidents of the previous chapter--"in the beginning of the reign +of Zedekiah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month." + +On such an occasion, Jeremiah's opponents would select as their +representative some striking personality, a man of high reputation for +ability and personal character. Such a man, apparently, they found in +Hananiah ben Azzur of Gibeon. Let us consider for a moment this +mouthpiece and champion of a great political and ecclesiastical party, +we might almost say of a National Government and a National Church. He +is never mentioned except in chapter xxviii., but what we read here is +sufficiently characteristic, and receives much light from the other +literature of the period. As Gibeon is assigned to the priests in +Joshua xxi. 17, it has been conjectured that, like Jeremiah himself, +Hananiah was a priest. The special stress laid on the sacred vessels +would be in accordance with this theory. + +In our last chapter we expounded Jeremiah's description of his +prophetic contemporaries, as self-important and time-serving, guilty +of plagiarism and cant. Now from this dim, inarticulate crowd of +professional prophets, an individual steps for a moment into the light +of history and speaks with clearness and emphasis. Let us gaze at him, +and hear what he has to say. + +If we could have been present at this scene immediately after a +careful study of chapter xxvii. even the appearance of Hananiah would +have caused us a shock of surprise--such as is sometimes experienced +by a devout student of Protestant literature on being introduced to a +live Jesuit, or by some budding secularist when he first makes the +personal acquaintance of a curate. We might possibly have discerned +something commonplace, some lack of depth and force in the man whose +faith was merely conventional; but we should have expected to read +"liar and hypocrite" in every line of his countenance, and we should +have seen nothing of the sort. Conscious of the enthusiastic support +of his fellow-countrymen and especially of his own order, charged--as +he believed--with a message of promise for Jerusalem, Hananiah's face +and bearing, as he came forward to address his sympathetic audience, +betrayed nothing unworthy of the high calling of a prophet. His words +had the true prophetic ring, he spoke with assured authority:-- + + "Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel, + I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon." + +His special object was to remove the unfavourable impression caused by +Jeremiah's contradiction of the promise concerning the sacred vessels. +Like Jeremiah, he meets this denial in the strongest and most +convincing fashion. He does not argue--he reiterates the promise in a +more definite form and with more emphatic asseveration. Like Jonah at +Nineveh, he ventures to fix an exact date in the immediate future for +the fulfilment of the prophecy. "Yet forty days," said Jonah, but the +next day he had to swallow his own words; and Hananiah's prophetic +chronology met with no better fate:-- + +"Within two full years will I bring again to this place all the +vessels of the Temple, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away." + +The full significance of this promise is shown by the further +addition:-- + +"And I will bring again to this place the king of Judah, Jeconiah ben +Jehoiakim, and all the captives of Judah that went to Babylon (it is +the utterance of Jehovah); for I will break the yoke of the king of +Babylon." + +This bold challenge was promptly met:-- + +"The prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah before the +priests and all the people that stood in the Temple." Not "the true +prophet" and "the false prophet," not "the man of God" and "the +impostor," but simply "the prophet Jeremiah" and "the prophet +Hananiah." The audience discerned no obvious difference of status or +authority between the two--if anything the advantage lay with +Hananiah; they watched the scene as a modern churchman might regard a +discussion between ritualistic and evangelical bishops at a Church +Congress, only Hananiah was their ideal of a "good churchman." The +true parallel is not debates between atheists and the Christian +Evidence Society, or between missionaries and Brahmins, but +controversies like those between Arius and Athanasius, Jerome and +Rufinus, Cyril and Chrysostom. + +These prophets, however, display a courtesy and self-restraint that +have, for the most part, been absent from Christian polemics. + +"Jeremiah the prophet said, Amen: may Jehovah bring it to pass; may He +establish the words of thy prophecy, by bringing back again from Babylon +unto this place both the vessels of the Temple and all the captives." + +With that entire sincerity which is the most consummate tact, Jeremiah +avows his sympathy with his opponents' patriotic aspirations, and +recognises that they were worthy of Hebrew prophets. But patriotic +aspirations were not a sufficient reason for claiming Divine authority +for a cheap optimism. Jeremiah's reflection upon the past had led him to +an entirely opposite philosophy of history. Behind Hananiah's words lay +the claim that the religious traditions of Israel and the teaching of +former prophets guaranteed the inviolability of the Temple and the Holy +City. Jeremiah appealed to their authority for his message of doom:-- + +"The ancient prophets who were our predecessors prophesied war and +calamity and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms." + +It was almost a mark of the true prophet that he should be the herald +of disaster. The prophetical books of the Old Testament Canon fully +confirm this startling and unwelcome statement. Their main burden is +the ruin and misery that await Israel and its neighbours. The +presumption therefore was in favour of the prophet of evil, and +against the prophet of good. Jeremiah does not, of course, deny that +there had been, and might yet be, prophets of good. Indeed every +prophet, he himself included, announced some Divine promise, but:-- + +"The prophet which prophesieth of peace shall be known as truly sent +of Jehovah when his prophecy is fulfilled." + +It seemed a fair reply to Hananiah's challenge. His prophecy of the +return of the sacred vessels and the exiles within two years was +intended to encourage Judah and its allies to persist in their revolt. +They would be at once victorious, and recover all and more than all +which they had lost. Under such circumstances Jeremiah's criterion of +"prophecies of peace" was eminently practical. "You are promised these +blessings within two years: very well, do not run the terrible risks +of a rebellion; keep quiet and see if the two years bring the +fulfilment of this prophecy--it is not long to wait." Hananiah might +fairly have replied that this fulfilment depended on Judah's faith and +loyalty to the Divine promise; and their faith and loyalty would be +best shown by rebelling against their oppressors. Jehovah promised +Canaan to the Hebrews of the Exodus, but their carcasses mouldered in +the desert because they had not courage enough to attack formidable +enemies. "Let us not," Hananiah might have said, "imitate their +cowardice, and thus share alike their unbelief and its penalty." + +Neither Jeremiah's premises nor his conclusions would commend his +words to the audience, and he probably weakened his position by +leaving the high ground of authority and descending to argument. +Hananiah at any rate did not follow his example: he adheres to his +former method, and reiterates with renewed emphasis the promise which +his adversary had contradicted. Following Jeremiah in his use of the +parable in action, so common with Hebrew prophets, he turned the +symbol of the yoke against its author. As Zedekiah ben Chenaanah made +him horns of iron and prophesied to Ahab and Jehoshaphat, "Thus saith +Jehovah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou have +consumed them,"[122] so now Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck +and broke it before the assembled people and said:-- + +"Thus saith Jehovah, Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar +king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within two full years." + +Naturally the promise is "for all nations"--not for Judah only, but +for the other allies. + +"And the prophet Jeremiah went his way." For the moment Hananiah had +triumphed; he had had the last word, and Jeremiah was silenced. A public +debate before a partisan audience was not likely to issue in victory for +the truth. The situation may have even shaken his faith in himself and +his message; he may have been staggered for a moment by Hananiah's +apparent earnestness and conviction. He could not but remember that the +gloomy predictions of Isaiah's earlier ministry had been followed by the +glorious deliverance from Sennacherib. Possibly some similar sequel was +to follow his own denunciations. He betook himself anew to fellowship +with God, and awaited a fresh mandate from Jehovah. + +"Then the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, ... Go and tell +Hananiah: Thou hast broken wooden yokes; thou shalt make iron yokes in +their stead. For thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: I have +put a yoke of iron upon the necks of all these nations, that they may +serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon."[123] + +We are not told how long Jeremiah had to wait for this new message, or +under what circumstances it was delivered to Hananiah. Its symbolism +is obvious. When Jeremiah sent the yokes to the ambassadors of the +allies and exhorted Zedekiah to bring his neck under the yoke of +Nebuchadnezzar, they were required to accept the comparatively +tolerable servitude of tributaries. Their impatience of this minor +evil would expose them to the iron yoke of ruin and captivity. + +Thus the prophet of evil received new Divine assurance of the abiding +truth of his message and of the reality of his own inspiration. The +same revelation convinced him that his opponent was either an impostor +or woefully deluded:-- + +"Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto the prophet Hananiah, Hear now, +Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to +trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I will cast thee away +from on the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die, because thou +hast preached rebellion against Jehovah." + +By a judgment not unmixed with mercy, Hananiah was not left to be +convicted of error or imposture, when the "two full years" should have +elapsed, and his glowing promises be seen to utterly fail. He also was +"taken away from the evil to come." + +"So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh +month"--_i.e._ about two months after this incident. Such personal +judgments were most frequent in the case of kings, but were not +confined to them. Isaiah[124] left on record prophecies concerning the +appointment to the treasurership of Shebna and Eliakim; and elsewhere +Jeremiah himself pronounces the doom of Pashhur ben Immer, the +governor of the Temple; but the conclusion of this incident reminds us +most forcibly of the speedy execution of the apostolic sentence upon +Ananias and Sapphira. + +The subjects of this and the preceding chapter raise some of the most +important questions as to authority in religion. On the one hand, on +the subjective side, how may a man be assured of the truth of his own +religious convictions; on the other hand, on the objective side, how +is the hearer to decide between conflicting claims on his faith and +obedience? + +The former question is raised as to the personal convictions of the +two prophets. We have ventured to assume that, however erring and +culpable Hananiah may have been, he yet had an honest faith in his +own inspiration and in the truth of his own prophecies. The conscious +impostor, unhappily, is not unknown either in ancient or modern +Churches; but we should not look for edification from the study of +this branch of morbid spiritual pathology. There were doubtless Jewish +counterparts to "Mr. Sludge the Medium" and to the more subtle and +plausible "Bishop Blougram"; but Hananiah was of a different type. The +evident respect felt for him by the people, Jeremiah's almost +deferential courtesy and temporary hesitation as to his rival's Divine +mission, do not suggest deliberate hypocrisy. Hananiah's "lie" was a +falsehood in fact but not in intention. The Divine message "Jehovah +hath not sent thee" was felt by Jeremiah to be no mere exposure of +what Hananiah had known all along, but to be a revelation to his +adversary as well as to himself. + +The sweeping condemnation of the prophets in chapter xxiii. does not +exclude the possibility of Hananiah's honesty, any more than our +Lord's denunciation of the Pharisees as "devourers of widows' houses" +necessarily includes Gamaliel. In critical times, upright, earnest men +do not always espouse what subsequent ages hold to have been the cause +of truth. Sir Thomas More and Erasmus remained in the communion which +Luther renounced: Hampden and Falkland found themselves in opposite +camps. If such men erred in their choice between right and wrong, we +may often feel anxious as to our own decisions. When we find ourselves +in opposition to earnest and devoted men, we may well pause to +consider which is Jeremiah and which Hananiah. + +The point at issue between these two prophets was exceedingly simple +and practical--whether Jehovah approved of the proposed revolt and +would reward it with success. Theological questions were only +indirectly and remotely involved. Yet, in face of his opponent's +persistent asseverations, Jeremiah--perhaps the greatest of the +prophets--went his way in silence to obtain fresh Divine confirmation +of his message. And the man who hesitated was right. + +Two lessons immediately follow, one as to practice, the other as to +principle. It often happens that earnest servants of God find +themselves at variance, not on simple practical questions, but on the +history and criticism of the remote past, or on abstruse points of +transcendental theology. Before any one ventures to denounce his +adversary as a teacher of deadly error, let him, like Jeremiah, seek, +in humble and prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit, a Divine +mandate for such denunciation. + +But again Jeremiah was willing to reconsider his position, not merely +because he himself might have been mistaken, but because altered +circumstances might have opened the way for a change in God's +dealings. It was a bare possibility, but we have seen elsewhere that +Jeremiah represents God as willing to make a gracious response to the +first movement of compunction. Prophecy was the declaration of His +will, and that will was not arbitrary, but at every moment and at +every point exactly adapted to conditions with which it had to deal. +Its principles were unchangeable and eternal; but prophecy was chiefly +an application of these principles to existing circumstances. The true +prophet always realised that his words were for men as they were when +he addressed them. Any moment might bring a change which would +abrogate or modify the old teaching, and require and receive a new +message. Like Jonah, he might have to proclaim ruin one day and +deliverance the next. A physician, even after the most careful +diagnosis, may have to recognise unsuspected symptoms which lead him +to cancel his prescription and write a new one. The sickening and +healing of the soul involve changes equally unexpected. The Bible does +not teach that inspiration, any more than science, has only one +treatment for each and every spiritual condition and contingency. The +true prophet's message is always a word in season. + +We turn next to the objective question: How is the hearer to decide +between conflicting claims on his faith and obedience? We say the right +was with Jeremiah; but how were the Jews to know that? They were +addressed by two prophets, or, as we might say, two accredited +ecclesiastics of the national Church; each with apparent earnestness and +sincerity claimed to speak in the name of Jehovah and of the ancient +faith of Israel, and each flatly contradicted the other on an immediate +practical question, on which hung their individual fortunes and the +destinies of their country. What were the Jews to do? Which were they to +believe? It is the standing difficulty of all appeals to external +authority. You inquire of this supposed divine oracle and there issues +from it a babel of discordant voices, and each demands that you shall +unhesitatingly submit to its dictates on peril of eternal damnation; and +some have the audacity to claim obedience, because their teaching is +"_quod semper_, _quod ubique_, _quod ab omnibus_." + +One simple and practical test is indeed suggested--the prophet of evil +is more likely to be truly inspired than the prophet of good; but +Jeremiah naturally does not claim that this is an invariable test. +Nor can he have meant that you can always believe prophecies of evil +without any hesitation, but that you are to put no faith in promises +until they are fulfilled. Yet it is not difficult to discern the truth +underlying Jeremiah's words. The prophet whose words are unpalatable +to his hearers is more likely to have a true inspiration than the man +who kindles their fancy with glowing pictures of an imminent +millennium. The divine message to a congregation of country squires is +more likely to be an exhortation to be just to their tenants than a +sermon on the duty of the labourer to his betters. A true prophet +addressing an audience of working men would perhaps deal with the +abuses of trades unions rather than with the sins of capitalists. + +But this principle, which is necessarily of limited application, does +not go far to solve the great question of authority in religion, on +which Jeremiah gives us no further help. + +There is, however, one obvious moral. No system of external authority, +whatever pains may be taken to secure authentic legitimacy, can +altogether release the individual from the responsibility of private +judgment. Unreserved faith in the idea of a Catholic Church is quite +consistent with much hesitation between the Anglican, Roman, and Greek +communions; and the most devoted Catholic may be called upon to choose +between rival anti-popes. + +Ultimately the inspired teacher is only discerned by the inspired +hearer; it is the answer of the conscience that authenticates the +divine message. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[121] The close connection between xxvii. and xxviii. shows that the +date in xxviii. 1, "the fourth year of Zedekiah," covers both +chapters. "Jehoiakim" in xxvii. 1 is a misreading for "Zedekiah": see +R.V. margin. + +[122] 1 Kings xxii. 11. + +[123] The rest of this verse has apparently been inserted from xxvii. +6 by a scribe. It is omitted by the LXX. + +[124] xxii. 15-25. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + _CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EXILES_ + + xxix. + + "Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of + Babylon roasted in the fire."--JER. xxix. 22. + + +Nothing further is said about the proposed revolt, so that Jeremiah's +vigorous protest seems to have been successful. In any case, unless +irrevocable steps had been taken, the enterprise could hardly have +survived the death of its advocate, Hananiah. Accordingly Zedekiah +sent an embassy to Babylon, charged doubtless with plausible +explanations and profuse professions of loyalty and devotion. The +envoys were Elasah ben Shaphan and Gemariah ben Hilkiah. Shaphan and +Hilkiah were almost certainly the scribe and high priest who +discovered Deuteronomy in the eighteenth year of Josiah, and Elasah +was the brother of Ahikam ben Shaphan, who protected Jeremiah in the +fourth year of Jehoiakim, and of Gemariah ben Shaphan, in whose +chamber Baruch read the roll, and who protested against its +destruction. Probably Elasah and Gemariah were adherents of Jeremiah, +and the fact of the embassy, as well as the choice of ambassadors, +suggests that, for the moment, Zedekiah was acting under the influence +of the prophet. Jeremiah took the opportunity of sending a letter to +the exiles at Babylon. Hananiah had his allies in Chaldea: Ahab ben +Kolaiah, Zedekiah ben Maaseiah, and Shemaiah the Nehelamite, with +other prophets, diviners, and dreamers, had imitated their brethren in +Judah; they had prophesied without being sent and had caused the +people to believe a lie. We are not expressly told what they +prophesied, but the narrative takes for granted that they, like +Hananiah, promised the exiles a speedy return to their native land. +Such teaching naturally met with much acceptance, the people +congratulating themselves because, as they supposed, "Jehovah hath +raised us up prophets in Babylon." The presence of prophets among them +was received as a welcome proof that Jehovah had not deserted His +people in their house of bondage. + +Thus when Jeremiah had confounded his opponents in Jerusalem he had +still to deal with their friends in Babylon. Here again the issue was +one of immediate practical importance. In Chaldea as at Jerusalem the +prediction that the exiles would immediately return was intended to +kindle the proposed revolt. The Jews at Babylon were virtually warned to +hold themselves in readiness to take advantage of any success of the +Syrian rebels, and, if opportunity offered, to render them assistance. +In those days information travelled slowly, and there was some danger +lest the captives should be betrayed into acts of disloyalty, even after +the Jewish government had given up any present intention of revolting +against Nebuchadnezzar. Such disloyalty might have involved their entire +destruction. Both Zedekiah and Jeremiah would be anxious to inform them +at once that they must refrain from any plots against their Chaldean +masters. Moreover the prospect of an immediate return had very much the +same effect upon these Jews as the expectation of Christ's Second Coming +had upon the primitive Church at Thessalonica. It made them restless and +disorderly. They could not settle to any regular work, but became +busybodies--wasting their time over the glowing promises of their +popular preachers, and whispering to one another wild rumours of +successful revolts in Syria; or were even more dangerously occupied in +planning conspiracies against their conquerors. + +Jeremiah's letter sought to bring about a better state of mind. It is +addressed to the elders, priests, prophets, and people of the +Captivity. The enumeration reminds us how thoroughly the exiled +community reproduced the society of the ancient Jewish state--there +was already a miniature Judah in Chaldea, the first of those Israels +of the Dispersion which have since covered the face of the earth. + +This is Jehovah's message by His prophet:-- + + "Build houses and dwell in them; + Plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof; + Marry and beget sons and daughters; + Marry your sons and daughters, + That they may bear sons and daughters, + That ye may multiply there and not grow few. + Seek the peace of the city whither I have sent you into + captivity: + Pray for it unto Jehovah; + For in its peace, ye shall have peace." + +There was to be no immediate return; their captivity would last long +enough to make it worth their while to build houses and plant gardens. +For the present they were to regard Babylon as their home. The +prospect of restoration to Judah was too distant to make any practical +difference to their conduct of ordinary business. The concluding +command to "seek the peace of Babylon" is a distinct warning against +engaging in plots, which could only ruin the conspirators. There is an +interesting difference between these exhortations and those addressed +by Paul to his converts in the first century. He never counsels them +to marry, but rather recommends celibacy as more expedient for the +present necessity. Apparently life was more anxious and harassed for +the early Christians than for the Jews in Babylon. The return to +Canaan was to these exiles what the millennium and the Second Advent +were to the primitive Church. Jeremiah having bidden his +fellow-countrymen not to be agitated by supposing that this +much-longed event might come at any moment, fortifies their faith and +patience by a promise that it should not be delayed indefinitely. + + "When ye have fulfilled seventy years in Babylon I will visit + you, + And will perform for you My gracious promise to bring you + back to this place."[125] + +Seventy is obviously a round number. Moreover the constant use of +seven and its multiples in sacred symbolism forbids us to understand +the prophecy as an exact chronological statement. + +We should adequately express the prophet's meaning by translating "in +about two generations." We need not waste time and trouble in +discovering or inventing two dates exactly separated by seventy years, +one of which will serve for the beginning and the other for the end of +the Captivity. The interval between the destruction of Jerusalem and the +Return was fifty years (B.C. 586-536), but as our passage refers more +immediately to the prospects of those already in exile, we should obtain +an interval of sixty-five years from the deportation of Jehoiachin and +his companions in B.C. 601. But there can be no question of +approximation, however close. Either the "seventy years" merely stands +for a comparatively long period, or it is exact. We do not save the +inspiration of a date by showing that it is only five years wrong, and +not twenty. For an inspired date must be absolutely accurate; a mistake +of a second in such a case would be as fatal as a mistake of a century. + +Israel's hope is guaranteed by God's self-knowledge of His gracious +counsel:-- + + "I know the purposes which I purpose concerning you, is the + utterance of Jehovah, + Purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you hope for the + days to come." + +In the former clause "I" is emphatic in both places, and the phrase is +parallel to the familiar formula "by Myself have I sworn, saith +Jehovah." The future of Israel was guaranteed by the divine +consistency. Jehovah, to use a colloquial phrase, knew His own mind. +His everlasting purpose for the Chosen People could not be set aside. +"Did God cast off His people? God forbid." + +Yet this persistent purpose is not fulfilled without reference to +character and conduct:-- + + "Ye shall call upon Me, and come and pray unto Me, + And I will hearken unto you. + Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, + Because ye seek Me with all your heart. + I will be found of you--it is the utterance of Jehovah. + + I will bring back your captivity, and will gather you from + all nations and places whither I have scattered + you--it is the utterance of Jehovah. + I will bring you back to this place whence I sent you away to + captivity."[126] + +As in the previous chapter, Jeremiah concludes with a personal +judgment upon those prophets who had been so acceptable to the exiles. +If verse 23 is to be understood literally, Ahab and Zedekiah had not +only spoken without authority in the name of Jehovah, but had also +been guilty of gross immorality. Their punishment was to be more +terrible than that of Hananiah. They had incited the exiles to revolt +by predicting the imminent ruin of Nebuchadnezzar. Possibly the Jewish +king proposed to make his own peace by betraying his agents, after the +manner of our own Elizabeth and other sovereigns. + +They were to be given over to the terrible vengeance which a Chaldean +king would naturally take on such offenders, and would be publicly +roasted alive, so that the malice of him who desired to curse his +enemy might find vent in such words as:-- + +"Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon +roasted alive." + +We are not told whether this prophecy was fulfilled, but it is by no +means unlikely. The Assyrian king Assurbanipal says, in one of his +inscriptions concerning a viceroy of Babylon who had revolted, that +Assur and the other gods "in the fierce burning fire they threw him +and destroyed his life"--possibly through the agency of Assurbanipal's +servants.[127] One of the seven brethren who were tortured to death in +the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes is said to have been "fried in +the pan."[128] Christian hagiology commemorates St. Lawrence and many +other martyrs, who suffered similar torments. Such punishments +remained part of criminal procedure until a comparatively recent date; +they are still sometimes inflicted by lynch law in the United States, +and have been defended even by Christian ministers. + +Jeremiah's letter caused great excitement and indignation among the +exiles. We have no rejoinder from Ahab and Zedekiah; probably they +were not in a position to make any. But Shemaiah the Nehelamite tried +to make trouble for Jeremiah at Jerusalem. He, in his turn, wrote +letters to "all the people at Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah +ben Maaseiah and to all the priests" to this effect:-- + +"Jehovah hath made thee priest in the room of Jehoiada the priest, to +exercise supervision over the Temple, and to deal with any mad fanatic +who puts himself forward to prophesy, by placing him in the stocks and +the collar. Why then hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who +puts himself forward to prophesy unto you? Consequently he has sent +unto us at Babylon: It (your captivity) will be long; build houses and +dwell in them, plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof." + +Confidence in a speedy return had already been exalted into a cardinal +article of the exiles' faith, and Shemaiah claims that any one who +denied this comfortable doctrine must be _ipso facto_ a dangerous and +deluded fanatic, needing to be placed under strict restraint. This +letter travelled to Jerusalem with the returning embassy, and was duly +delivered to Zephaniah. Zephaniah is spoken of in the historical +section common to Kings and Jeremiah as "the second priest,"[129] +Seraiah being the High Priest; like Pashhur ben Immer, he seems to +have been the governor of the Temple. He was evidently well disposed +to Jeremiah, to whom Zedekiah twice sent him on important missions. On +the present occasion, instead of acting upon the suggestions made by +Shemaiah, he read the letter to Jeremiah, in order that the latter +might have an opportunity of dealing with it. + +Jeremiah was divinely instructed to reply to Shemaiah, charging him, +in his turn, with being a man who put himself forward to prophesy +without any commission from Jehovah, and who thus deluded his hearers +into belief in falsehoods. Personal sentence is passed upon him, as +upon Hananiah, Ahab, and Zedekiah; no son of his shall be reckoned +amongst God's people or see the prosperity which they shall hereafter +enjoy. The words are obscure: it is said that Jehovah will "visit +Shemaiah and his seed," so that it cannot mean that he will be +childless; but it is further said that "he shall not have a man to +abide amongst this people." It is apparently a sentence of +excommunication against Shemaiah and his family. + +Here the episode abruptly ends. We are not told whether the letter was +sent, or how it was received, or whether it was answered. We gather +that, here also, the last word rested with Jeremiah, and that at this +point his influence became dominant both at Jerusalem and at Babylon, +and that King Zedekiah himself submitted to his guidance. + +Chapters xxviii., xxix., deepen the impression made by other sections +of Jeremiah's intolerance and personal bitterness towards his +opponents. He seems to speak of the roasting alive of the prophets at +Babylon with something like grim satisfaction, and we are tempted to +think of Torquemada and Bishop Bonner. But we must remember that the +stake, as we have already said, has scarcely yet ceased to be an +ordinary criminal punishment, and that, after centuries of +Christianity, More and Cranmer, Luther and Calvin, had hardly any more +tenderness for their ecclesiastical opponents than Jeremiah. + +Indeed the Church is only beginning to be ashamed of the complacency +with which she has contemplated the fiery torments of hell as the +eternal destiny of unrepentant sinners. One of the most tolerant and +catholic of our religious teachers has written: "If the unlucky +malefactor, who in mere brutality of ignorance or narrowness of nature +or of culture has wronged his neighbour, excite our anger, how much +deeper should be our indignation when intellect and eloquence are +abused to selfish purposes, when studious leisure and learning and +thought turn traitors to the cause of human well-being and the wells +of a nation's moral life are poisoned."[130] The deduction is obvious: +society feels constrained to hang or burn "the unlucky malefactor"; +consequently such punishments are, if anything, too merciful for the +false prophet. Moreover the teaching which Jeremiah denounced was no +mere dogmatism about abstruse philosophical and theological +abstractions. Like the Jesuit propaganda under Elizabeth, it was more +immediately concerned with politics than with religion. We are bound +to be indignant with a man, gifted in exploiting the emotions of his +docile audience, who wins the confidence and arouses the enthusiasm of +his hearers, only to entice them into hopeless and foolhardy ventures. + +And yet we are brought back to the old difficulty, how are we to know +the false prophet? He has neither horns nor hoofs, his tie may be as +white and his coat as long as those of the true messenger of God. +Again, Jeremiah's method affords us some practical guidance. He does +not himself order and superintend the punishment of false prophets; he +merely announces a divine judgment, which Jehovah Himself is to +execute. He does not condemn men by the code of any Church, but each +sentence is a direct and special revelation from Jehovah. How many +sentences would have been passed upon heretics, if their accusers and +judges had waited for a similar sanction? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[125] Doubts have been expressed as to whether this verse originally +formed part of Jeremiah's letter, or was ever written by him; but in +view of his numerous references to a coming restoration those doubts +are unnecessary. + +[126] The Hebrew Text inserts a paragraph (vv. 16-20) substantially +identical with other portions of the book, especially xxiv. 8-10, +announcing the approaching ruin and captivity of Zedekiah and the Jews +still remaining in Judah. This section is omitted by the LXX., and +breaks the obvious connection between verses 15 and 21. + +[127] Smith's _Assurbanipal_, p. 163. + +[128] 2 Macc. vii. 5. + +[129] lii. 24; 2 Kings xxv. 18. + +[130] _Ecce Homo_, xxi. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + _A BROKEN COVENANT_ + + xxi. 1-10, xxxiv., xxxvii. 1-10. + + "All the princes and people ... changed their minds and reduced to + bondage again all the slaves whom they had set free."--JER. xxxiv. + 10, 11. + + +In our previous chapter we saw that, at the point where the fragmentary +record of the abortive conspiracy in the fourth year of Zedekiah came to +an abrupt conclusion, Jeremiah seemed to have regained the ascendency he +enjoyed under Josiah. The Jewish government had relinquished their +schemes of rebellion and acquiesced once more in the supremacy of +Babylon. We may possibly gather from a later chapter[131] that Zedekiah +himself paid a visit to Nebuchadnezzar to assure him of his loyalty. If +so, the embassy of Elasah ben Shaphan and Gemariah ben Hilkiah was +intended to assure a favourable reception for their master. + +The history of the next few years is lost in obscurity, but when the +curtain again rises everything is changed and Judah is once more in +revolt against the Chaldeans. No doubt one cause of this fresh change +of policy was the renewed activity of Egypt. In the account of the +conspiracy in Zedekiah's fourth year, there is a significant absence +of any reference to Egypt. Jeremiah succeeded in baffling his +opponents partly because their fears of Babylon were not quieted by +any assurance of Egyptian support. Now there seemed a better prospect +of a successful insurrection. + +About the seventh year of Zedekiah, Psammetichus II. of Egypt was +succeeded by his brother Pharaoh Hophra, the son of Josiah's +conqueror, Pharaoh Necho. When Hophra--the Apries of Herodotus--had +completed the reconquest of Ethiopia, he made a fresh attempt to carry +out his father's policy and to re-establish the ancient Egyptian +supremacy in Western Asia; and, as of old, Egypt began by tampering +with the allegiance of the Syrian vassals of Babylon. According to +Ezekiel,[132] Zedekiah took the initiative: "he rebelled against him +(Nebuchadnezzar) by sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they +might give him horses and much people." + +The knowledge that an able and victorious general was seated on the +Egyptian throne, along with the secret intrigues of his agents and +partisans, was too much for Zedekiah's discretion. Jeremiah's advice +was disregarded. The king surrendered himself to the guidance--we +might almost say, the control--of the Egyptian party in Jerusalem; he +violated his oath of allegiance to his suzerain, and the frail and +battered ship of state was once more embarked on the stormy waters of +rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar promptly prepared to grapple with the +reviving strength of Egypt in a renewed contest for the lordship of +Syria. Probably Egypt and Judah had other allies, but they are not +expressly mentioned. A little later Tyre was besieged by +Nebuchadnezzar; but as Ezekiel[133] represents Tyre as exulting over +the fall of Jerusalem, she can hardly have been a benevolent neutral, +much less a faithful ally. Moreover, when Nebuchadnezzar began his +march into Syria, he hesitated whether he should first attack +Jerusalem or Rabbath Ammon:-- + +"The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, ... to use +divination: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, +he looked in the liver."[134] + +Later on Baalis, king of Ammon, received the Jewish refugees and +supported those who were most irreconcilable in their hostility to +Nebuchadnezzar. Nevertheless the Ammonites were denounced by Jeremiah +for occupying the territory of Gad, and by Ezekiel[135] for sharing +the exultation of Tyre over the ruin of Judah. Probably Baalis played +a double part. He may have promised support to Zedekiah, and then +purchased his own pardon by betraying his ally. + +Nevertheless the hearty support of Egypt was worth more than the +alliance of any number of the petty neighbouring states, and +Nebuchadnezzar levied a great army to meet this ancient and formidable +enemy of Assyria and Babylon. He marched into Judah with "all his +army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, +and all the peoples," and "fought against Jerusalem and all the cities +thereof."[136] + +At the beginning of the siege Zedekiah's heart began to fail him. The +course of events seemed to confirm Jeremiah's threats, and the king, +with pathetic inconsistency, sought to be reassured by the prophet +himself. He sent Pashhur ben Malchiah and Zephaniah ben Maaseiah to +Jeremiah with the message:-- + +"Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of +Babylon maketh war against us: peradventure Jehovah will deal with us +according to all His wondrous works, that he may go up from us." + +The memories of the great deliverance from Sennacherib were fresh and +vivid in men's minds. Isaiah's denunciations had been as +uncompromising as Jeremiah's, and yet Hezekiah had been spared. +"Peradventure," thought his anxious descendant, "the prophet may yet +be charged with gracious messages that Jehovah repents Him of the evil +and will even now rescue His Holy City." But the timid appeal only +called forth a yet sterner sentence of doom. Formidable as were the +enemies against whom Zedekiah craved protection, they were to be +reinforced by more terrible allies; man and beast should die of a +great pestilence, and Jehovah Himself should be their enemy:-- + +"I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith +ye fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.... I Myself +will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, in +anger and fury and great wrath." + +The city should be taken and burnt with fire, and the king and all +others who survived should be carried away captive. Only on one +condition might better terms be obtained:-- + +"Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He +that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, the famine, and the +pestilence; but he that goeth out, and falleth to the besieging +Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a +prey."[137] + +On another occasion Zephaniah ben Maaseiah with a certain Tehucal ben +Shelemiah was sent by the king to the prophet with the entreaty, "Pray +now unto Jehovah our God for us." We are not told the sequel to this +mission, but it is probably represented by the opening verses of chapter +xxxiv. This section has the direct and personal note which characterises +the dealings of Hebrew prophets with their sovereigns. Doubtless the +partisans of Egypt had had a severe struggle with Jeremiah before they +captured the ear of the Jewish king, and Zedekiah was possessed to the +very last with a half-superstitious anxiety to keep on good terms with +the prophet. Jehovah's "iron pillar and brasen wall" would make no +concession to these royal blandishments: his message had been rejected, +his Master had been slighted and defied, the Chosen People and the Holy +City were being betrayed to their ruin; Jeremiah would not refrain from +denouncing this iniquity because the king who had sanctioned it tried to +flatter his vanity by sending deferential deputations of important +notables. This is the Divine sentence:-- + + "I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, + And he shall burn it with fire. + Thou shalt not escape out of his hand; + Thou shalt assuredly be taken prisoner; + Thou shalt be delivered into his hand. + Thou shalt see the king of Babylon, face to face; + He shall speak to thee, mouth to mouth, + And thou shalt go to Babylon." + +Yet there should be one doubtful mitigation of his punishment:-- + + "Thou shalt not die by the sword; + Thou shalt die in peace: + With the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were + before thee, + So shall they make a burning for thee; + And they shall lament thee, saying, Alas lord! + For it is I that have spoken the word--it is the utterance of + Jehovah." + +King and people were not proof against the combined terrors of the +prophetic rebukes and the besieging enemy. Jeremiah regained his +influence, and Jerusalem gave an earnest of the sincerity of her +repentance by entering into a covenant for the emancipation of all +Hebrew slaves. Deuteronomy had re-enacted the ancient law that their +bondage should terminate at the end of six years,[138] but this had +not been observed: "Your fathers hearkened not unto Me, neither +inclined their ear."[139] A large proportion of those then in slavery +must have served more than six years;[140] and partly because of the +difficulty of discrimination at such a crisis, partly by way of +atonement, the Jews undertook to liberate all their slaves. This +solemn reparation was made because the limitation of servitude was +part of the national Torah, "the covenant that Jehovah made with their +fathers in the day that He brought them forth out of the land of +Egypt"--_i.e._ the Deuteronomic Code. Hence it implied the renewed +recognition of Deuteronomy, and the restoration of the ecclesiastical +order established by Josiah's reforms. + +Even Josiah's methods were imitated. He had assembled the people at +the Temple and made them enter into "a covenant before Jehovah, to +walk after Jehovah, to keep His commandments and testimonies and +statutes with all their heart and soul, to perform the words of this +covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered +into the covenant."[141] So now Zedekiah in turn caused the people to +make a covenant before Jehovah, "in the house which was called by His +name,"[142] "that every one should release his Hebrew slaves, male and +female, and that no one should enslave a brother Jew."[143] A further +sanction had been given to this vow by the observance of an ancient +and significant rite. When Jehovah promised to Abraham a seed +countless as the stars of heaven, He condescended to ratify His +promise by causing the symbols of His presence--a smoking furnace and +a burning lamp--to pass between the divided halves of a heifer, a +she-goat, a ram, and between a turtle-dove and a young pigeon.[144] +Now, in like manner, a calf was cut in twain, the two halves laid +opposite each other, and "the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the +eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, ... passed +between the parts of the calf."[145] Similarly, after the death of +Alexander the Great, the contending factions in the Macedonian army +ratified a compromise by passing between the two halves of a dog. Such +symbols spoke for themselves: those who used them laid themselves +under a curse; they prayed that if they violated the covenant they +might be slain and mutilated like the divided animals. + +This covenant was forthwith carried into effect, the princes and +people liberating their Hebrew slaves according to their vow. We +cannot, however, compare this event with the abolition of slavery in +British colonies or with Abraham Lincoln's Decree of Emancipation. The +scale is altogether different: Hebrew bondage had no horrors to +compare with those of the American plantations; and moreover, even at +the moment, the practical results cannot have been great. Shut up in a +beleaguered city, harassed by the miseries and terrors of a siege, the +freedmen would see little to rejoice over in their new-found freedom. +Unless their friends were in Jerusalem they could not rejoin them, and +in most cases they could only obtain sustenance by remaining in the +households of their former masters, or by serving in the defending +army. Probably this special ordinance of Deuteronomy was selected as +the subject of a solemn covenant, because it not only afforded an +opportunity of atoning for past sin, but also provided the means of +strengthening the national defence. Such expedients were common in +ancient states in moments of extreme peril. + +In view of Jeremiah's persistent efforts, both before and after this +incident, to make his countrymen loyally accept the Chaldean supremacy, +we cannot doubt that he hoped to make terms between Zedekiah and +Nebuchadnezzar. Apparently no tidings of Pharaoh Hophra's advance had +reached Jerusalem; and the non-appearance of his "horses and much +people" had discredited the Egyptian party, and enabled Jeremiah to +overthrow their influence with the king and people. Egypt, after all her +promises, had once more proved herself a broken reed; there was nothing +left but to throw themselves on Nebuchadnezzar's mercy. + +But the situation was once more entirely changed by the news that +Pharaoh Hophra had come forth out of Egypt "with a mighty army and a +great company."[146] The sentinels on the walls of Jerusalem saw the +besiegers break up their encampment, and march away to meet the +relieving army. All thought of submitting to Babylon was given up. +Indeed, if Pharaoh Hophra were to be victorious, the Jews must of +necessity accept his supremacy. Meanwhile they revelled in their respite +from present distress and imminent danger. Surely the new covenant was +bearing fruit. Jehovah had been propitiated by their promise to observe +the Torah; Pharaoh was the instrument by which God would deliver His +people; or even if the Egyptians were defeated, the Divine resources +were not exhausted. When Tirhakah advanced to the relief of Hezekiah, he +was defeated at Eltekeh, yet Sennacherib had returned home baffled and +disgraced. Naturally the partisans of Egypt, the opponents of Jeremiah, +recovered their control of the king and the government. The king sent, +perhaps at the first news of the Egyptian advance, to inquire of +Jeremiah concerning their prospects of success. What seemed to every one +else a Divine deliverance was to him a national misfortune; the hopes he +had once more indulged of averting the ruin of Judah were again dashed +to the ground. His answer is bitter and gloomy:-- + + "Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, + Shall return to Egypt into their own land. + The Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; + They shall take it, and burn it with fire. + Thus saith Jehovah: + Do not deceive yourselves, saying, + The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: + They shall not depart. + Though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that + fight against you, + And there remained none but wounded men among them, + Yet should they rise up every man in his tent, + And burn this city with fire." + +Jeremiah's protest was unavailing, and only confirmed the king and +princes in their adherence to Egypt. Moreover Jeremiah had now formally +disclaimed any sympathy with this great deliverance, which Pharaoh--and +presumably Jehovah--had wrought for Judah. Hence it was clear that the +people did not owe this blessing to the covenant to which they had +submitted themselves by Jeremiah's guidance. As at Megiddo, Jehovah had +shown once more that He was with Pharaoh and against Jeremiah. Probably +they would best please God by renouncing Jeremiah and all his works--the +covenant included. Moreover they could take back their slaves with a +clear conscience, to their own great comfort and satisfaction. True, +they had sworn in the Temple with solemn and striking ceremonies, but +then Jehovah Himself had manifestly released them from their oath. "All +the princes and people changed their mind, and reduced to bondage again +all the slaves whom they had set free." The freedmen had been rejoicing +with their former masters in the prospect of national deliverance; the +date of their emancipation was to mark the beginning of a new era of +Jewish happiness and prosperity. When the siege was raised and the +Chaldeans driven away, they could use their freedom in rebuilding the +ruined cities and cultivating the wasted lands. To all such dreams there +came a sudden and rough awakening: they were dragged back to their +former hopeless bondage--a happy augury for the new dispensation of +Divine protection and blessing! + +Jeremiah turned upon them in fierce wrath, like that of Elijah against +Ahab when he met him taking possession of Naboth's vineyard. They had +profaned the name of Jehovah, and-- + + "Therefore thus saith Jehovah: + Ye have not hearkened unto Me to proclaim a release every one + to his brother and his neighbour: + Behold, I proclaim a release for you--it is the utterance of + Jehovah--unto the sword, the pestilence, and the + famine; + And I will make you a terror among all the kingdoms of the + earth." + +The prophet plays upon the word "release" with grim irony. The Jews +had repudiated the "release" which they had promised under solemn oath +to their brethren, but Jehovah would not allow them to be so easily +quit of their covenant. There should be a "release" after all, and +they themselves should have the benefit of it--a "release" from +happiness and prosperity, from the sacred bounds of the Temple, the +Holy City, and the Land of Promise--a "release" unto "the sword, the +pestilence, and the famine." + + "I will give the men that have transgressed My covenant into + the hands of their enemies.... + Their dead bodies shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and + for the beasts of the earth. + Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the + hand of ... the host of the king of Babylon, which + are gone up from you. + Behold, I will command--it is the utterance of Jehovah--and + will bring them back unto this city: + They shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with + fire. + I will lay the cities of Judah waste, without inhabitant." + +Another broken covenant was added to the list of Judah's sins, +another promise of amendment speedily lost in disappointment and +condemnation. Jeremiah might well say with his favourite Hosea:-- + + "O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? + Your goodness is as a morning cloud, + And as the dew that goeth early away."[147] + +This incident has many morals; one of the most obvious is the futility +of the most stringent oaths and the most solemn symbolic ritual. +Whatever influence oaths may have in causing a would-be liar to speak +the truth, they are very poor guarantees for the performance of +contracts. William the Conqueror profited little by Harold's oath to +help him to the crown of England, though it was sworn over the relics +of holy saints. Wulfnoth's whisper in Tennyson's drama-- + + "Swear thou to-day, to-morrow is thine own"-- + +states the principle on which many oaths have been taken. The famous +"blush of Sigismund" over the violation of his safe-conduct to Huss +was rather a token of unusual sensitiveness than a confession of +exceptional guilt. The Christian Church has exalted perfidy into a +sacred obligation. As Milman says[148]:-- + +"The fatal doctrine, confirmed by long usage, by the decrees of +Pontiffs, by the assent of all ecclesiastics, and the acquiescence of +the Christian world, that no promise, no oath, was binding to a +heretic, had hardly been questioned, never repudiated." + +At first sight an oath seems to give firm assurance to a promise; what +was merely a promise to man is made into a promise to God. What can +be more binding upon the conscience than a promise to God? True; but +He to whom the promise is made may always release from its +performance. To persist in what God neither requires nor desires +because of a promise to God seems absurd and even wicked. It has been +said that men "have a way of calling everything they want to do a +dispensation of Providence." Similarly, there are many ways by which a +man may persuade himself that God has cancelled his vows, especially +if he belongs to an infallible Church with a Divine commission to +grant dispensations. No doubt these Jewish slaveholders had full +sacerdotal absolution from their pledge. The priests had slaves of +their own. Failing ecclesiastical aid, Satan himself will play the +casuist--it is one of his favourite parts--and will find the traitor +full justification for breaking the most solemn contract with Heaven. +If a man's whole soul and purpose go with his promise, oaths are +superfluous; otherwise, they are useless. + +However, the main lesson of the incident lies in its added testimony +to the supreme importance which the prophets attached to social +righteousness. When Jeremiah wished to knit together again the bonds +of fellowship between Judah and its God, he did not make them enter +into a covenant to observe ritual or to cultivate pious sentiments, +but to release their slaves. It has been said that a gentleman may be +known by the way in which he treats his servants; a man's religion is +better tested by his behaviour to his helpless dependents than by his +attendance on the means of grace or his predilection for pious +conversation. If we were right in supposing that the government +supported Jeremiah because the act of emancipation would furnish +recruits to man the walls, this illustrates the ultimate dependence of +society upon the working classes. In emergencies, desperate efforts +are made to coerce or cajole them into supporting governments by which +they have been neglected or oppressed. The sequel to this covenant +shows how barren and transient are concessions begotten by the terror +of imminent ruin. The social covenant between all classes of the +community needs to be woven strand by strand through long years of +mutual helpfulness and goodwill, of peace and prosperity, if it is to +endure the strain of national peril and disaster. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[131] li. 59, Hebrew Text. According to the LXX., Zedekiah sent +another embassy and did not go himself to Babylon. The section is +apparently a late addition. + +[132] xvii. 15. + +[133] xxvi. 2. + +[134] Ezek. xxi. 21. + +[135] xxv. 1-7. + +[136] xxi. 1-10. The exact date of this section is not given, but it is +closely parallel to xxxiv. 1-7, and seems to belong to the same period. + +[137] xxi. 1-10. + +[138] Deut. xv. 12. Cf. Exod. xxi. 2, xxiii. 10. + +[139] xxxiv. 14. + +[140] xxxiv. 13. + +[141] 2 Kings xxiii. 3. + +[142] xxxiv. 15. + +[143] xxxiv. 9. + +[144] Gen. xv. + +[145] xxxiv. 19. + +[146] Ezek. xvii. 17. + +[147] Hosea vi. 4. + +[148] Milman's _Latin Christianity_, viii. 255. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + _JEREMIAH'S IMPRISONMENT_ + + xxxvii. 11-21, xxxviii., xxxix. 15-18. + + "Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that + Jerusalem was taken."--JER. xxxviii. 28. + + +"When the Chaldean army was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of +Pharaoh's army, Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land +of Benjamin" to transact certain family business at Anathoth.[149] + +He had announced that all who remained in the city should perish, and +that only those who deserted to the Chaldeans should escape. In these +troubled times all who sought to enter or leave Jerusalem were +subjected to close scrutiny, and when Jeremiah wished to pass through +the gate of Benjamin he was stopped by the officer in charge--Irijah +ben Shelemiah ben Hananiah--and accused of being about to practise +himself what he had preached to the people: "Thou fallest away to the +Chaldeans." The suspicion was natural enough; for, although the +Chaldeans had raised the siege and marched away to the south-west, +while the gate of Benjamin was on the north of the city, Irijah might +reasonably suppose that they had left detachments in the +neighbourhood, and that this zealous advocate of submission to +Babylon had special information on the subject. Jeremiah indeed had +the strongest motives for seeking safety in flight. The party whom he +had consistently denounced had full control of the government, and +even if they spared him for the present any decisive victory over the +enemy would be the signal for his execution. When once Pharaoh Hophra +was in full march upon Jerusalem at the head of a victorious army, his +friends would show no mercy to Jeremiah. Probably Irijah was eager to +believe in the prophet's treachery, and ready to snatch at any pretext +for arresting him. The name of the captain's grandfather--Hananiah--is +too common to suggest any connection with the prophet who withstood +Jeremiah; but we may be sure that at this crisis the gates were in +charge of trusty adherents of the princes of the Egyptian party. +Jeremiah would be suspected and detested by such men as these. His +vehement denial of the charge was received with real or feigned +incredulity; Irijah "hearkened not unto him." + +The arrest took place "in the midst of the people."[150] The gate was +crowded with other Jews hurrying out of Jerusalem: citizens eager to +breathe more freely after being cooped up in the overcrowded city; +countrymen anxious to find out what their farms and homesteads had +suffered at the hands of the invaders; not a few, perhaps, bound on +the very errand of which Jeremiah was accused, friends of Babylon, +convinced that Nebuchadnezzar would ultimately triumph, and hoping to +find favour and security in his camp. Critical events of Jeremiah's +life had often been transacted before a great assembly; for instance, +his own address and trial in the Temple, and the reading of the roll. +He knew the practical value of a dramatic situation. This time he had +sought the crowd, rather to avoid than attract attention; but when he +was challenged by Irijah, the accusation and denial must have been +heard by all around. The soldiers of the guard, necessarily hostile to +the man who had counselled submission, gathered round to secure their +prisoner; for a time the gate was blocked by the guards and +spectators. The latter do not seem to have interfered. Formerly the +priests and prophets and all the people had laid hold on Jeremiah, and +afterwards all the people had acquitted him by acclamation. Now his +enemies were content to leave him in the hands of the soldiers, and +his friends, if he had any, were afraid to attempt a rescue. Moreover +men's minds were not at leisure and craving for new excitement, as at +Temple festivals; they were preoccupied, and eager to get out of the +city. While the news quickly spread that Jeremiah had been arrested as +he was trying to desert, his guards cleared a way through the crowd, +and brought the prisoner before the princes. The latter seem to have +acted as a Committee of National Defence; they may either have been +sitting at the time, or a meeting, as on a previous occasion,[151] may +have been called when it was known that Jeremiah had been arrested. +Among them were probably those enumerated later on:[152] Shephatiah +ben Mattan, Gedaliah ben Pashhur, Jucal ben Shelemiah, and Pashhur ben +Malchiah. Shephatiah and Gedaliah are named only here; possibly +Gedaliah's father was Pashhur ben Immer, who beat Jeremiah and put him +in the stocks. Both Jucal and Pashhur ben Malchiah had been sent by +the king to consult Jeremiah. Jucal may have been the son of the +Shelemiah who was sent to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch after the reading +of the roll. We note the absence of the princes who then formed +Baruch's audience, some of whom tried to dissuade Jehoiakim from +burning the roll; and we especially miss the prophet's former friend +and protector, Ahikam ben Shaphan. Fifteen or sixteen years had +elapsed since these earlier events; some of Jeremiah's adherents were +dead, others in exile, others powerless to help him. We may safely +conclude that his judges were his personal and political enemies. +Jeremiah was now their discomfited rival: a few weeks before he had +been master of the city and the court. Pharaoh Hophra's advance had +enabled them to overthrow him. We can understand that they would at +once take Irijah's view of the case. They treated their fallen +antagonist as a criminal taken in the act: "they were wroth with him," +_i.e._ they overwhelmed him with a torrent of abuse; "they beat him, +and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the secretary." But +this imprisonment in a private house was not mild and honourable +confinement under the care of a distinguished noble, who was rather +courteous host than harsh gaoler. "They had made that the prison," +duly provided with a dungeon and cells, to which Jeremiah was +consigned and where he remained "many days." Prison accommodation at +Jerusalem was limited; the Jewish government preferred more summary +methods of dealing with malefactors. The revolution which had placed +the present government in power had given them special occasion for a +prison. They had defeated rivals whom they did not venture to execute +publicly, but who might be more safely starved and tortured to death +in secret. For such a fate they destined Jeremiah. We shall not do +injustice to Jonathan the secretary if we compare the hospitality +which he extended to his unwilling guests with the treatment of modern +Armenians in Turkish prisons. Yet the prophet remained alive "for many +days"; probably his enemies reflected that even if he did not succumb +earlier to the hardships of his imprisonment, his execution would +suitably adorn the looked-for triumph of Pharaoh Hophra. + +Few however of the "many days" had passed, before men's exultant +anticipations of victory and deliverance began to give place to anxious +forebodings. They had hoped to hear that Nebuchadnezzar had been +defeated and was in headlong retreat to Chaldea; they had been prepared +to join in the pursuit of the routed army, to gratify their revenge by +massacring the fugitives and to share the plunder with their Egyptian +allies. The fortunes of war belied their hopes; Pharaoh retreated, +either after a battle or perhaps even without fighting. The return of +the enemy was announced by the renewed influx of the country people to +seek the shelter of the fortifications, and soon the Jews crowded to the +walls as Nebuchadnezzar's vanguard appeared in sight and the Chaldeans +occupied their old lines and re-formed the siege of the doomed city. + +There was no longer any doubt that prudence dictated immediate +surrender. It was the only course by which the people might be spared +some of the horrors of a prolonged siege, followed by the sack of the +city. But the princes who controlled the government were too deeply +compromised with Egypt to dare to hope for mercy. With Jeremiah out of +the way, they were able to induce the king and the people to maintain +their resistance, and the siege went on. + +But though Zedekiah was, for the most part, powerless in the hands of +the princes, he ventured now and then to assert himself in minor +matters, and, like other feeble sovereigns, derived some consolation +amidst his many troubles from intriguing with the opposition against +his own ministers. His feeling and behaviour towards Jeremiah were +similar to those of Charles IX. towards Coligny, only circumstances +made the Jewish king a more efficient protector of Jeremiah. + +At this new and disastrous turn of affairs, which was an exact +fulfilment of Jeremiah's warnings, the king was naturally inclined to +revert to his former faith in the prophet--if indeed he had ever really +been able to shake himself free from his influence. Left to himself he +would have done his best to make terms with Nebuchadnezzar, as Jehoiakim +and Jehoiachin had done before him. The only trustworthy channel of +help, human or divine, was Jeremiah. Accordingly he sent secretly to the +prison and had the prophet brought into the palace. There in some inner +chamber, carefully guarded from intrusion by the slaves of the palace, +Zedekiah received the man who now for more than forty years had been the +chief counsellor of the kings of Judah, often in spite of themselves. +Like Saul on the eve of Gilboa, he was too impatient to let disaster be +its own herald; the silence of Heaven seemed more terrible than any +spoken doom, and again like Saul he turned in his perplexity and despair +to the prophet who had rebuked and condemned him. "Is there any word +from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is: ... thou shalt be delivered +into the hand of the king of Babylon." + +The Church is rightly proud of Ambrose rebuking Theodosius at the +height of his power and glory, and of Thomas à Becket, unarmed and +yet defiant before his murderers; but the Jewish prophet showed +himself capable of a simpler and grander heroism. For "many days" he +had endured squalor, confinement, and semi-starvation. His body must +have been enfeebled and his spirit depressed. Weak and contemptible as +Zedekiah was, yet he was the prophet's only earthly protector from the +malice of his enemies. He intended to utilise this interview for an +appeal for release from his present prison. Thus he had every motive +for conciliating the man who asked him for a word from Jehovah. He was +probably alone with Zedekiah, and was not nerved to self-sacrifice by +any opportunity of making public testimony to the truth, and yet he +was faithful alike to God and to the poor helpless king--"Thou shalt +be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon." + +And then he proceeds, with what seems to us inconsequent audacity, to +ask a favour. Did ever petitioner to a king preface his supplication +with so strange a preamble? This was the request:-- + +"Now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I +pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou do not cause me to +return to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there. + +"Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into +the court of the guard, and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of +the bakers' street." + +A loaf of bread is not sumptuous fare, but it is evidently mentioned as +an improvement upon his prison diet: it is not difficult to understand +why Jeremiah was afraid he would die in the house of Jonathan. + +During this milder imprisonment in the court of the guard occurred +the incident of the purchase of the field at Anathoth, which we have +dealt with in another chapter. This low ebb of the prophet's fortunes +was the occasion of Divine revelation of a glorious future in store +for Judah. But this future was still remote, and does not seem to have +been conspicuous in his public teaching. On the contrary Jeremiah +availed himself of the comparative publicity of his new place of +detention to reiterate in the ears of all the people the gloomy +predictions with which they had so long been familiar: "This city +shall assuredly be given into the hand of the army of the king of +Babylon." He again urged his hearers to desert to the enemy: "He that +abideth in this city shall die by the sword, the famine, and the +pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live." We +cannot but admire the splendid courage of the solitary prisoner, +helpless in the hands of his enemies and yet openly defying them. He +left his opponents only two alternatives, either to give up the +government into his hands or else to silence him. Jeremiah in the +court of the guard was really carrying on a struggle in which neither +side either would or could give quarter. He was trying to revive the +energies of the partisans of Babylon, that they might overpower the +government and surrender the city to Nebuchadnezzar. If he had +succeeded, the princes would have had a short shrift. They struck back +with the prompt energy of men fighting for their lives. No government +conducting the defence of a besieged fortress could have tolerated +Jeremiah for a moment. What would have been the fate of a French +politician who should have urged Parisians to desert to the Germans +during the siege of 1870?[153] The princes' former attempt to deal +with Jeremiah had been thwarted by the king; this time they tried to +provide beforehand against any officious intermeddling on the part of +Zedekiah. They extorted from him a sanction of their proceedings. + +"Then the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put +to death: for he weakeneth the hands of the soldiers that are left in +this city, and of all the people, by speaking such words unto them: for +this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt." +Certainly Jeremiah's word was enough to take the heart out of the +bravest soldiers; his preaching would soon have rendered further +resistance impossible. But the concluding sentence about the "welfare of +the people" was merely cheap cant, not without parallel in the sayings +of many "princes" in later times. "The welfare of the people" would have +been best promoted by the surrender which Jeremiah advocated. The king +does not pretend to sympathise with the princes; he acknowledges himself +a mere tool in their hands. "Behold," he answers, "he is in your power, +for the king can do nothing against you." + +"Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah +ben Hammelech, that was in the court of the guard; and they let +Jeremiah down with cords. And there was no water in the cistern, only +mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud." + +The depth of this improvised oubliette is shown by the use of cords to +let the prisoner down into it. How was it, however, that, after the +release of Jeremiah from the cells in the house of Jonathan, the +princes did not at once execute him? Probably, in spite of all that +had happened, they still felt a superstitious dread of actually +shedding the blood of a prophet. In some mysterious way they felt that +they would be less guilty if they left him in the empty cistern to +starve to death or be suffocated in the mud, than if they had his head +cut off. They acted in the spirit of Reuben's advice concerning +Joseph, who also was cast into an empty pit, with no water in it: +"Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit in the wilderness, and lay +no hand upon him."[154] By a similar blending of hypocrisy and +superstition, the mediæval Church thought to keep herself unstained by +the blood of heretics, by handing them over to the secular arm; and +Macbeth having hired some one else to kill Banquo was emboldened to +confront his ghost with the words:-- + + "Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake + Thy gory locks at me." + +But the princes were again baffled; the prophet had friends in the +royal household who were bolder than their master: Ebed-melech the +Ethiopian, an eunuch, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. +He went to the king, who was then sitting in the gate of Benjamin, +where he would be accessible to any petitioner for favour or justice, +and interceded for the prisoner:-- + +"My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done +to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the cistern; and he +is like to die in the place where he is because of the famine, for +there is no more bread in the city." + +Apparently the princes, busied with the defence of the city and in +their pride "too much despising" their royal master, had left him for +a while to himself. Emboldened by this public appeal to act according +to the dictates of his own heart and conscience, and possibly by the +presence of other friends of Jeremiah, the king acts with unwonted +courage and decision. + +"The king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take with thee +hence thirty men, and draw up Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern, +before he die. So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the +palace under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and rotten +rags, and let them down by cords into the cistern to Jeremiah. And he +said to Jeremiah, Put these old cast clouts and rotten rags under +thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew him +up with the cords, and took him up out of the cistern: and he remained +in the court of the guard." + +Jeremiah's gratitude to his deliverer is recorded in a short paragraph +in which Ebed-melech, like Baruch, is promised that "his life shall be +given him for a prey." He should escape with his life from the sack of +the city--"because he trusted" in Jehovah. As of the ten lepers whom +Jesus cleansed only the Samaritan returned to give glory to God, so +when none of God's people were found to rescue His prophet, the +dangerous honour was accepted by an Ethiopian proselyte.[155] + +Meanwhile the king was craving for yet another "word of Jehovah." +True, the last "word" given him by the prophet had been, "Thou shalt +be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon." But now that he +had just rescued Jehovah's prophet from a miserable death (he forgot +that Jeremiah had been consigned to the cistern by his own authority), +possibly there might be some more encouraging message from God. +Accordingly he sent and took Jeremiah unto him for another secret +interview, this time in the "corridor of the bodyguard,"[156] a +passage between the palace and the Temple. + +Here he implored the prophet to give him a faithful answer to his +questions concerning his own fate and that of the city: "Hide nothing +from me." But Jeremiah did not respond with his former prompt frankness. +He had had too recent a warning not to put his trust in princes. "If I +declare it unto thee," said he, "wilt thou not surely put me to death? +and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me. So Zedekiah +the king sware secretly to Jeremiah, As Jehovah liveth, who is the +source and giver of our life, I will not put thee to death, neither will +I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. + +"Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, +the God of Israel: If thou wilt go forth unto the king of Babylon's +princes, thy life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned, +and thou and thine house shall live; but if thou wilt not go forth, then +shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall +burn it, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. + +"Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have +deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and +they mock me." + +He does not, however, urge that the princes will hinder any such +surrender; he believed himself sufficiently master of his own actions +to be able to escape to the Chaldeans if he chose. + +But evidently, when he first revolted against Babylon, and more +recently when the siege was raised, he had been induced to behave +harshly towards her partisans: they had taken refuge in considerable +numbers in the enemy's camp, and now he was afraid of their vengeance. +Similarly, in _Quentin Durward_, Scott represents Louis XI. on his +visit to Charles the Bold as startled by the sight of the banners of +some of his own vassals, who had taken service with Burgundy, and as +seeking protection from Charles against the rebel subjects of France. + +Zedekiah is a perfect monument of the miseries that wait upon weakness: +he was everybody's friend in turn--now a docile pupil of Jeremiah and +gratifying the Chaldean party by his professions of loyalty to +Nebuchadnezzar, and now a pliant tool in the hands of the Egyptian party +persecuting his former friends. At the last he was afraid alike of the +princes in the city, of the exiles in the enemy's camp, and of the +Chaldeans. The mariner who had to pass between Scylla and Charybdis was +fortunate compared to Zedekiah. To the end he clung with a pathetic +blending of trust and fearfulness to Jeremiah. He believed him, and yet +he seldom had courage to act according to his counsel. + +Jeremiah made a final effort to induce this timid soul to act with +firmness and decision. He tried to reassure him: "They shall not +deliver thee into the hands of thy revolted subjects. Obey, I beseech +thee, the voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak unto thee: so it +shall be well with thee, and thy life shall be spared." He appealed to +that very dread of ridicule which the king had just betrayed. If he +refused to surrender, he would be taunted for his weakness and folly +by the women of his own harem:-- + +"If thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that Jehovah hath showed +me: Behold, all the women left in the palace shall be brought forth to +the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy familiar +friends have duped thee and got the better of thee; thy feet are sunk in +the mire, and they have left thee in the lurch." He would be in worse +plight than that from which Jeremiah had only just been rescued, and +there would no Ebed-melech to draw him out. He would be humiliated by +the suffering and shame of his own family: "They shall bring out all thy +wives and children to the Chaldeans." He himself would share with them +the last extremity of suffering: "Thou shalt not escape out of their +hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon." + +And as Tennyson makes it the climax of Geraint's degeneracy that he +was not only-- + + "Forgetful of his glory and his name," + +but also-- + + "Forgetful of his princedom and its cares," + +so Jeremiah appeals last of all to the king's sense of responsibility +for his people: "Thou wilt be the cause of the burning of the city." + +In spite of the dominance of the Egyptian party, and their desperate +determination, not only to sell their own lives dearly, but also to +involve king and people, city and temple, in their own ruin, the power +of decisive action still rested with Zedekiah; if he failed to use it, +he would be responsible for the consequences. + +Thus Jeremiah strove to possess the king with some breath of his own +dauntless spirit and iron will. + +Zedekiah paused irresolute. A vision of possible deliverance passed +through his mind. His guards and the domestics of the palace were +within call. The princes were unprepared; they would never dream that +he was capable of anything so bold. It would be easy to seize the +nearest gate, and hold it long enough to admit the Chaldeans. But no! +he had not nerve enough. Then his predecessors Joash, Amaziah, and +Amon had been assassinated, and for the moment the daggers of the +princes and their followers seemed more terrible than Chaldean +instruments of torture. He lost all thought of his own honour and his +duty to his people in his anxiety to provide against this more +immediate danger. Never was the fate of a nation decided by a meaner +utterance. "Then said Zedekiah to Jeremiah, No one must know about our +meeting, and thou shalt not die. If the princes hear that I have +talked with thee, and come and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what +thou hast said unto the king; hide it not from us, and we will not put +thee to death: declare unto us what the king said unto thee: then thou +shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication unto the king, that +he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. + +"Then all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them +just what the king had commanded. So they let him alone, for no report +of the matter had got abroad." We are a little surprised that the +princes so easily abandoned their purpose of putting Jeremiah to death, +and did not at once consign him afresh to the empty cistern. Probably +they were too disheartened for vigorous action; the garrison were +starving, and it was clear that the city could not hold out much longer. +Moreover the superstition that had shrunk from using actual violence to +the prophet would suspect a token of Divine displeasure in his release. + +Another question raised by this incident is that of the prophet's +veracity, which, at first sight, does not seem superior to that of the +patriarchs. It is very probable that the prophet, as at the earlier +interview, had entreated the king not to allow him to be confined in +the cells in Jonathan's house, but the narrative rather suggests that +the king constructed this pretext on the basis of the former +interview. Moreover, if the princes let Jeremiah escape with nothing +less innocent than a _suppressio veri_, if they were satisfied with +anything less than an explicit statement that the place of the +prophet's confinement was the sole topic of conversation, they must +have been more guileless that we can easily imagine. But, at any rate, +if Jeremiah did stoop to dissimulation, it was to protect Zedekiah, +not to save himself. + +Zedekiah is a conspicuous example of the strange irony with which +Providence entrusts incapable persons with the decision of most +momentous issues; It sets Laud and Charles I. to adjust the Tudor +Monarchy to the sturdy self-assertion of Puritan England, and Louis +XVI. to cope with the French Revolution. Such histories are after all +calculated to increase the self-respect of those who are weak and +timid. Moments come, even to the feeblest, when their action must have +the most serious results for all connected with them. It is one of the +crowning glories of Christianity that it preaches a strength that is +made perfect in weakness. + +Perhaps the most significant feature in this narrative is the +conclusion of Jeremiah's first interview with the king. Almost in the +same breath the prophet announces to Zedekiah his approaching ruin and +begs from him a favour. He thus defines the true attitude of the +believer towards the prophet. + +Unwelcome teaching must not be allowed to interfere with wonted respect +and deference, or to provoke resentment. Possibly if this truth were +less obvious men would be more willing to give it a hearing and it might +be less persistently ignored. But the prophet's behaviour is even more +striking and interesting as a revelation of his own character and of the +true prophetic spirit. His faithful answer to the king involved much +courage, but that he should proceed from such an answer to such a +petition shows a simple and sober dignity not always associated with +courage. When men are wrought up to the pitch of uttering disagreeable +truths at the risk of their lives, they often develop a spirit of +defiance, which causes personal bitterness and animosity between +themselves and their hearers, and renders impossible any asking or +granting of favours. Many men would have felt that a petition +compromised their own dignity and weakened the authority of the divine +message. The exaltation of self-sacrifice which inspired them would have +suggested that they ought not to risk the crown of martyrdom by any such +appeal, but rather welcome torture and death. Thus some amongst the +early Christians would present themselves before the Roman tribunals and +try to provoke the magistrates into condemning them. But Jeremiah, like +Polycarp and Cyprian, neither courted nor shunned martyrdom; he was as +incapable of bravado as he was of fear. He was too intent upon serving +his country and glorifying God, too possessed with his mission and his +message, to fall a prey to the self-consciousness which betrays men, +sometimes even martyrs, into theatrical ostentation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[149] Cf. xxxii. 6-8. + +[150] xxxvii. 12; so R.V., Streane (Camb. Bible), Kautzsch, etc. + +[151] xxvi. 10. + +[152] xxxviii. 1. + +[153] Cf. Renan, iii. 333. + +[154] Gen. xxxvii. 22-24. + +[155] xxxix. 15-18. + +[156] So Giesebrecht, _in loco_; A.V., R.V., "third entry." In any +case it will naturally be a passage from the palace to the Temple. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + _GEDALIAH_ + + xxxix.-xli., lii.[157] + + "Then arose Ishmael ben Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with + him, and smote with the sword and slew Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben + Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon had made king over the + land."--JER. xli. 2. + + +We now pass to the concluding period of Jeremiah's ministry. His last +interview with Zedekiah was speedily followed by the capture of +Jerusalem. With that catastrophe the curtain falls upon another act in +the tragedy of the prophet's life. Most of the chief _dramatis personæ_ +make their final exit; only Jeremiah and Baruch remain. King and +princes, priests and prophets, pass to death or captivity, and new +characters appear to play their part for a while upon the vacant stage. + +We would gladly know how Jeremiah fared on that night when the city +was stormed, and Zedekiah and his army stole out in a vain attempt to +escape beyond Jordan. Our book preserves two brief but inconsistent +narratives of his fortunes. + +One is contained in xxxix. 11-14. Nebuchadnezzar, we must remember, was +not present in person with the besieging army. His headquarters were at +Riblah, far away in the north. He had, however, given special +instructions concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, the general commanding +the forces before Jerusalem: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him +no harm; but do with him even as he shall say unto thee." + +Accordingly Nebuzaradan and all the king of Babylon's princes sent and +took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to +Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben Shaphan, to take him to his house.[158] And +Jeremiah dwelt among the people. + +This account is not only inconsistent with that given in the next +chapter, but it also represents Nebuzaradan as present when the city +was taken, whereas later on[159] we are told that he did not come upon +the scene till a month later. For these and similar reasons, this +version of the story is generally considered the less trustworthy. It +apparently grew up at a time when the other characters and interests +of the period had been thrown into the shade by the reverent +recollection of Jeremiah and his ministry. It seemed natural to +suppose that Nebuchadnezzar was equally preoccupied with the fortunes +of the great prophet who had consistently preached obedience to his +authority. The section records the intense reverence which the Jews of +the Captivity felt for Jeremiah. We are more likely, however, to get a +true idea of what happened by following the narrative in chapter xl. + +According to this account, Jeremiah was not at once singled out for +any exceptionally favourable treatment. When Zedekiah and the soldiers +had left the city, there can have been no question of further +resistance. The history does not mention any massacre by the +conquerors, but we may probably accept Lamentations ii. 20, 21, as a +description of the sack of Jerusalem:-- + + "Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of + the Lord? + The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; + My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: + Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; + Thou hast slaughtered, and not pitied." + +Yet the silence of Kings and Jeremiah as to all this, combined with +their express statements as to captives, indicates that the Chaldean +generals did not order a massacre, but rather sought to take +prisoners. The soldiers would not be restrained from a certain +slaughter in the heat of their first breaking into the city; but +prisoners had a market value, and were provided for by the practice of +deportation which Babylon had inherited from Nineveh. Accordingly the +soldiers' lust for blood was satiated or bridled before they reached +Jeremiah's prison. The court of the guard probably formed part of the +precincts of the palace, and the Chaldean commanders would at once +secure its occupants for Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was taken with other +captives and put in chains. If the dates in lii. 6, 12, be correct, he +must have remained a prisoner till the arrival of Nebuzaradan, a month +later on. He was then a witness of the burning of the city and the +destruction of the fortifications, and was carried with the other +captives to Ramah. Here the Chaldean general found leisure to inquire +into the deserts of individual prisoners and to decide how they should +be treated. He would be aided in this task by the Jewish refugees from +whose ridicule Zedekiah had shrunk, and they would at once inform him +of the distinguished sanctity of the prophet and of the conspicuous +services he had rendered to the Chaldean cause. + +Nebuzaradan at once acted upon their representations. He ordered +Jeremiah's chains to be removed, gave him full liberty to go where he +pleased, and assured him of the favour and protection of the Chaldean +government:-- + +"If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I +will look well unto thee; but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me +into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee; go +whithersoever it seemeth to thee good and right." + +These words are, however, preceded by two remarkable verses. For the +nonce, the prophet's mantle seems to have fallen upon the Chaldean +soldier. He speaks to his auditor just as Jeremiah himself had been +wont to address his erring fellow-countrymen:-- + +"Thy God Jehovah pronounced this evil upon this place: and Jehovah +hath brought it, and done according as He spake; because ye have +sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this +thing is come unto you." + +Possibly Nebuzaradan did not include Jeremiah personally in the "ye" and +"you"; and yet a prophet's message is often turned upon himself in this +fashion. Even in our day outsiders will not be at the trouble to +distinguish between one Christian and another, and will often denounce a +man for his supposed share in Church abuses he has strenuously combated. + +We need not be surprised that a heathen noble can talk like a pious Jew. +The Chaldeans were eminently religious, and their worship of Bel and +Merodach may often have been as spiritual and sincere as the homage paid +by most Jews to Jehovah. The Babylonian creed could recognise that a +foreign state might have its own legitimate deity and would suffer for +disloyalty to him. Assyrian and Chaldean kings were quite willing to +accept the prophetic doctrine that Jehovah had commissioned them to +punish this disobedient people. Still Jeremiah must have been a little +taken aback when one of the cardinal points of his own teaching was +expounded to him by so strange a preacher; but he was too prudent to +raise any discussion on the matter, and too chivalrous to wish to +establish his own rectitude at the expense of his brethren. Moreover he +had to decide between the two alternatives offered him by Nebuzaradan. +Should he go to Babylon or remain in Judah? + +According to a suggestion of Gratz, accepted by Cheyne,[160] xv. 10-21 +is a record of the inner struggle through which Jeremiah came to a +decision on this matter. The section is not very clear, but it +suggests that at one time it seemed Jehovah's will that he should go +to Babylon, and that it was only after much hesitation that he was +convinced that God required him to remain in Judah. Powerful motives +drew him in either direction. At Babylon he would reap the full +advantage of Nebuchadnezzar's favour, and would enjoy the order and +culture of a great capital. He would meet with old friends and +disciples, amongst the rest Ezekiel. He would find an important +sphere for ministry amongst the large Jewish community in Chaldea, +where the flower of the whole nation was now in exile. In Judah he +would have to share the fortunes of a feeble and suffering remnant, +and would be exposed to all the dangers and disorder consequent on the +break-up of the national government--brigandage on the part of native +guerilla bands and raids by the neighbouring tribes. These guerilla +bands were the final effort of Jewish resistance, and would seek to +punish as traitors those who accepted the dominion of Babylon. + +On the other hand, Jeremiah's surviving enemies, priests, prophets, +and princes, had been taken _en masse_ to Babylon. On his arrival he +would find himself again plunged into the old controversies. Many if +not the majority of his countrymen there would regard him as a +traitor. The _protégé_ of Nebuchadnezzar was sure to be disliked and +distrusted by his less fortunate brethren. And Jeremiah was not a born +courtier like Josephus. In Judah, moreover, he would be amongst +friends of his own way of thinking; the remnant left behind had been +placed under the authority of his friend Gedaliah, the son of his +former protector Ahikam, the grandson of his ancient ally Shaphan. He +would be free from the anathemas of corrupt priests and the +contradiction of false prophets. The advocacy of true religion amongst +the exiles might safely be left to Ezekiel and his school. + +But probably the motives that decided Jeremiah's course of action +were, firstly, that devoted attachment to the sacred soil which was a +passion with every earnest Jew; and, secondly, the inspired conviction +that Palestine was to be the scene of the future development of +revealed religion. This conviction was coupled with the hope that the +scattered refugees who were rapidly gathering at Mizpah under Gedaliah +might lay the foundations of a new community, which should become the +instrument of the divine purpose. Jeremiah was no deluded visionary, +who would suppose that the destruction of Jerusalem had exhausted +God's judgments, and that the millennium would forthwith begin for the +special and exclusive benefit of his surviving companions in Judah. +Nevertheless, while there was an organised Jewish community left on +native soil, it would be regarded as the heir of the national +religious hopes and aspirations, and a prophet, with liberty of +choice, would feel it his duty to remain. + +Accordingly Jeremiah decided to join Gedaliah.[161] Nebuzaradan gave +him food and a present, and let him go. + +Gedaliah's headquarters were at Mizpah, a town not certainly +identified, but lying somewhere to the north-west of Jerusalem, and +playing an important part in the history of Samuel and Saul. Men would +remember the ancient record which told how the first Hebrew king had +been divinely appointed at Mizpah, and might regard the coincidence as +a happy omen that Gedaliah would found a kingdom more prosperous and +permanent than that which traced its origin to Saul. + +Nebuzaradan had left with the new governor "men, women, and children, +... of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon." These were +chiefly of the poorer sort, but not altogether, for among them were +"royal princesses" and doubtless others belonging to the ruling classes. +Apparently after these arrangements had been made the Chaldean forces +were almost entirely withdrawn, and Gedaliah was left to cope with the +many difficulties of the situation by his own unaided resources. For a +time all went well. It seemed at first as if the scattered bands of +Jewish soldiers still in the field would submit to the Chaldean +government and acknowledge Gedaliah's authority. Various captains with +their bands came to him at Mizpah, amongst them Ishmael ben Nethaniah, +Johanan ben Kareah and his brother Jonathan. Gedaliah swore to them that +they should be pardoned and protected by the Chaldeans. He confirmed +them in their possession of the towns and districts they had occupied +after the departure of the enemy. They accepted his assurance, and their +alliance with him seemed to guarantee the safety and prosperity of the +settlement. Refugees from Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, and all the +neighbouring countries flocked to Mizpah, and busied themselves in +gathering in the produce of the oliveyards and vineyards which had been +left ownerless when the nobles were slain or carried away captive. Many +of the poorer Jews revelled in such unwonted plenty, and felt that even +national ruin had its compensations. + +Tradition has supplemented what the sacred record tells us of this +period in Jeremiah's history. We are told[162] that "it is also found +in the records that the prophet Jeremiah" commanded the exiles to take +with them fire from the altar of the Temple, and further exhorted them +to observe the law and to abstain from idolatry; and that "it was +also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of +God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went +forth unto the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage +of God. And when Jeremiah came thither, he found an hollow cave, +wherein he laid the tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense, +and so stopped the door. And some of those that followed him came to +mark the way, but they could not find it: which when Jeremiah +perceived he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be +unknown until the time that God gather His people again together and +receive them to His mercy." + +A less improbable tradition is that which narrates that Jeremiah +composed the Book of Lamentations shortly after the capture of the +city. This is first stated by the Septuagint; it has been adopted by +the Vulgate and various Rabbinical authorities, and has received +considerable support from Christian scholars.[163] Moreover as the +traveller leaves Jerusalem by the Damascus Gate, he passes great stone +quarries, where Jeremiah's Grotto is still pointed out as the place +where the prophet composed his elegy. + +Without entering into the general question of the authorship of +Lamentations, we may venture to doubt whether it can be referred to any +period of Jeremiah's life which is dealt with in our book; and even +whether it accurately represents his feelings at any such period. During +the first month that followed the capture of Jerusalem the Chaldean +generals held the city and its inhabitants at the disposal of their +king. His decision was uncertain; it was by no means a matter of course +that he would destroy the city. Jerusalem had been spared by Pharaoh +Necho after the defeat of Josiah, and by Nebuchadnezzar after the revolt +of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah and the other Jews must have been in a state of +extreme suspense as to their own fate and that of their city, very +different from the attitude of Lamentations. This suspense was ended +when Nebuzaradan arrived and proceeded to burn the city. Jeremiah +witnessed the fulfilment of his own prophecies when Jerusalem was thus +overtaken by the ruin he had so often predicted. As he stood there +chained amongst the other captives, many of his neighbours must have +felt towards him as we should feel towards an anarchist gloating over +the spectacle of a successful dynamite explosion; and Jeremiah could not +be ignorant of their sentiments. His own emotions would be sufficiently +vivid, but they would not be so simple as those of the great elegy. +Probably they were too poignant to be capable of articulate expression; +and the occasion was not likely to be fertile in acrostics. + +Doubtless when the venerable priest and prophet looked from Ramah or +Mizpah towards the blackened ruins of the Temple and the Holy City, he +was possessed by something of the spirit of Lamentations. But from the +moment when he went to Mizpah he would be busily occupied in assisting +Gedaliah in his gallant effort to gather the nucleus of a new Israel +out of the flotsam and jetsam of the shipwreck of Judah. Busy with +this work of practical beneficence, his unconquerable spirit already +possessed with visions of a brighter future, Jeremiah could not lose +himself in mere regrets for the past. + +He was doomed to experience yet another disappointment. Gedaliah had +only held his office for about two months,[164] when he was warned by +Johanan ben Kareah and the other captains that Ishmael ben Nethaniah +had been sent by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, to assassinate him. +Gedaliah refused to believe them. Johanan, perhaps surmising that the +governor's incredulity was assumed, came to him privately and proposed +to anticipate Ishmael: "Let me go, I pray thee, and slay Ishmael ben +Nethaniah, and no one shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, +that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, +and the remnant of Judah perish? But Gedaliah ben Ahikam said unto +Johanan ben Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest +falsely of Ishmael." + +Gedaliah's misplaced confidence soon had fatal consequences. In the +second month, about October, the Jews in the ordinary course of events +would have celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, to return thanks for +their plentiful ingathering of grapes, olives, and summer fruit. +Possibly this occasion gave Ishmael a pretext for visiting Mizpah. He +came thither with ten nobles who, like himself, were connected with +the royal family and probably were among the princes who persecuted +Jeremiah. This small and distinguished company could not be suspected +of intending to use violence. Ishmael seemed to be reciprocating +Gedaliah's confidence by putting himself in the governor's power. +Gedaliah feasted his guests. Johanan and the other captains were not +present; they had done what they could to save him, but they did not +wait to share the fate which he was bringing on himself. + +"Then arose Ishmael ben Nethaniah and his ten companions and smote +Gedaliah ben Ahikam ... and all the Jewish and Chaldean soldiers that +were with him at Mizpah." + +Probably the eleven assassins were supported by a larger body of +followers, who waited outside the city and made their way in amidst +the confusion consequent on the murder; doubtless, too, they had +friends amongst Gedaliah's _entourage_. These accomplices had first +lulled any suspicions that he might feel as to Ishmael, and had then +helped to betray their master. + +Not contented with the slaughter which he had already perpetrated, +Ishmael took measures to prevent the news getting abroad, and lay in +wait for any other adherents of Gedaliah who might come to visit him. +He succeeded in entrapping a company of eighty men from Northern +Israel: ten were allowed to purchase their lives by revealing hidden +stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey; the rest were slain and +thrown into an ancient pit, "which King Asa had made for fear of +Baasha king of Israel." + +These men were pilgrims, who came with shaven chins and torn clothes, +"and having cut themselves, bringing meal offerings and frankincense +to the house of Jehovah." The pilgrims were doubtless on their way to +celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles: with the destruction of Jerusalem +and the Temple, all the joy of that festival would be changed to +mourning and its songs to wailing. Possibly they were going to lament +on the site of the ruined temple. But Mizpah itself had an ancient +sanctuary. Hosea speaks of the priests, princes, and people of Israel +as having been "a snare on Mizpah." Jeremiah may have sanctioned the +use of this local temple thinking that Jehovah would "set His name +there" till Jerusalem was restored, even as He had dwelt at Shiloh +before He chose the City of David. But to whatever shrine these +pilgrims were journeying, their errand should have made them +sacrosanct to all Jews. Ishmael's hypocrisy, treachery, and cruelty in +this matter go far to justify Jeremiah's bitterest invectives against +the princes of Judah. + +But after this bloody deed it was high time for Ishmael to be gone and +betake himself back to his heathen patron, Baalis the Ammonite. These +massacres could not long be kept a secret. And yet Ishmael seems to +have made a final effort to suppress the evidence of his crimes. In +his retreat he carried with him all the people left in Mizpah, +"soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs," including the royal +princesses, and apparently Jeremiah and Baruch. No doubt he hoped to +make money out of his prisoners by selling them as slaves or holding +them to ransom. He had not ventured to slay Jeremiah: the prophet had +not been present at the banquet and had thus escaped the first fierce +slaughter, and Ishmael shrank from killing in cold blood the man whose +predictions of ruin had been so exactly and awfully fulfilled by the +recent destruction of Jerusalem. + +When Johanan ben Kareah and the other captains heard how entirely +Ishmael had justified their warning, they assembled their forces and +started in pursuit. Ishmael's band seems to have been comparatively +small, and was moreover encumbered by the disproportionate number of +captives with which they had burdened themselves. They were overtaken +"by the great waters that are in Gibeon," only a very short distance +from Mizpah. + +However Ishmael's original following of ten may have been reinforced, +his band cannot have been very numerous and was manifestly inferior to +Johanan's forces. In face of an enemy of superior strength, Ishmael's +only chance of escape was to leave his prisoners to their own +devices--he had not even time for another massacre. The captives at +once turned round and made their way to their deliverer. Ishmael's +followers seem to have been scattered, taken captive, or slain, but he +himself escaped with eight men--possibly eight of the original +ten--and found refuge with the Ammonites. + +Johanan and his companions with the recovered captives made no attempt +to return to Mizpah. The Chaldeans would exact a severe penalty for the +murder of their governor Gedaliah, and their own fellow-countryman: +their vengeance was not likely to be scrupulously discriminating. The +massacre would be regarded as an act of rebellion on the part of the +Jewish community in Judah, and the community would be punished +accordingly. Johanan and his whole company determined that when the day +of retribution came the Chaldeans should find no one to punish. They set +out for Egypt, the natural asylum of the enemies of Babylon. On the way +they halted in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem at a caravanserai[165] +which bore the name of Chimham,[166] the son of David's generous friend +Barzillai. So far the fugitives had acted on their first impulse of +dismay; now they paused to take breath, to make a more deliberate survey +of their situation, and to mature their plans for the future. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[157] Chapter lii. = 2 Kings xxiv. 18-xxv. 30, and xxxix. 1-10 = lii. +4-16, in each case with minor variations which do not specially bear +upon our subject. Cf. Driver, _Introduction, in loco_. The detailed +treatment of this section belongs to the exposition of the Book of +Kings. + +[158] Literally "the house"--either Jeremiah's or Gedaliah's, or +possibly the royal palace. + +[159] lii. 6, 12. + +[160] _Pulpit Commentary, in loco._ Cf. the previous volume on +Jeremiah in this series. + +[161] The sequence of verses 4 and 5 has been spoilt by some +corruption of the text. The versions diverge variously from the +Hebrew. Possibly the original text told how Jeremiah found himself +unable to give an immediate answer, and Nebuzaradan, observing his +hesitation, bade him return to Gedaliah and decide at his leisure. + +[162] 2 Macc. ii. 1-8. + +[163] Cf. Professor Adeney's _Canticles and Lamentations_ in this +series. + +[164] Cf. lii. 12, "fifth month," and xli. 1, "seventh month." Cheyne +however points out that no year is specified in xli. 1, and holds that +Gedaliah's governorship lasted for over four years, and that the +deportation four years (lii. 30) after the destruction of the city was +the prompt punishment of his murder. + +[165] The reading is doubtful; possibly the word (geruth) translated +"caravanserai," or some similar word to be read instead of it, merely +forms a compound proper name with Chimham. + +[166] 2 Sam. xix. 31-40. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + _THE DESCENT INTO EGYPT_ + + xlii., xliii. + + "They came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice + of Jehovah."--JER. xliii. 7. + + +Thus within a few days Jeremiah had experienced one of those sudden +and extreme changes of fortune which are as common in his career as in +a sensational novel. Yesterday the guide, philosopher, and friend of +the governor of Judah, to-day sees him once more a helpless prisoner +in the hands of his old enemies. To-morrow he is restored to liberty +and authority, and appealed to by the remnant of Israel as the +mouthpiece of Jehovah. Johanan ben Kareah and all the captains of the +forces, "from the least even unto the greatest, came near" and +besought Jeremiah to pray unto "Jehovah thy God," "that Jehovah thy +God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing we may do." +Jeremiah promised to make intercession and to declare faithfully unto +them whatsoever Jehovah should reveal unto him. + +And they on their part said unto Jeremiah: "Jehovah be a true and +faithful witness against us, if we do not according to every word that +Jehovah thy God shall send unto us by thee. We will obey the voice of +Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee, whether it be good or evil, that +it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God." + +The prophet returned no hasty answer to this solemn appeal. As in his +controversy with Hananiah, he refrained from at once announcing his +own judgment as the Divine decision, but waited for the express +confirmation of the Spirit. For ten days prophet and people were alike +kept in suspense. The patience of Johanan and his followers is +striking testimony to their sincere reverence for Jeremiah. + +On the tenth day the message came, and Jeremiah called the people +together to hear God's answer to their question, and to learn that +Divine will to which they had promised unreserved obedience. It ran +thus:-- + + "If you will still abide in this land, + I will build you and not pull you down, + I will plant you and not pluck you up." + +The words of Jeremiah's original commission seem ever present to his +mind:-- + + "For I repent Me of the evil I have done unto you." + +They need not flee from Judah as an accursed land; Jehovah had a new +and gracious purpose concerning them, and therefore:-- + + "Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, + Of whom ye are afraid; + Be not afraid of him--it is the utterance of Jehovah-- + For I am with you, + To save you and deliver you out of his hand. + I will put kindness in his heart toward you, + And he shall deal kindly with you, + And restore you to your lands." + +It was premature to conclude that Ishmael's crime finally disposed of +the attempt to shape the remnant into the nucleus of a new Israel. +Hitherto Nebuchadnezzar had shown himself willing to discriminate; +when he condemned the princes, he spared and honoured Jeremiah, and +the Chaldeans might still be trusted to deal fairly and even +generously with the prophet's friends and deliverers. Moreover the +heart of Nebuchadnezzar, like that of all earthly potentates, was in +the hands of the King of Kings. + +But Jeremiah knew too well what mingled hopes and fears drew his +hearers towards the fertile valley and rich cities of the Nile. He +sets before them the reverse of the picture: they might refuse to obey +God's command to remain in Judah; they might say, "No, we will go into +the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of +the trumpet, nor hunger for bread, and there will we dwell." As of +old, they craved for the flesh-pots of Egypt; and with more excuse +than their forefathers. They were worn out with suffering and toil, +some of them had wives and children; the childless prophet was +inviting them to make sacrifices and incur risks which he could +neither share nor understand. Can we wonder if they fell short of his +inspired heroism, and hesitated to forego the ease and plenty of Egypt +in order to try social experiments in Judah? + + "Let what is broken so remain. + The Gods are hard to reconcile: + 'Tis hard to settle order once again. + + * * * * * + + Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars." + +But Jeremiah had neither sympathy nor patience with such weakness. +Moreover, now as often, valour was the better part of discretion, and +the boldest course was the safest. The peace and security of Egypt +had been broken in upon again and again by Asiatic invaders; only +recently it had been tributary to Nineveh, till the failing strength +of Assyria enabled the Pharaohs to recover their independence. Now +that Palestine had ceased to be the seat of war the sound of Chaldean +trumpets would soon be heard in the valley of the Nile. By going down +into Egypt, they were leaving Judah where they might be safe under the +broad shield of Babylonian power, for a country that would soon be +afflicted by the very evils they sought to escape:-- + + "If ye finally determine to go to Egypt to sojourn there, + The sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the + land of Egypt, + The famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow hard after + you there in Egypt, + And there shall ye die." + +The old familiar curses, so often uttered against Jerusalem and its +inhabitants, are pronounced against any of his hearers who should take +refuge in Egypt:-- + + "As Mine anger and fury hath been poured forth upon the + inhabitants of Jerusalem, + So shall My fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall + enter in Egypt." + +They would die "by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence"; they +would be "an execration and an astonishment, a curse and a reproach." + +He had set before them two alternative courses, and the Divine judgment +upon each: he had known beforehand that, contrary to his own choice and +judgment, their hearts were set upon going down into Egypt; hence, as +when confronted and contradicted by Hananiah, he had been careful to +secure divine confirmation before he gave his decision. Already he +could see the faces of his hearers hardening into obstinate resistance +or kindling into hot defiance; probably they broke out into +interruptions which left no doubt as to their purpose. With his usual +promptness, he turned upon them with fierce reproof and denunciation:-- + + "Ye have been traitors to yourselves. + Ye sent me unto Jehovah your God, saying, + Pray for us unto Jehovah our God; + According unto all that Jehovah our God shall say, + Declare unto us, and we will do it. + I have this day declared it unto you, + But ye have in no wise obeyed the voice of Jehovah your God. + + * * * * * + + Ye shall die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, + In the place whither ye desire to go to sojourn." + +His hearers were equally prompt with their rejoinder; Johanan ben +Kareah and "all the proud men" answered him:-- + +"Thou liest! It is not Jehovah our God who hath sent thee to say, Ye +shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there; but Baruch ben Neriah +setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the +Chaldeans, that they may slay us or carry us away captive to Babylon." + +Jeremiah had experienced many strange vicissitudes, but this was not +the least striking. Ten days ago the people and their leaders had +approached him in reverent submission, and had solemnly promised to +accept and obey his decision as the word of God. Now they called him a +liar; they asserted that he did not speak by any Divine inspiration, +but was a feeble impostor, an oracular puppet, whose strings were +pulled by his own disciple.[167] + +Such scenes are, unfortunately, only too common in Church history. +Religious professors are still ready to abuse and to impute unworthy +motives to prophets whose messages they dislike, in a spirit not less +secular than that which is shown when some modern football team tries +to mob the referee who has given a decision against its hopes. + +Moreover we must not unduly emphasise the solemn engagement given by +the Jews to abide Jeremiah's decision. They were probably sincere, but +not very much in earnest. The proceedings and the strong formulæ used +were largely conventional. Ancient kings and generals regularly sought +the approval of their prophets or augurs before taking any important +step, but they did not always act upon their advice. The final breach +between Saul and the prophet Samuel seems to have been due to the fact +that the king did not wait for his presence and counsel before +engaging the Philistines.[168] Before the disastrous expedition to +Ramoth Gilead, Jehoshaphat insisted on consulting a prophet of +Jehovah, and then acted in the teeth of his inspired warning.[169] + +Johanan and his company felt it essential to consult some divine +oracle; and Jeremiah was not only the greatest prophet of Jehovah, he +was also the only prophet available. They must have known from his +consistent denunciation of all alliance with Egypt that his views were +likely to be at variance with their own. But they were consulting +Jehovah--Jeremiah was only His mouthpiece; hitherto He had set His +face against any dealings with Egypt, but circumstances were entirely +changed, and Jehovah's purpose might change with them, He might +"repent." They promised to obey, because there was at any rate a +chance that God's commands would coincide with their own intentions. +Butler's remark that men may be expected to act "not only upon an even +chance, but upon much less," specially applies to such promises as the +Jews made to Jeremiah. Certain tacit conditions may always be +considered attached to a profession of willingness to be guided by a +friend's advice. Our newspapers frequently record breaches of +engagements that should be as binding as that entered into by Johanan +and his friends, and they do so without any special comment. For +instance, the verdicts of arbitrators in trade disputes have been too +often ignored by the unsuccessful parties; and--to take a very +different illustration--the most unlimited professions of faith in the +infallibility of the Bible have sometimes gone along with a denial of +its plain teaching and a disregard of its imperative commands. While +Shylock expected a favourable decision, Portia was "a Daniel come to +judgment": his subsequent opinion of her judicial qualities has not +been recorded. Those who have never refused or evaded unwelcome +demands made by an authority whom they have promised to obey may cast +the first stone at Johanan. + +After the scene we have been describing, the refugees set out for Egypt, +carrying with them the princesses and Jeremiah and Baruch. They were +following in the footsteps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Jeroboam and +many another Jew who had sought protection under the shadow of Pharaoh. +They were the forerunners of that later Israel in Egypt which, through +Philo and his disciples, exercised so powerful an influence on the +doctrine, criticism, and exegesis of the early Christian Church. + +Yet this exodus in the wrong direction was by no means complete. Four +years later Nebuzaradan could still find seven hundred and forty-five +Jews to carry away to Babylon.[170] Johanan's movements had been too +hurried to admit of his gathering in the inhabitants of outlying +districts. + +When Johanan's company reached the frontier, they would find the +Egyptian officials prepared to receive them. During the last few months +there must have been constant arrivals of Jewish refugees, and rumour +must have announced the approach of so large a company, consisting of +almost all the Jews left in Palestine. The very circumstances that made +them dread the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar would ensure them a hearty +welcome in Egypt. Their presence was an unmistakable proof of the entire +failure of the attempt to create in Judah a docile and contented +dependency and outpost of the Chaldean Empire. They were accordingly +settled at Tahpanhes and in the surrounding district. + +But no welcome could conciliate Jeremiah's implacable temper, nor could +all the splendour of Egypt tame his indomitable spirit. Amongst his +fellow-countrymen at Bethlehem, he had foretold the coming tribulations +of Egypt. He now renewed his predictions within the very precincts of +Pharaoh's palace, and enforced them by a striking symbol. At +Tahpanhes--the modern Tell Defenneh--which was the ancient Egyptian +frontier fortress and settlement on the more westerly route from Syria, +"the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, Take great stones in +thine hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick pavement, at the entry +of Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the presence of the men of Judah; +and say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel:-- + + "Behold, I will send and take My servant Nebuchadnezzar king + of Babylon: + I will set his throne upon these stones which I have hid, + And he shall spread his state pavilion over them." + +He would set up his royal tribunal, and decide the fate of the +conquered city and its inhabitants. + + "He shall come and smite the land of Egypt; + Such as are for death shall be put to death, + Such as are for captivity shall be sent into captivity, + Such as are for the sword shall be slain by the sword. + I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt; + He shall burn their temples, and carry them away captive: + He shall array himself with the land of Egypt, + As a shepherd putteth on his garment." + +The whole country would become a mere mantle for his dignity, a +comparatively insignificant part of his vast possessions. + + "He shall go forth from thence in peace." + +A campaign that promised well at the beginning has often ended in +despair, like Sennacherib's attack on Judah, and Pharaoh Necho's +expedition to Carchemish. The invading army has been exhausted by its +victories, or wasted by disease and compelled to beat an inglorious +retreat. No such misfortunes should overtake the Chaldean king. He +would depart with all his spoil, leaving Egypt behind him subdued into +a loyal province of his empire. + +Then the prophet adds, apparently as a kind of afterthought:-- + + "He also shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, in the land + of Egypt." + +(so styled to distinguish this Beth-Shemesh from Beth-Shemesh in +Palestine), + + "And shall burn with fire the temples of the gods of Egypt." + +The performance of this symbolic act and the delivery of its +accompanying message are not recorded, but Jeremiah would not fail to +make known the divine word to his fellow-countrymen. It is difficult +to understand how the exiled prophet would be allowed to assemble the +Jews in front of the main entrance of the palace, and hide "great +stones" in the pavement. Possibly the palace was being repaired,[171] +or the stones might be inserted under the front or side of a raised +platform, or possibly the symbolic act was only to be described and +not performed. Mr. Flinders Petrie recently discovered at Tell +Defenneh a large brickwork pavement, with great stones buried +underneath, which he supposed might be those mentioned in our +narrative. He also found there another possible relic of these Jewish +_émigrés_ in the shape of the ruins of a large brick building of the +twenty-sixth dynasty--to which Pharaoh Hophra belonged--still known as +the "Palace of the Jew's Daughter." It is a natural and attractive +conjecture that this was the residence assigned to the Jewish +princesses whom Johanan carried with him into Egypt. + +But while the ruined palace may testify to Pharaoh's generosity to the +Royal House that had suffered through its alliance with him, the +"great stones" remind us that, after a brief interval of sympathy and +co-operation, Jeremiah again found himself in bitter antagonism to his +fellow-countrymen. In our next chapter we shall describe one final +scene of mutual recrimination.[172] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[167] Cf. chapter on "Baruch." + +[168] 1 Sam. xiii. + +[169] 1 Kings xxii. + +[170] lii. 30. + +[171] So Orelli, _in loco_. + +[172] For the prophecy against Egypt and its fulfilment see further +chapter XVII. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + _THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN_ + + xliv. + + "Since we left off burning incense and offering libations to the + Queen of Heaven, we have been in want of everything, and have been + consumed by the sword and the famine."--JER. xliv. 18. + + +The Jewish exiles in Egypt still retained a semblance of national life, +and were bound together by old religious ties. Accordingly we read that +they came together from their different settlements--from Migdol and +Tahpanhes on the north-eastern frontier, from Noph or Memphis on the +Nile south of the site of Cairo, and from Pathros or Upper Egypt--to a +"great assembly," no doubt a religious festival. The list of cities +shows how widely the Jews were scattered throughout Egypt. + +Nothing is said as to where and when this "great assembly" met; but +for Jeremiah, such a gathering at all times and anywhere, in Egypt as +at Jerusalem, became an opportunity for fulfilling his Divine +commission. He once again confronted his fellow-countrymen with the +familiar threats and exhortations. A new climate had not created in +them either clean hearts or a right spirit. + +Recent history had added force to his warnings. He begins therefore by +appealing to the direful consequences which had come upon the Holy +Land, through the sins of its inhabitants:-- + + "Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, + and upon all the cities of Judah. + Behold, this day they are an uninhabited waste, + Because of their wickedness which they wrought to provoke Me + to anger, + By going to burn incense and to serve other gods whom neither + they nor their fathers knew." + +The Israelites had enjoyed for centuries intimate personal relations +with Jehovah, and knew Him by this ancient and close fellowship and by +all His dealings with them. They had no such knowledge of the gods of +surrounding nations. They were like foolish children who prefer the +enticing blandishments of a stranger to the affection and discipline +of their home. Such children do not intend to forsake their home or to +break the bonds of filial affection, and yet the new friendship may +wean their hearts from their father. So these exiles still considered +themselves worshippers of Jehovah, and yet their superstition led them +to disobey and dishonour Him. + +Before its ruin, Judah had sinned against light and leading:-- + + "Howbeit I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, + Rising up early and sending them, saying, + Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate. + But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ears, so as to + turn from their evil, + That they should not burn incense to other gods. + Wherefore My fury and My anger was poured forth." + +Political and social questions, the controversies with the prophets +who contradicted Jeremiah in the name of Jehovah, have fallen into the +background; the poor pretence of loyalty to Jehovah which permitted +His worshippers to degrade Him to the level of Baal and Moloch is +ignored as worthless: and Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, finds the root of +the people's sin in their desertion of Jehovah. Their real religion +was revealed by their heathenish superstitions. Every religious life +is woven of many diverse strands; if the web as a whole is rotten, the +Great Taskmaster can take no account of a few threads that have a form +and profession of soundness. Our Lord declared that He would utterly +ignore and repudiate men upon whose lips His name was a too familiar +word, who had preached and cast out devils and done many mighty works +in that Holy Name. These were men who had worked iniquity, who had +combined promising externals with the worship of "other gods," Mammon +or Belial or some other of those evil powers, who place + + "Within His sanctuary itself their shrines, + Abominations; and with cursed things + His holy rites and solemn feasts profane; + And with their darkness dare affront His light." + +This profane blending of idolatry with a profession of zeal for Jehovah +had provoked the divine wrath against Judah: and yet the exiles had not +profited by their terrible experience of the consequences of sin; they +still burnt incense unto other gods. Therefore Jeremiah remonstrates +with them afresh, and sets before their eyes the utter ruin which will +punish persistent sin. This discourse repeats and enlarges the threats +uttered at Bethlehem. The penalties then denounced on disobedience are +now attributed to idolatry. We have here yet another example of the +tacit understanding attaching to all the prophet's predictions. The most +positive declarations of doom are often warnings and not final +sentences. Jehovah does not turn a deaf ear to the penitent, and the +doom is executed not because He exacts the uttermost farthing, but +because the culprit perseveres in his uttermost wrong. Lack of faith and +loyalty at Bethlehem and idolatry in Egypt were both symptoms of the +same deep-rooted disease. + +On this occasion there was no rival prophet to beard Jeremiah and +relieve his hearers from their fears and scruples. Probably indeed no +professed prophet of Jehovah would have cared to defend the worship of +other gods. But, as at Bethlehem, the people themselves ventured to +defy their aged mentor. They seem to have been provoked to such +hardihood by a stimulus which often prompts timorous men to bold +words. Their wives were specially devoted to the superstitious burning +of incense, and these women were present in large numbers. Probably, +like Lady Macbeth, they had already in private + + "Poured their spirits in their husbands' ears, + And chastised, with the valour of their tongues, + All that impeded" + +those husbands from speaking their minds to Jeremiah. In their +presence, the men dared not shirk an obvious duty, for fear of more +domestic chastisement. The prophet's reproaches would be less +intolerable than such inflictions. Moreover the fair devotees did not +hesitate to mingle their own shrill voices in the wordy strife. + +These idolatrous Jews--male and female--carried things with a very +high hand indeed:-- + +"We will not obey thee in that which thou hast spoken unto us in the +name of Jehovah. We are determined to perform all the vows we have made +to burn incense and other libations to the Queen of Heaven, exactly as +we have said and as we and our fathers and kings and princes did in the +cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem."[173] + +Moreover they were quite prepared to meet Jeremiah on his own ground +and argue with him according to his own principles and methods. He had +appealed to the ruin of Judah as a proof of Jehovah's condemnation of +their idolatry and of His power to punish: they argued that these +misfortunes were a divine _spretæ injuria formæ_, the vengeance of the +Queen of Heaven, whose worship they had neglected. When they duly +honoured her,-- + +"Then had we plenty of victuals, and were prosperous and saw no evil; +but since we left off burning incense and offering libations to the +Queen of Heaven, we have been in want of everything, and have been +consumed by the sword and the famine." + +Moreover the women had a special plea of their own:-- + +"When we burned incense and offered libations to the Queen of Heaven, +did we not make cakes to symbolise her and offer libations to her with +our husbands' permission?" + +A wife's vows were not valid without her husband's sanction, and the +women avail themselves of this principle to shift the responsibility for +their superstition on the men's shoulders. Possibly too the unfortunate +Benedicts were not displaying sufficient zeal in the good cause, and +these words were intended to goad them into greater energy. Doubtless +they cannot be entirely exonerated of blame for tolerating their wives' +sins, probably they were guilty of participation as well as connivance. +Nothing however but the utmost determination and moral courage would +have curbed the exuberant religiosity of these devout ladies. The prompt +suggestion that, if they have done wrong, their husbands are to blame +for letting them have their own way, is an instance of the meanness +which results from the worship of "other gods." + +But these defiant speeches raise a more important question. There is an +essential difference between regarding a national catastrophe as a +divine judgment and the crude superstition to which an eclipse expresses +the resentment of an angry god. But both involve the same practical +uncertainty. The sufferers or the spectators ask what god wrought these +marvels and what sins they are intended to punish, and to these +questions neither catastrophe nor eclipse gives any certain answer. + +Doubtless the altars of the Queen of Heaven had been destroyed by +Josiah in his crusade against heathen cults; but her outraged majesty +had been speedily avenged by the defeat and death of the iconoclast, +and since then the history of Judah had been one long series of +disasters. Jeremiah declared that these were the just retribution +inflicted by Jehovah because Judah had been disloyal to Him; in the +reign of Manasseh their sin had reached its climax:-- + +"I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the nations of +the earth, because of Manasseh ben Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that +which he did in Jerusalem."[174] + +His audience were equally positive that the national ruin was the +vengeance of the Queen of Heaven. Josiah had destroyed her altars, and +now the worshippers of Istar had retaliated by razing the Temple to +the ground. A Jew, with the vague impression that Istar was as real as +Jehovah, might find it difficult to decide between these conflicting +theories. + +To us, as to Jeremiah, it seems sheer nonsense to speak of the +vengeance of the Queen of Heaven, not because of what we deduce from +the circumstances of the fall of Jerusalem, but because we do not +believe in any such deity. But the fallacy is repeated when, in +somewhat similar fashion, Protestants find proof of the superiority of +their faith in the contrast between England and Catholic Spain, while +Romanists draw the opposite conclusion from a comparison of Holland +and Belgium. In all such cases the assured truth of the disputant's +doctrine, which is set forth as the result of his argument, is in +reality the premise upon which his reasoning rests. Faith is not +deduced from, but dictates an interpretation of history. In an +individual the material penalties of sin may arouse a sleeping +conscience, but they cannot create a moral sense: apart from a moral +sense the discipline of rewards and punishments would be futile:-- + + "Were no inner eye in us to tell, + Instructed by no inner sense, + The light of heaven from the dark of hell, + That light would want its evidence." + +Jeremiah, therefore, is quite consistent in refraining from argument +and replying to his opponents by reiterating his former statements +that sin against Jehovah had ruined Judah and would yet ruin the +exiles. He spoke on the authority of the "inner sense," itself +instructed by Revelation. But, after the manner of the prophets, he +gave them a sign--Pharaoh Hophra should be delivered into the hand of +his enemies as Zedekiah had been. Such an event would indeed be an +unmistakable sign of imminent calamity to the fugitives who had sought +the protection of the Egyptian king against Nebuchadnezzar.[175] + +We have reserved for separate treatment the questions suggested by the +references to the Queen of Heaven.[176] This divine name only occurs +again in the Old Testament in vii. 18, and we are startled, at first +sight, to discover that a cult about which all other historians and +prophets have been entirely silent is described in these passages as an +ancient and national worship. It is even possible that the "great +assembly" was a festival in her honour. We have again to remind +ourselves that the Old Testament is an account of the progress of +Revelation and not a History of Israel. Probably the true explanation is +that given by Kuenen. The prophets do not, as a rule, speak of the +details of false worship; they use the generic "Baal" and the collective +"other gods." Even in this chapter Jeremiah begins by speaking of "other +gods," and only uses the term "Queen of Heaven" when he quotes the reply +made to him by the Jews. Similarly when Ezekiel goes into detail +concerning idolatry[177] he mentions cults and ritual[178] which do not +occur elsewhere in the Old Testament. The prophets were little inclined +to discriminate between different forms of idolatry, just as the average +churchman is quite indifferent to the distinctions of the various +Nonconformist bodies, which are to him simply "dissenters." One might +read many volumes of Anglican sermons and even some English Church +History without meeting with the term Unitarian. + +It is easy to find modern parallels--Christian and heathen--to the +name of this goddess. The Virgin Mary is honoured with the title +_Regina Cœli_, and at Mukden, the Sacred City of China, there is a +temple to the Queen of Heaven. But it is not easy to identify the +ancient deity who bore this name. The Jews are accused elsewhere of +worshipping "the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven," and one +or other of these heavenly bodies--mostly either the moon or the +planet Venus--has been supposed to have been the Queen of Heaven. + +Neither do the symbolic cakes help us. Such emblems are found in the +ritual of many ancient cults: at Athens cakes called σελῆναι, and +shaped like a full-moon were offered to the moon-goddess Artemis; a +similar usage seems to have prevailed in the worship of the Arabian +goddess Al-Uzza, whose star was Venus, and also of connection with the +worship of the sun.[179] + +Moreover we do not find the title "Queen of Heaven" as an ordinary and +well-established name of any neighbouring divinity. "Queen" is a +natural title for any goddess, and was actually given to many ancient +deities. Schrader[180] finds our goddess in the Atar-samain +(Athar-Astarte) who is mentioned in the Assyrian ascriptions as +worshipped by a North Arabian tribe of Kedarenes. Possibly too the +Assyrian Istar is called Queen of Heaven.[181] + +Istar, however, is connected with the moon as well as with the planet +Venus.[182] For the present therefore we must be content to leave the +matter an open question,[183] but any day some new discovery may solve +the problem. Meanwhile it is interesting to notice how little +religious ideas and practices are affected by differences in +profession. St. Isaac the Great, of Antioch, who died about A.D. 460, +tells us that the Christian ladies of Syria--whom he speaks of very +ungallantly as "fools"--used to worship the planet Venus from the +roofs of their houses, in the hope that she would bestow upon them +some portion of her own brightness and beauty. His experience +naturally led St. Isaac to interpret the Queen of Heaven as the +luminary which his countrywomen venerated.[184] + +The episode of the "great assembly" closes the history of Jeremiah's +life. We leave him (as we so often met with him before) hurling +ineffective denunciations at a recalcitrant audience. Vagrant fancy, +holding this to be a lame and impotent conclusion, has woven romantic +stories to continue and complete the narrative. There are traditions +that he was stoned to death at Tahpanhes, and that his bones were +removed to Alexandria by Alexander the Great; that he and Baruch +returned to Judea or went to Babylon and died in peace; that he +returned to Jerusalem and lived there three hundred years,--and other +such legends. As has been said concerning the Apocryphal Gospels, +these narratives serve as a foil to the history they are meant to +supplement: they remind us of the sequels of great novels written by +inferior pens, or of attempts made by clumsy mechanics to convert a +bust by some inspired sculptor into a full-length statue. + +For this story of Jeremiah's life is not a torso. Sacred biography +constantly disappoints our curiosity as to the last days of holy men. +We are scarcely ever told how prophets and apostles died. It is +curious too that the great exceptions--Elijah in his chariot of fire +and Elisha dying quietly in his bed--occur before the period of +written prophecy. The deaths of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, Peter, +Paul, and John, are passed over in the Sacred Record, and when we seek +to follow them beyond its pages, we are taught afresh the unique +wisdom of inspiration. If we may understand Deuteronomy xxxiv. to +imply that no eye was permitted to behold Moses in the hour of death, +we have in this incident a type of the reticence of Scripture on such +matters. Moreover a moment's reflection reminds us that the inspired +method is in accordance with the better instincts of our nature. A +death in opening manhood, or the death of a soldier in battle or of a +martyr at the stake, rivets our attention; but when men die in a good +old age, we dwell less on their declining years than on the +achievements of their prime. We all remember the martyrdoms of Huss +and Latimer, but how many of those in whose mouths Calvin and Luther +are familiar as household words know how those great Reformers died? + +There comes a time when we may apply to the aged saint the words of +Browning's _Death in the Desert_:-- + + "So is myself withdrawn into my depths, + The soul retreated from the perished brain + Whence it was wont to feel and use the world + Through these dull members, done with long ago." + +And the poet's comparison of this soul to + + "A stick once fire from end to end; + Now, ashes save the tip that holds a spark." + +Love craves to watch to the last, because the spark may + + "Run back, spread itself + A little where the fire was.... + And we would not lose + The last of what might happen on his face." + +Such privileges may be granted to a few chosen disciples, probably +they were in this case granted to Baruch; but they are mostly withheld +from the world, lest blind irreverence should see in the aged saint +nothing but + + "Second childishness, and mere oblivion; + Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[173] Combined from verses 16, 17, and 25. + +[174] xv. 4. + +[175] As to the fulfilment of this prophecy see Chap. XVII. + +[176] MELEKHETH HASHSHAMAYIM. The Masoretic pointing seems to indicate +a rendering "service" or work of heaven, probably in the sense of +"host of heaven," _i.e._ the stars, מְלֶכֶת being written defectively +for מְלֶאכֶת, but this translation is now pretty generally abandoned. +Cf. C. J. Ball, Giesebrecht, Orelli, Cheyne, etc., on vii. 18, and +especially Kuenen's treatise on the Queen of Heaven--in the +_Gesammelte Abhandlungen_, translated by Budde--to which this section +is largely indebted. + +[177] Ezek. viii. + +[178] The worship of Tammuz and of "creeping things and abominable +beasts" etc. + +[179] Kuenen, 208. + +[180] Schrader (Whitehouse's translation), ii. 207. + +[181] Kuenen, 206. + +[182] Sayce, _Higher Criticism_, etc., 80. + +[183] So Giesebrecht on vii. 18. Kuenen argues for the identification +of the Queen of Heaven with the planet Venus. + +[184] Kuenen, 211. + + + + + BOOK II + + _PROPHECIES CONCERNING FOREIGN + NATIONS_ + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + _JEHOVAH AND THE NATIONS_ + + xxv. 15-38. + + "Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations."--JER. xxv. 31. + + +As the son of a king only learns very gradually that his father's +authority and activity extend beyond the family and the household, so +Israel in its childhood thought of Jehovah as exclusively concerned +with itself. + +Such ideas as omnipotence and universal Providence did not exist; +therefore they could not be denied; and the limitations of the national +faith were not essentially inconsistent with later Revelation. But when +we reach the period of recorded prophecy we find that, under the +guidance of the Holy Spirit, the prophets had begun to recognise +Jehovah's dominion over surrounding peoples. There was, as yet, no +deliberate and formal doctrine of omnipotence, but, as Israel became +involved in the fortunes first of one foreign power and then of another, +the prophets asserted that the doings of these heathen states were +overruled by the God of Israel. The idea of Jehovah's Lordship of the +Nations enlarged with the extension of international relations, as our +conception of the God of Nature has expanded with the successive +discoveries of science. Hence, for the most part, the prophets devote +special attention to the concerns of Gentile peoples. Hosea, Micah, +Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are partial exceptions. Some of the minor +prophets have for their main subject the doom of a heathen empire. Jonah +and Nahum deal with Nineveh, Habbakuk with Chaldea, and Edom is +specially honoured by being almost the sole object of the denunciations +of Obadiah. Daniel also deals with the fate of the kingdoms of the +world, but in the Apocalyptic fashion of the Pseudepigrapha. Jewish +criticism rightly declined to recognise this book as prophetic, and +relegated it to the latest collection of canonical scriptures. + +Each of the other prophetical books contains a longer or shorter +series of utterances concerning the neighbours of Israel, its friends +and foes, its enemies and allies. The fashion was apparently set by +Amos, who shows God's judgment upon Damascus, the Philistines, Tyre, +Edom, Ammon, and Moab. This list suggests the range of the prophet's +religious interest in the Gentiles. Assyria and Egypt were, for the +present, beyond the sphere of Revelation, just as China and India were +to the average Protestant of the seventeenth century. When we come to +the Book of Isaiah, the horizon widens in every direction. Jehovah is +concerned with Egypt and Ethiopia, Assyria and Babylon.[185] In very +short books like Joel and Zephaniah we could not expect exhaustive +treatment of this subject. Yet even these prophets deal with the +fortunes of the Gentiles: Joel, variously held one of the latest or +one of the earliest of the canonical books, pronounces a divine +judgment on Tyre and Sidon and the Philistines, on Egypt and Edom; and +Zephaniah, an elder contemporary of Jeremiah, devotes sections to the +Philistines, Moab and Ammon, Ethiopia and Assyria. + +The fall of Nineveh revolutionised the international system of the +East. The judgment on Asshur was accomplished, and her name disappears +from these catalogues of doom. In other particulars Jeremiah, as well +as Ezekiel, follows closely in the footsteps of his predecessors. He +deals, like them, with the group of Syrian and Palestinian +states--Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Damascus.[186] He dwells +with repeated emphasis on Egypt, and Arabia is represented by Kedar +and Hazor. In one section the prophet travels into what must have +seemed to his contemporaries the very far East, as far as Elam. On the +other hand, he is comparatively silent about Tyre, in which Joel, +Amos, the Book of Isaiah,[187] and above all Ezekiel display a lively +interest. Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns were directed against Tyre as +much as against Jerusalem; and Ezekiel, living in Chaldea, would have +attention forcibly directed to the Phœnician capital, at a time when +Jeremiah was absorbed in the fortunes of Zion. + +But in the passage which we have chosen as the subject for this +introduction to the prophecies of the nations, Jeremiah takes a +somewhat wider range:-- + + "Thus saith unto me Jehovah, the God of Israel: + Take at My hand this cup of the wine of fury, + And make all the nations, to whom I send thee, drink it. + They shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, + Because of the sword that I will send among them." + +First and foremost of these nations, pre-eminent in punishment as in +privilege, stand "Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with its kings +and princes." + +This bad eminence is a necessary application of the principle laid +down by Amos[188]:-- + + "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: + Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities." + +But as Jeremiah says later on, addressing the Gentile nations,-- + + "I begin to work evil at the city which is called by My name. + Should ye go scot-free? Ye shall not go scot-free." + +And the prophet puts the cup of God's fury to their lips also, and +amongst them, Egypt, the _bête noir_ of Hebrew seers, is most +conspicuously marked out for destruction: "Pharaoh king of Egypt, and +his servants and princes and all his people, and all the mixed +population of Egypt."[189] Then follows, in epic fashion, a catalogue of +"all the nations" as Jeremiah knew them: "All the kings of the land of +Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines; Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, +and the remnant of Ashdod;[190] Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; all the +kings[191] of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of their +colonies[192] beyond the sea; Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all that have +the corners of their hair polled;[193] and all the kings of Arabia, and +all the kings of the mixed populations that dwell in the desert; all the +kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes." +Jeremiah's definite geographical information is apparently exhausted, +but he adds by way of summary and conclusion: "And all the kings of the +north, far and near, one after the other; and all the kingdoms of the +world, which are on the face of the earth." + +There is one notable omission in the list. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant +of Jehovah,[194] was the divinely appointed scourge of Judah and its +neighbours and allies. Elsewhere[195] the nations are exhorted to +submit to him, and here apparently Chaldea is exempted from the +general doom, just as Ezekiel passes no formal sentence on Babylon. It +is true that "all the kingdoms of the earth" would naturally include +Babylon, possibly were even intended to do so. But the Jews were not +long content with so veiled a reference to their conquerors and +oppressors. Some patriotic scribe added the explanatory note, "And the +king of Sheshach (_i.e._ Babylon) shall drink after them."[196] +Sheshach is obtained from Babel by the cypher 'Athbash, according to +which an alphabet is written out and a reversed alphabet written out +underneath it, and the letters of the lower row used for those of the +upper and _vice versâ_. Thus + + Aleph B K L + T SH L K + +The use of cypher seems to indicate that the note was added in +Chaldea during the Exile, when it was not safe to circulate documents +which openly denounced Babylon. Jeremiah's enumeration of the peoples +and rulers of his world is naturally more detailed and more exhaustive +than the list of the nations against which he prophesied. It includes +the Phœnician states, details the Philistine cities, associates with +Elam the neighbouring nations of Zimri and the Medes, and substitutes +for Kedar and Hazor Arabia and a number of semi-Arab states, Uz, +Dedan, Tema, and Buz.[197] Thus Jeremiah's world is the district +constantly shown in Scripture atlases in a map comprising the scenes +of Old Testament history, Egypt, Arabia, and Western Asia, south of a +line from the north-east corner of the Mediterranean to the southern +end of the Caspian Sea, and west of a line from the latter point to +the northern end of the Persian Gulf. How much of history has been +crowded into this narrow area! Here science, art, and literature won +those primitive triumphs which no subsequent achievements could +surpass or even equal. Here, perhaps for the first time, men tasted +the Dead Sea apples of civilisation, and learnt how little accumulated +wealth and national splendour can do for the welfare of the masses. +Here was Eden, where God walked in the cool of the day to commune with +man; and here also were many Mount Moriahs, where man gave his +firstborn for his transgression, the fruit of his body for the sin of +his soul, and no angel voice stayed his hand. + +And now glance at any modern map and see for how little Jeremiah's +world counts among the great Powers of the nineteenth century. Egypt +indeed is a bone of contention between European states, but how often +does a daily paper remind its readers of the existence of Syria or +Mesopotamia? We may apply to this ancient world the title that Byron +gave to Rome, "Lone mother of dead empires," and call it:-- + + "The desert, where we steer + Stumbling o'er recollections." + +It is said that Scipio's exultation over the fall of Carthage was +marred by forebodings that Time had a like destiny in store for Rome. +Where Cromwell might have quoted a text from the Bible, the Roman +soldier applied to his native city the Homeric lines:-- + + "Troy shall sink in fire, + And Priam's city with himself expire." + +The epitaphs of ancient civilisations are no mere matters of +archæology; like the inscriptions on common graves, they carry a +_Memento mori_ for their successors. + +But to return from epitaphs to prophecy: in the list which we have just +given, the kings of many of the nations are required to drink the cup of +wrath, and the section concludes with a universal judgment upon the +princes and rulers of this ancient world under the familiar figure of +shepherds, supplemented here by another, that of the "principal of the +flock," or, as we should say, "bell-wethers." Jehovah would break out +upon them to rend and scatter like a lion from his covert. Therefore:-- + + "Howl, ye shepherds, and cry! + Roll yourselves in the dust, ye bell-wethers! + The time has fully come for you to be slaughtered. + I will cast you down with a crash, like a vase of + porcelain.[198] + Ruin hath overtaken the refuge of the shepherds, + And the way of escape of the bell-wethers." + +Thus Jeremiah announces the coming ruin of an ancient world, with all +its states and sovereigns, and we have seen that the prediction has +been amply fulfilled. We can only notice two other points with regard +to this section. + +First, then, we have no right to accuse the prophet of speaking from a +narrow national standpoint. His words are not the expression of the +Jewish _adversus omnes alios hostile odium_;[199] if they were, we +should not hear so much of Judah's sin and Judah's punishment. He +applied to heathen states as he did to his own the divine standard of +national righteousness, and they too were found wanting. All history +confirms Jeremiah's judgment. This brings us to our second point. +Christian thinkers have been engrossed in the evidential aspect of +these national catastrophes. They served to fulfil prophecy, and +therefore the squalor of Egypt and the ruins of Assyria to-day have +seemed to make our way of salvation more safe and certain. But God did +not merely sacrifice these holocausts of men and nations to the +perennial craving of feeble faith for signs. Their fate must of +necessity illustrate His justice and wisdom and love. Jeremiah tells +us plainly that Judah and its neighbours had filled up the measure of +their iniquity before they were called upon to drink the cup of wrath; +national sin justifies God's judgments. Yet these very facts of the +moral failure and decadence of human societies perplex and startle us. +Individuals grow old and feeble and die, but saints and heroes do not +become slaves of vice and sin in their last days. The glory of their +prime is not buried in a dishonoured grave. Nay rather, when all else +fails, the beauty of holiness grows more pure and radiant. But of what +nation could we say:-- + + "Let me die the death of the righteous, + Let my last end be like his"? + +Apparently the collective conscience is a plant of very slow growth; +and hitherto no society has been worthy to endure honourably or even +to perish nobly. In Christendom itself the ideals of common action are +still avowedly meaner than those of individual conduct. International +and collective morality is still in its infancy, and as a matter of +habit and system modern states are often wantonly cruel and unjust +towards obscure individuals and helpless minorities. Yet surely it +shall not always be so; the daily prayer of countless millions for the +coming of the Kingdom of God cannot remain unanswered. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[185] Doubts however have been raised as to whether any of the +sections about Babylon are by Isaiah himself. + +[186] Doubts have been expressed as to the genuineness of the Damascus +prophecy. + +[187] The Isaianic authorship of this prophecy (Isa. xxiii.) is +rejected by very many critics. + +[188] Amos iii. 2. + +[189] So Giesebrecht, Orelli, etc. + +[190] Psammetichus had recently taken Ashdod, after a continuous siege +of twenty-nine years. + +[191] The plural may refer to dependent chiefs or may be used for the +sake of symmetry. + +[192] Lit. "the coasts" (_i.e._ islands and coastland) where the +Phœnicians had planted their colonies. + +[193] See on xlix. 28-32. + +[194] xxv. 9. + +[195] xxvii. 8. + +[196] Sheshach (Sheshakh) for Babel also occurs in li. 41. This +explanatory note is omitted by LXX. + +[197] As to Damascus cf. note on p. 213. + +[198] This line is somewhat paraphrased. Lit. "I will shatter you, and +ye shall fall like an ornamental vessel" (KELI HEMDA). + +[199] Tacitus, _History_, v. 5. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + _EGYPT_ + + xliii. 8-13, xliv. 30, xlvi. + + "I will visit Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods + and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in + him."--JER. xlvi. 25. + + +The kings of Egypt with whom Jeremiah was contemporary--Psammetichus +II., Pharaoh Necho, and Pharaoh Hophra--belonged to the twenty-sixth +dynasty. When growing distress at home compelled Assyria to loose her +hold on her distant dependencies, Egypt still retained something of +her former vigorous elasticity. In the rebound from subjection under +the heavy hand of Sennacherib, she resumed her ancient forms of life +and government. She regained her unity and independence, and posed +afresh as an equal rival with Chaldea for the supremacy of Western +Asia. At home there was a renascence of art and literature, and, as of +old, the wealth and devotion of powerful monarchs restored the ancient +temples and erected new shrines of their own. + +But this revival was no new growth springing up with a fresh and +original life from the seeds of the past; it cannot rank with the +European Renascence of the fifteenth century. It is rather to be +compared with the reorganisations by which Diocletian and Constantine +prolonged the decline of the Roman Empire, the rally of a strong +constitution in the grip of mortal disease. These latter-day Pharaohs +failed ignominiously in their attempts to recover the Syrian dominion of +the Thothmes and Rameses; and, like the Roman Empire in its last +centuries, the Egypt of the twenty-sixth dynasty surrendered itself to +Greek influence and hired foreign mercenaries to fight its battles. The +new art and literature were tainted by pedantic archaism. According to +Brugsch,[200] "Even to the newly created dignities and titles, the +return to ancient times had become the general watchword.... The stone +door-posts of this age reveal the old Memphian style of art, mirrored in +its modern reflection after the lapse of four thousand years." Similarly +Meyer[201] tells us that apparently the Egyptian state was reconstituted +on the basis of a religious revival, somewhat in the fashion of the +establishment of Deuteronomy by Josiah. + +Inscriptions after the time of Psammetichus are written in archaic +Egyptian of a very ancient past; it is often difficult to determine at +first sight whether inscriptions belong to the earliest or latest +period of Egyptian history. + +The superstition that sought safety in an exact reproduction of a remote +antiquity could not, however, resist the fascination of Eastern +demonology. According to Brugsch,[202] in the age called the Egyptian +Renascence the old Egyptian theology was adulterated with Græco-Asiatic +elements--demons and genii of whom the older faith and its purer +doctrine had scarcely an idea; exorcisms became a special science, and +are favourite themes for the inscriptions of this period. Thus, amid +many differences, there are also to be found striking resemblances +between the religious movements of the period in Egypt and amongst the +Jews, and corresponding difficulties in determining the dates of +Egyptian inscriptions and of sections of the Old Testament. + +This enthusiasm for ancient custom and tradition was not likely to +commend the Egypt of Jeremiah's age to any student of Hebrew history. He +would be reminded that the dealings of the Pharaohs with Israel had +almost always been to its hurt; he would remember the Oppression and the +Exodus--how, in the time of Solomon, friendly intercourse with Egypt +taught that monarch lessons in magnificent tyranny, how Shishak +plundered the Temple, how Isaiah had denounced the Egyptian alliance as +a continual snare to Judah. A Jewish prophet would be prompt to discern +the omens of coming ruin in the midst of renewed prosperity on the Nile. + +Accordingly at the first great crisis of the new international system, +in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, either just before or just after the +battle of Carchemish--it matters little which--Jeremiah takes up his +prophecy against Egypt. First of all, with an ostensible friendliness +which only masks his bitter sarcasm, he invites the Egyptians to take +the field:-- + + "Prepare buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. + Harness the horses to the chariots, mount the chargers, stand + forth armed cap-à-pie for battle; + Furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail." + +This great host with its splendid equipment must surely conquer. The +prophet professes to await its triumphant return; but he sees instead +a breathless mob of panic-stricken fugitives, and pours upon them the +torrent of his irony:-- + + "How is it that I behold this? These heroes are dismayed and + have turned their backs; + Their warriors have been beaten down; + They flee apace, and do not look behind them: + Terror on every side--is the utterance of Jehovah." + +Then irony passes into explicit malediction:-- + + "Let not the swift flee away, nor the warrior escape; + Away northward, they stumble and fall by the river + Euphrates." + +Then, in a new strophe, Jeremiah again recurs in imagination to the +proud march of the countless hosts of Egypt:-- + + "Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, + Whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? + Egypt riseth up like the Nile, + His waters toss themselves like the rivers. + And he saith, I will go up and cover the land" + +(like the Nile in flood); + + "I will destroy the cities and their inhabitants" + +(and, above all other cities, Babylon). + +Again the prophet urges them on with ironical encouragement:-- + + "Go up, ye horses; rage, ye chariots; + Ethiopians and Libyans that handle the shield, + Lydians that handle and bend the bow" + +(the tributaries and mercenaries of Egypt). + +Then, as before, he speaks plainly of coming disaster: + + "That day is a day of vengeance for the Lord Jehovah Sabaoth, + whereon He will avenge Him of His adversaries" + +(a day of vengeance upon Pharaoh Necho for Megiddo and Josiah). + + "The sword shall devour and be sated, and drink its fill of + their blood: + For the Lord Jehovah Sabaoth hath a sacrifice in the northern + land, by the river Euphrates." + +In a final strophe, the prophet turns to the land left bereaved and +defenceless by the defeat at Carchemish:-- + + "Go up to Gilead and get thee balm, O virgin daughter of + Egypt: + In vain dost thou multiply medicines; thou canst not be + healed. + The nations have heard of thy shame, the earth is full of thy + cry: + For warrior stumbles against warrior; they fall both + together." + +Nevertheless the end was not yet. Egypt was wounded to death, but she +was to linger on for many a long year to be a snare to Judah and to +vex the righteous soul of Jeremiah. The reed was broken, but it still +retained an appearance of soundness, which more than once tempted the +Jewish princes to lean upon it and find their hands pierced for their +pains. Hence, as we have seen already, Jeremiah repeatedly found +occasion to reiterate the doom of Egypt, of Necho's successor, Pharaoh +Hophra, and of the Jewish refugees who had sought safety under his +protection. In the concluding part of chapter xlvi., a prophecy of +uncertain date sets forth the ruin of Egypt with rather more literary +finish than in the parallel passages. + +This word of Jehovah was to be proclaimed in Egypt, and especially in +the frontier cities, which would have to bear the first brunt of +invasion:-- + + "Declare in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol, proclaim in Noph and + Tahpanhes: + Say ye, Take thy stand and be ready, for the sword hath + devoured round about thee. + Why hath Apis[203] fled and thy calf not stood? Because + Jehovah overthrew it." + +Memphis was devoted to the worship of Apis, incarnate in the sacred +bull; but now Apis must succumb to the mightier divinity of Jehovah, +and his sacred city become a prey to the invaders. + + "He maketh many to stumble; they fall one against another. + Then they say, Arise, and let us return to our own people and + to our native land, before the oppressing sword." + +We must remember that the Egyptian armies were largely composed of +foreign mercenaries. In the hour of disaster and defeat these +hirelings would desert their employers and go home. + + "Give unto Pharaoh king of Egypt the name[204] Crash; he hath + let the appointed time pass by." + +The form of this enigmatic sentence is probably due to a play upon +Egyptian names and titles. When the allusions are forgotten, such +paronomasia naturally results in hopeless obscurity. The "appointed +time" has been explained as the period during which Jehovah gave +Pharaoh the opportunity of repentance, or as that within which he +might have submitted to Nebuchadnezzar on favourable terms. + + "As I live, is the utterance of the King, whose name is + Jehovah Sabaoth, + One shall come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel + by the sea." + +It was not necessary to name this terrible invader; it could be no +other than Nebuchadnezzar. + + "Get thee gear for captivity, O daughter of Egypt, that + dwellest in thine own land: + For Noph shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up and + left without inhabitants. + Egypt is a very fair heifer, but destruction is come upon her + from the north." + +This tempest shattered the Greek phalanx in which Pharaoh trusted:-- + + "Even her mercenaries in the midst of her are like calves of + the stall; + Even they have turned and fled together, they have not stood: + For their day of calamity hath come upon them, their day of + reckoning." + +We do not look for chronological sequence in such a poem, so that this +picture of the flight and destruction of the mercenaries is not +necessarily later in time than their overthrow and contemplated +desertion in verse 15. The prophet is depicting a scene of bewildered +confusion; the disasters that fell thick upon Egypt crowd into his +vision without order or even coherence. Now he turns again to Egypt +herself:-- + + "Her voice goeth forth like the (low hissing of) the serpent; + For they come upon her with a mighty army, and with axes like + woodcutters." + +A like fate is predicted in Isaiah xxix. 4 for "Ariel, the city where +David dwelt":-- + + "Thou shalt be brought low and speak from the ground; + Thou shalt speak with a low voice out of the dust; + Thy voice shall come from the ground, like that of a familiar + spirit, + And thou shalt speak in a whisper from the dust." + +Thus too Egypt would seek to writhe herself from under the heel of the +invader; hissing out the while her impotent fury, she would seek to +glide away into some safe refuge amongst the underwood. Her +dominions, stretching far up the Nile, were surely vast enough to +afford her shelter somewhere; but no! the "woodcutters" are too many +and too mighty for her:-- + + "They cut down her forest--it is the utterance of Jehovah--for + it is impenetrable; + For they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable." + +The whole of Egypt is overrun and subjugated; no district holds out +against the invader, and remains unsubjugated to form the nucleus of a +new and independent empire. + + "The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she is delivered into + the hand of the northern people." + +Her gods share her fate; Apis had succumbed at Memphis, but Egypt had +countless other stately shrines whose denizens must own the +overmastering might of Jehovah:-- + + "Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: + Behold, I will visit Amon of No, + And Pharaoh, and Egypt, and all her gods and kings, + Even Pharaoh and all who trust in him." + +Amon of No, or Thebes, known to the Greeks as Ammon and called by his +own worshippers Amen, or "the hidden one," is apparently mentioned +with Apis as sharing the primacy of the Egyptian divine hierarchy. On +the fall of the twentieth dynasty, the high priest of the Theban Amen +became king of Egypt, and centuries afterwards Alexander the Great +made a special pilgrimage to the temple in the oasis of Ammon and was +much gratified at being there hailed son of the deity. + +Probably the prophecy originally ended with this general threat of +"visitation" of Egypt and its human and divine rulers. An editor, +however, has added,[205] from parallel passages, the more definite +but sufficiently obvious statement that Nebuchadnezzar and his +servants were to be the instruments of the Divine visitation. + +A further addition is in striking contrast to the sweeping statements +of Jeremiah:-- + + "Afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old." + +Similarly, Ezekiel foretold a restoration for Egypt:-- + +"At the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians, and will +cause them to return ... to their native land; and they shall be there +a base kingdom: it shall be the basest of the kingdoms."[206] + +And elsewhere we read yet more gracious promises to Egypt:-- + +"Israel shall be a third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the +midst of the land: whom Jehovah Sabaoth shall bless, saying, Blessed +be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine +inheritance."[207] + +Probably few would claim to discover in history any literal fulfilment +of this last prophecy. Perhaps it might have been appropriated for the +Christian Church in the days of Clement and Origen. We may take Egypt +and Assyria as types of heathendom, which shall one day receive the +blessings of the Lord's people and of the work of His hands. Of +political revivals and restorations Egypt has had her share. But less +interest attaches to these general prophecies than to more definite +and detailed predictions; and there is much curiosity as to any +evidence which monuments and other profane witnesses may furnish as to +a conquest of Egypt and capture of Pharaoh Hophra by Nebuchadnezzar. + +According to Herodotus,[208] Apries (Hophra) was defeated and +imprisoned by his successor Amasis, afterwards delivered up by him to +the people of Egypt, who forthwith strangled their former king. This +event would be an exact fulfilment of the words, "I will give Pharaoh +Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of +them that seek his life,"[209] if it were not evident from parallel +passages[210] that the Book of Jeremiah intends Nebuchadnezzar to be the +enemy into whose hands Pharaoh is to be delivered. But Herodotus is +entirely silent as to the relations of Egypt and Babylon during this +period; for instance, he mentions the victory of Pharaoh Necho at +Megiddo--which he miscalls Magdolium--but not his defeat at Carchemish. +Hence his silence as to Chaldean conquests in Egypt has little weight. +Even the historian's explicit statement as to the death of Apries might +be reconciled with his defeat and capture by Nebuchadnezzar, if we knew +all the facts. At present, however, the inscriptions do little to fill +the gap left by the Greek historian; there are, however, references +which seem to establish two invasions of Egypt by the Chaldean king, one +of which fell in the reign of Pharaoh Hophra. But the spiritual lessons +of this and the following prophecies concerning the nations are not +dependent on the spade of the excavator or the skill of the decipherers +of hieroglyphics and cuneiform script; whatever their relation may be to +the details of subsequent historical events, they remain as monuments of +the inspired insight of the prophet into the character and destiny alike +of great empires and petty states. They assert the Divine government of +the nations, and the subordination of all history to the coming of the +Kingdom of God. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[200] Second edition, ii. 291, 292. + +[201] Meyer, _Geschichte des alten Ägypten_, 371, 373. + +[202] ii. 293. + +[203] Giesebrecht, with LXX. + +[204] Giesebrecht, Orelli, Kautzsch, with LXX., Syr., and Vulg., by an +alteration of the pointing. + +[205] LXX. omits verse 26. Verses 27, 28 = xxx. 10, 11, and probably +are an insertion here. + +[206] Ezek. xxix. 13-15. + +[207] Isa. xix. 25. + +[208] Herodotus, II. clxix. + +[209] xliv. 30. + +[210] xlvi. 25. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + _THE PHILISTINES_ + + xlvii. + + "O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up + thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still."--JER. xlvii. 6. + + +According to the title placed at the head of this prophecy, it was +uttered "before Pharaoh smote Gaza." The Pharaoh is evidently Pharaoh +Necho, and this capture of Gaza was one of the incidents of the +campaign which opened with the victory at Megiddo and concluded so +disastrously at Carchemish. Our first impulse is to look for some +connection between this incident and the contents of the prophecy: +possibly the editor who prefixed the heading may have understood by +the northern enemy Pharaoh Necho on his return from Carchemish; but +would Jeremiah have described a defeated army thus? + + "Behold, waters rise out of the north, and become an + overflowing torrent; + They overflow the land, and all that is therein, the city and + its inhabitants. + Men cry out, and all the inhabitants of the land howl, + At the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, + At the rattling of his chariots and the rumbling of his + wheels." + +Here as elsewhere the enemy from the north is Nebuchadnezzar. Pharaohs +might come and go, winning victories and taking cities, but these +broken reeds count for little; not they, but the king of Babylon is +the instrument of Jehovah's supreme purpose. The utter terror caused +by the Chaldean advance is expressed by a striking figure:-- + + "The fathers look not back to their children for slackness of + hands." + +Their very bodies are possessed and crippled with fear, their palsied +muscles cannot respond to the impulses of natural affection; they can +do nothing but hurry on in headlong flight, unable to look round or +stretch out a helping hand to their children:-- + + "Because of the day that cometh for the spoiling of all the + Philistines, + For cutting off every ally that remaineth unto Tyre and + Zidon: + For Jehovah spoileth the Philistines, the remnant of the + coast of Caphtor.[211] + Baldness cometh upon Gaza; Ashkelon is destroyed: + O remnant of the Anakim,[212] how long wilt thou cut + thyself?" + +This list is remarkable both for what it includes and what it omits. +In order to understand the reference to Tyre and Zidon, we must +remember that Nebuchadnezzar's expedition was partly directed against +these cities, with which the Philistines had evidently been allied. +The Chaldean king would hasten the submission of the Phœnicians, by +cutting off all hope of succour from without. There are various +possible reasons why out of the five Philistine cities only +two--Ashkelon and Gaza--are mentioned; Ekron, Gath, and Ashdod may +have been reduced to comparative insignificance. Ashdod had recently +been taken by Psammetichus after a twenty-nine years' siege. Or the +names of two of these cities may be given by way of paronomasia in the +text: Ashdod may be suggested by the double reference to the +_spoiling_ and the _spoiler_, _Shdod_ and _Shoded_; Gath may be hinted +at by the word used for the mutilation practised by mourners, +_Tithgoddadi_, and by the mention of the Anakim, who are connected +with Gath, Ashdod, and Gaza in Joshua xi. 22. + +As Jeremiah contemplates this fresh array of victims of Chaldean +cruelty, he is moved to protest against the weary monotony of ruin:-- + + "O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? + Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still." + +The prophet ceases to be the mouthpiece of God, and breaks out into +the cry of human anguish. How often since, amid the barbarian inroads +that overwhelmed the Roman Empire, amid the prolonged horrors of the +Thirty Years' War, amid the carnage of the French Revolution, men have +uttered a like appeal to an unanswering and relentless Providence! +Indeed, not in war only, but even in peace, the tide of human misery +and sin often seems to flow, century after century, with undiminished +volume, and ever and again a vain "How long" is wrung from pallid and +despairing lips. For the Divine purpose may not be hindered, and the +sword of Jehovah must still strike home. + + "How can it be quiet, seeing that Jehovah hath given it a + charge? + Against Ashkelon and against the sea-shore, there hath He + appointed it." + +Yet Ashkelon survived to be a stronghold of the Crusaders, and Gaza to +be captured by Alexander and even by Napoleon. Jehovah has other +instruments besides His devastating sword; the victorious endurance +and recuperative vitality of men and nations also come from Him. + + "Come, and let us return unto Jehovah: + For He hath torn, and He will heal us; + He hath smitten, and He will bind us up."[213] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[211] Referring to their ancient immigration from Caphtor, probably +Crete. + +[212] Kautzsch, Giesebrecht, with LXX., reading 'Nqm for the Masoretic +'Mqm; Eng. Vers., "their valley." + +[213] Hosea vi. 1. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + _MOAB_ + + xlviii. + + "Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath + magnified himself against Jehovah."--JER. xlviii. 42. + + "Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israel ... and I took + it ... and I took from it the vessels of Jehovah, and offered them + before Chemosh."--MOABITE STONE. + + "Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter + days."--JER. xlviii. 47. + + +The prophets show a very keen interest in Moab. With the exception of +the very short Book of Joel, all the prophets who deal in detail with +foreign nations devote sections to Moab. The unusual length of such +sections in Isaiah and Jeremiah is not the only resemblance between the +utterances of these two prophets concerning Moab. There are many +parallels[214] of idea and expression, which probably indicate the +influence of the elder prophet upon his successor; unless indeed both of +them adapted some popular poem which was early current in Judah.[215] + +It is easy to understand why the Jewish Scriptures should have much +to say about Moab, just as the sole surviving fragment of Moabite +literature is chiefly occupied with Israel. These two Terahite +tribes--the children of Jacob and the children of Lot--had dwelt side +by side for centuries, like the Scotch and English borderers before +the accession of James I. They had experienced many alternations of +enmity and friendship, and had shared complex interests, common and +conflicting, after the manner of neighbours who are also kinsmen. Each +in its turn had oppressed the other; and Moab had been the tributary +of the Israelite monarchy till the victorious arms of Mesha had +achieved independence for his people and firmly established their +dominion over the debatable frontier lands. There are traces, too, of +more kindly relations: the House of David reckoned Ruth the Moabitess +amongst its ancestors, and Jesse, like Elimelech and Naomi, had taken +refuge in Moab. + +Accordingly this prophecy concerning Moab, in both its editions, +frequently strikes a note of sympathetic lamentation and almost +becomes a dirge. + + "Therefore will I howl for Moab; + Yea, for all Moab will I cry out. + For the men of Kir-heres shall they mourn. + With more than the weeping of Jazer + Will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah. + + * * * * * + + Therefore mine heart soundeth like pipes for Moab, + Mine heart soundeth like pipes for the men of Kir-heres." + +But this pity could not avail to avert the doom of Moab; it only +enabled the Jewish prophet to fully appreciate its terrors. The +picture of coming ruin is drawn with the colouring and outlines +familiar to us in the utterances of Jeremiah--spoiling and +destruction, fire and sword and captivity, dismay and wild +abandonment of wailing. + + "Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his + princes together. + Every head is bald, and every beard clipped; + Upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins + sackcloth. + On all the housetops and in all the streets of Moab there is + everywhere lamentation; + For I have broken Moab like a useless vessel--it is the + utterance of Jehovah. + How is it broken down! Howl ye! Be thou ashamed! + How hath Moab turned the back! + All the neighbours shall laugh and shudder at Moab. + + * * * * * + + The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day + Shall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs." + +This section of Jeremiah illustrates the dramatic versatility of the +prophet's method. He identifies himself now with the blood-thirsty +invader, now with his wretched victims, and now with the +terror-stricken spectators; and sets forth the emotions of each in +turn with vivid realism. Hence at one moment we have the pathos and +pity of such verses as we have just quoted, and at another such stern +and savage words as these:-- + + "Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently, + Cursed be he that stinteth his sword of blood." + +These lines might have served as a motto for Cromwell at the massacre +of Drogheda, for Tilly's army at the sack of Magdeburg, or for Danton +and Robespierre during the Reign of Terror. Jeremiah's words were the +more terrible because they were uttered with the full consciousness +that in the dread Chaldean king[216] a servant of Jehovah was at hand +who would be careful not to incur any curse for stinting his sword of +blood. We shrink from what seems to us the prophet's brutal assertion +that relentless and indiscriminate slaughter is sometimes the service +which man is called upon to render to God. Such sentiment is for the +most part worthless and unreal; it does not save us from epidemics of +war fever, and is at once ignored under the stress of horrors like the +Indian Mutiny. There is no true comfort in trying to persuade +ourselves that the most awful events of history lie outside of the +Divine purpose, or in forgetting that the human scourges of their kind +do the work that God has assigned to them. + +In this inventory, as it were, of the ruin of Moab our attention is +arrested by the constant and detailed references to the cities. This +feature is partly borrowed from Isaiah. Ezekiel too speaks of the +Moabite cities which are the glory of the country;[217] but Jeremiah's +prophecy is a veritable Domesday Book of Moab. With his epic fondness +for lists of sonorous names--after the manner of Homer's catalogue of +the ships--he enumerates Nebo, Kiriathaim, Heshbon, and Horonaim, city +after city, till he completes a tale of no fewer than twenty-six,[218] +and then summarises the rest as "all the cities of the land of Moab, +far and near." Eight of these cities are mentioned in Joshua[219] as +part of the inheritance of Reuben and Gad. Another, Bozrah, is usually +spoken of as a city of Edom.[220] + +The Moabite Stone explains the occurrence of Reubenite cities in +these lists. It tells us how Mesha took Nebo, Jahaz, and Horonaim from +Israel. Possibly in this period of conquest Bozrah became tributary to +Moab, without ceasing to be an Edomite city. This extension of +territory and multiplication of towns points to an era of power and +prosperity, of which there are other indications in this chapter. "We +are mighty and valiant for war," said the Moabites. When Moab fell +"there was broken a mighty sceptre and a glorious staff." Other verses +imply the fertility of the land and the abundance of its vintage. + +Moab in fact had profited by the misfortunes of its more powerful and +ambitious neighbours. The pressure of Damascus, Assyria, and Chaldea +prevented Israel and Judah from maintaining their dominion over their +ancient tributary. Moab lay less directly in the track of the +invaders; it was too insignificant to attract their special attention, +perhaps too prudent to provoke a contest with the lords of the East. +Hence, while Judah was declining, Moab had enlarged her borders and +grown in wealth and power. + +And even as Jeshurun kicked, when he was waxen fat,[221] so Moab in +its prosperity was puffed up with unholy pride. Even in Isaiah's time +this was the besetting sin of Moab; he says in an indictment which +Jeremiah repeats almost word for word:-- + + "We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud, + Even of his arrogancy and his pride and his wrath."[222] + +This verse is a striking example of the Hebrew method of gaining +emphasis by accumulating derivatives of the same and similar roots. +The verse in Jeremiah runs thus: "We have heard of the pride (Ge'ON) +of Moab, that he is very proud (GE'EH); his loftiness (GABHeHO), and +his pride (Ge'ONO), and his proudfulness (GA'aWATHO)." + +Jeremiah dwells upon this theme:-- + + "Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, + Because he hath magnified himself against Jehovah." + +Zephaniah bears like testimony[223]:-- + + "This shall they have for their pride, + Because they have been insolent, and have magnified + themselves + Against the people of Jehovah Sabaoth." + +Here again the Moabite Stone bears abundant testimony to the justice +of the prophet's accusations; for there Mesha tells how in the name +and by the grace of Chemosh he conquered the cities of Israel; and +how, anticipating Belshazzar's sacrilege, he took the sacred vessels +of Jehovah from His temple at Nebo and consecrated them to Chemosh. +Truly Moab had "magnified himself against Jehovah." + +Prosperity had produced other baleful effects beside a haughty spirit, +and pride was not the only cause of the ruin of Moab. Jeremiah applies +to nations the dictum of Polonius-- + + "Home-keeping youths have ever homely wits," + +and apparently suggests that ruin and captivity were necessary +elements in the national discipline of Moab:-- + + "Moab hath been undisturbed from his youth; + He hath settled on his lees; + He hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel; + He hath not gone into captivity: + Therefore his taste remaineth in him, + His scent is not changed. + + Wherefore, behold, the days come--it is the utterance of + Jehovah-- + That I will send men unto him that shall tilt him up; + They shall empty his vessels and break his[224] bottles." + +As the chapter, in its present form, concludes with a note-- + + "I will bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter + days--it is the utterance of Jehovah"-- + +we gather that even this rough handling was disciplinary; at any rate, +the former lack of such vicissitudes had been to the serious detriment +of Moab. It is strange that Jeremiah did not apply this principle to +Judah. For, indeed, the religion of Israel and of mankind owes an +incalculable debt to the captivity of Judah, a debt which later writers +are not slow to recognise. "Behold," says the prophet of the Exile,-- + + "I have refined thee, but not as silver; + I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."[225] + +History constantly illustrates how when Christians were undisturbed +and prosperous the wine of truth settled on the lees and came to taste +of the cask; and--to change the figure--how affliction and persecution +proved most effectual tonics for a debilitated Church. Continental +critics of modern England speak severely of the ill-effects which our +prolonged freedom from invasion and civil war, and the unbroken +continuity of our social life have had on our national character and +manners. In their eyes England is a perfect Moab, concerning which +they are ever ready to prophesy after the manner of Jeremiah. The +Hebrew Chronicler blamed Josiah because he would not listen to the +advice and criticism of Pharaoh Necho. There may be warnings which we +should do well to heed, even in the acrimony of foreign journalists. + +But any such suggestion raises wider and more difficult issues; for +ordinary individuals and nations the discipline of calamity seems +necessary. What degree of moral development exempts from such +discipline, and how may it be attained? Christians cannot seek to +compound for such discipline by self-inflicted loss or pain, like +Polycrates casting away his ring or Browning's Caliban, who in his +hour of terror, + + "Lo! 'Lieth flat and loveth Setebos! + 'Maketh his teeth meet through his upper lip, + Will let those quails fly, will not eat this month + One little mess of whelks, so he may 'scape." + +But though it is easy to counsel resignation and the recognition of a +wise loving Providence in national as in personal suffering, yet +mankind longs for an end to the period of pupilage and chastisement +and would fain know how it may be hastened. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[214] _E.g._ xlviii. 5, "For by the ascent of Luhith with continual +weeping shall they go up; for in going down of Horonaim they have +heard the distress of the cry of destruction," is almost identical +with Isa. xv. 5. Cf. also xlviii. 29-34 with Isa. xv. 4, xvi. 6-11. + +[215] Verse 47 with the subscription, "Thus far is the judgment of +Moab," is wanting in the LXX. + +[216] The exact date of the prophecy is uncertain, but it must have +been written during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. + +[217] Ezek. xxv. 9. + +[218] Some of the names, however, may be variants. + +[219] Josh. xiii. 15-28 (possibly on JE. basis). + +[220] xlix. 13, possibly this is not the Edomite Bozrah. + +[221] Deut. xxxii. 15. + +[222] Isa. xvi. 6. + +[223] ii. 10. + +[224] Kautzsch, Giesebrecht, with LXX.; A.V., R.V., with Hebrew Text, +"their bottles." + +[225] Isa. xlviii. 10. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + _AMMON_ + + xlix. 1-6. + + "Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth Moloch + possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?"--JER. + xlix. 1 + + +The relations of Israel with Ammon were similar but less intimate than +they were with his twin-brother Moab. Hence this prophecy is, _mutatis +mutandis_, an abridgment of that concerning Moab. As Moab was charged +with magnifying himself against Jehovah, and was found to be occupying +cities which Reuben claimed as its inheritance, so Ammon had presumed +to take possession of the Gadite cities, whose inhabitants had been +carried away captive by the Assyrians. Here again the prophet +enumerates Heshbon, Ai, Rabbah, and the dependent towns, "the +daughters of Rabbah." Only in the territory of this half-nomadic +people the cities are naturally not so numerous as in Moab; and +Jeremiah mentions also the fertile valleys wherein the Ammonites +gloried. The familiar doom of ruin and captivity is pronounced against +city and country and all the treasures of Ammon; Moloch,[226] like +Chemosh, must go into captivity with his priests and princes. This +prophecy also concludes with a promise of restoration:-- + + "Afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of + Ammon--it is the utterance of Jehovah." + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[226] xlix. 3: A.V., "their king"; R.V., "Malcam," which here and in +verse 1 is a form of Moloch. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + _EDOM_ + + xlix. 7-22. + + "Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a + curse."--JER. xlix. 13. + + +The prophecy concerning Edom is not formulated along the same line as +those which deal with the twin children of Lot, Moab and Ammon. Edom was +not merely the cousin, but the brother of Israel. His history, his +character and conduct, had marked peculiarities, which received special +treatment. Edom had not only intimate relations with Israel as a whole, +but was also bound by exceptionally close ties to the Southern Kingdom. +The Edomite clan Kenaz had been incorporated in the tribe of Judah;[227] +and when Israel broke up into two states, Edom was the one tributary +which was retained or reconquered by the House of David, and continued +subject to Judah till the reign of Jehoram ben Jehoshaphat.[228] + +Much virtuous indignation is often expressed at the wickedness of +Irishmen in contemplating rebellion against the dominion of England: we +cannot therefore be surprised that the Jews resented the successful +revolt of Edom, and regarded the hostility of Mount Seir to its former +masters as ingratitude and treachery. In moments of hot indignation +against the manifold sins of Judah Jeremiah might have announced with +great vehemence that Judah should be made a "reproach and a proverb"; +but when, as Obadiah tells us, the Edomites stood gazing with eager +curiosity on the destruction of Jerusalem, and rejoiced and exulted in +the distress of the Jews, and even laid hands on their substance in the +day of their calamity, and occupied the roads to catch fugitives and +deliver them up to the Chaldeans,[229] then the patriotic fervour of the +prophet broke out against Edom. Like Moab and Ammon, he was puffed up +with pride, and deluded by baseless confidence into a false security. +These hardy mountaineers trusted in their reckless courage and in the +strength of their inaccessible mountain fastnesses. + + "Men shall shudder at thy fate,[230] the pride of thy heart + hath deceived thee, + O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest + the height of the hill: + Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the + eagle,[231] + I will bring thee down from thence--it is the utterance of + Jehovah." + +Pliny speaks of the Edomite capital as "oppidum circumdatum montibus +inaccessis,"[232] and doubtless the children of Esau had often watched +from their eyrie Assyrian and Chaldean armies on the march to plunder +more defenceless victims, and trusted that their strength, their good +fortune, and their ancient and proverbial wisdom would still hold them +scatheless. Their neighbours--the Jews amongst the rest--might be +plundered, massacred, and carried away captive, but Edom could look on +in careless security, and find its account in the calamities of +kindred tribes. If Jerusalem was shattered by the Chaldean tempest, +the Edomites would play the part of wreckers. But all this shrewdness +was mere folly: how could these Solons of Mount Seir prove so unworthy +of their reputation? + + "Is wisdom no more in Teman? + Has counsel perished from the prudent? + Has their wisdom vanished?" + +They thought that Jehovah would punish Jacob whom He loved, and yet +spare Esau whom He hated. But:-- + + "Thus saith Jehovah: + Behold, they to whom it pertained not to drink of the cup + shall assuredly drink. + Art thou he that shall go altogether unpunished? + Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt assuredly drink" + (12). + +Ay, and drink to the dregs:-- + + "If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave + gleanings? + If thieves came by night, they would only destroy till they + had enough. + But I have made Esau bare, I have stripped him stark naked; + he shall not be able to hide himself. + His children, and his brethren, and his neighbours are given + up to plunder, and there is an end of him" (9, 10). + "I have sworn by Myself--is the utterance of Jehovah-- + That Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a + desolation, and a curse; + All her cities shall become perpetual wastes. + I have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent + among the nations, saying, + Gather yourselves together and come against her, arise to + battle" (13, 14). + +There was obviously but one leader who could lead the nations to achieve +the overthrow of Edom and lead her little ones away captive, who could +come up like a lion from the thickets of Jordan, or "flying like an +eagle and spreading his wings against Bozrah" (22)--Nebuchadnezzar, king +of Babylon, who had come up against Judah with all the kingdoms and +peoples of his dominions.[233] + +In this picture of chastisement and calamity, there is one apparent +touch of pitifulness:-- + + "Leave thine orphans, I will preserve their lives; + Let thy widows put their trust in Me" (11). + +At first sight, at any rate, these seem to be the words of Jehovah. +All the adult males of Edom would perish, yet the helpless widows and +orphans would not be without a protector. The God of Israel would +watch over the lambs of Edom,[234] when they were dragged away into +captivity. We are reluctant to surrender this beautiful and touching +description of a God, who, though He may visit the iniquity of the +fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, yet +even in such judgment ever remembers mercy. It is impossible, however, +to ignore the fact that such ideas are widely different from the tone +and sentiment of the rest of the section. These words may be an +immediate sequel to the previous verse, "No Edomite survives to say to +his dying brethren, Leave thine orphans to me," or possibly they may +be quoted, in bitter irony, from some message from Edom to Jerusalem, +inviting the Jews to send their wives and children for safety to Mount +Seir. Edom, ungrateful and treacherous Edom, shall utterly +perish--Edom that offered an asylum to Jewish refugees, and yet shared +the plunder of Jerusalem and betrayed her fugitives to the Chaldeans. + +There is no word of restoration. Moab and Ammon and Elam might revive +and flourish again, but for Esau, as of old, there should be no place of +repentance. For Edom, in the days of the Captivity, trespassed upon the +inheritance of Israel more grievously than Ammon and Moab upon Reuben +and Gad. The Edomites possessed themselves of the rich pastures of the +south of Judah, and the land was thenceforth called Idumea. Thus they +earned the undying hatred of the Jews, in whose mouths Edom became a +curse and a reproach, a term of opprobrium. Like Babylon, Edom was used +as a secret name for Rome, and later on for the Christian Church. + +Nevertheless, even in this prophecy, there is a hint that these +predictions of utter ruin must not be taken too literally:-- + + "For, behold, I will make thee small among the nations, + Despised among men" (15). + +These words are scarcely consistent with the other verses, which imply +that, as a people, Edom would utterly perish from off the face of the +earth. As a matter of fact, Edom flourished in her new territory till +the time of the Maccabees, and when the Messiah came to establish the +Kingdom of God, instead of "saviours standing on Mount Zion to judge +the Mount of Esau,"[235] an Edomite dynasty was reigning in Jerusalem. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[227] Cf. the designation of Caleb "ben Jephunneh the Kenizzite," Num. +xxxii. 12, etc., with the genealogies which trace the descent of Kenaz +to Esau, Gen. xxxvi. 11, etc. Cf. also _Expositor's Bible, Chronicles_. + +[228] Cf. 1 Kings xxii. 47 with 2 Kings viii. 20. + +[229] Obadiah 11-15. The difference between A.V. and R.V. is more +apparent than real. The prohibition which R.V. gives must have been +based on experience. The short prophecy of Obadiah has very much in +common with this section of Jeremiah: Obad. 1-6, 8, are almost +identical with Jer. xlix. 14-16, 9, 10_a_, 7. The relation of the two +passages is a matter of controversy, but probably both use a common +original. Cf. Driver's _Introduction_ on Obadiah. + +[230] Lit. "thy terror," _i.e._ the terror inspired by thy fate. A.V., +R.V., "thy terribleness," suggests that Edom trusted in the terror +felt for him by his enemies, but we can scarcely suppose that even the +fiercest highlanders expected Nebuchadnezzar to be terrified at them. + +[231] Obad. 4: "Though thou set thy nest among the stars." + +[232] _Hist. Nat._, vi. 28. Orelli. + +[233] xxxiv. 1. + +[234] Verse 20. + +[235] Obadiah 21. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + _DAMASCUS_ + + xlix. 23-27. + + "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour + the palaces of Benhadad."--JER. xlix. 27. + + +We are a little surprised to meet with a prophecy of Jeremiah +concerning Damascus and the palaces of Benhadad. The names carry our +minds back for more than a couple of centuries. During Elisha's +ministry, Damascus and Samaria were engaged in their long, fierce duel +for the supremacy over Syria and Palestine. In the reign of Ahaz these +ancient rivals combined to attack Judah, so that Isaiah is keenly +interested in Damascus and its fortunes. But about B.C. 745, about a +hundred and fifty years before Jeremiah's time, the Assyrian king +Tiglath-Pileser[236] overthrew the Syrian kingdom and carried its +people into captivity. We know from Ezekiel,[237] what we might have +surmised from the position and later history of Damascus, that this +ancient city continued a wealthy commercial centre; but Ezekiel has no +oracle concerning Damascus, and the other documents of the period and +of later times do not mention the capital of Benhadad. Its name does +not even occur in Jeremiah's exhaustive list of the countries of his +world in xxv. 15-26. Religious interest in alien races depended on +their political relations with Israel; when the latter ceased, the +prophets had no word from Jehovah concerning foreign nations. Such +considerations have suggested doubts as to the authenticity of this +section, and it has been supposed that it may be a late echo of +Isaiah's utterances concerning Damascus. + +We know, however, too little of the history of the period to warrant +such a conclusion. Damascus would continue to exist as a tributary +state, and might furnish auxiliary forces to the enemies of Judah or +join with her to conspire against Babylon, and would in either case +attract Jeremiah's attention. Moreover, in ancient as in modern times, +commerce played its part in international politics. Doubtless slaves +were part of the merchandise of Damascus, just as they were among the +wares of the Apocalyptic Babylon. Joel[238] denounces Tyre and Zidon +for selling Jews to the Greeks, and the Damascenes may have served as +slave-agents to Nebuchadnezzar and his captains, and thus provoked the +resentment of patriot Jews. So many picturesque and romantic +associations cluster around Damascus, that this section of Jeremiah +almost strikes a jarring note. We love to think of this fairest of +Oriental cities, "half as old as time," as the "Eye of the East" which +Mohammed refused to enter--because "Man," he said, "can have but one +paradise, and my paradise is fixed above"--and as the capital of +Noureddin and his still more famous successor Saladin. And so we +regret that, when it emerges from the obscurity of centuries into the +light of Biblical narrative, the brief reference should suggest a +disaster such as it endured in later days at the hands of the +treacherous and ruthless Tamerlane. + + "Damascus hath grown feeble: + She turneth herself to flee; + Trembling hath seized on her. + + * * * * * + + How is the city of praise forsaken,[239] + The city of joy! + Her young men shall fall in the streets, + All the warriors shall be put to silence in that day." + +We are moved to sympathy with the feelings of Hamath and Arpad, when +they heard the evil tidings, and were filled with sorrow, "like the +sea that cannot rest." + +Yet even here this most uncompromising of prophets may teach us, after +his fashion, wholesome though perhaps unwelcome truths. We are reminded +how often the mystic glamour of romance has served to veil cruelty and +corruption, and how little picturesque scenery and interesting +associations can do of themselves to promote a noble life. Feudal +castles, with their massive grandeur, were the strongholds of avarice +and cruelty; and ancient abbeys which, even in decay, are like a dream +of fairyland, were sometimes the home of abominable corruption. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[236] 2 Kings xvi. 9. + +[237] Ezek. xxvii. 18. + +[238] Joel iii. 4. + +[239] So Giesebrecht, with most of the ancient versions. A.V., R.V., +with Masoretic Text, "not forsaken ... my joy," possibly meaning, "Why +did not the inhabitants forsake the doomed city?" + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + _KEDAR AND HAZOR_ + + xlix. 28-33. + + "Concerning Kedar, and the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadnezzar + king of Babylon smote."--JER. xlix. 28. + + +From an immemorial seat of human culture, an "eternal city" which +antedates Rome by centuries, if not millenniums, we turn to those Arab +tribes whose national life and habits were as ancient and have been as +persistent as the streets of Damascus. While Damascus has almost +always been in the forefront of history, the Arab tribes--except in +the time of Mohammed and the early Caliphs--have seldom played a more +important part than that of frontier marauders. Hence, apart from a +few casual references, the only other passage in the Old Testament +which deals, at any length, with Kedar is the parallel prophecy of +Isaiah. And yet Kedar was the great northern tribe, which ranged the +deserts between Palestine and the Euphrates, and which must have had +closer relations with Judah than most Arab peoples. + +"The kingdoms of Hazor" are still more unknown to history. There were +several "Hazors" in Palestine, besides sundry towns whose names are +also derived from _Hāçēr_, a village; and some of these are on or +beyond the southern frontier of Judah, in the wilderness of the +Exodus, where we might expect to find nomad Arabs. But even these +latter cities can scarcely be the "Hazor" of Jeremiah, and the more +northern are quite out of the question. It is generally supposed that +Hazor here is either some Arabian town, or, more probably, a +collective term for the district inhabited by Arabs, who lived not in +tents, but in _Hāçērîm_, or villages. This district would be in Arabia +itself, and more distant from Palestine than the deserts over which +Kedar roamed. Possibly Isaiah's "villages (_Hāçērîm_) that Kedar doth +inhabit" were to be found in the Hazor of Jeremiah, and the same +people were called Kedar and Hazor respectively according as they +lived a nomad life or settled in more permanent dwellings. + +The great warlike enterprises of Egypt, Assyria, and Chaldea during +the last centuries of the Jewish monarchy would bring these desert +horsemen into special prominence. They could either further or hinder +the advance of armies marching westward from Mesopotamia, and could +command their lines of communication. Kedar, and possibly Hazor too, +would not be slack to use the opportunities of plunder presented by +the calamities of the Palestinian states. Hence their conspicuous +position in the pages of Isaiah and Jeremiah. + +As the Assyrians, when their power was at its height, had chastised +the aggressions of the Arabs, so now Nebuchadnezzar "smote Kedar and +the kingdoms of Hazor." Even the wandering nomads and dwellers by +distant oases in trackless deserts could not escape the sweeping +activity of this scourge of God. Doubtless the ravages of Chaldean +armies might serve to punish many sins besides the wrongs they were +sent to revenge. The Bedouin always had their virtues, but the wild +liberty of the desert easily degenerated into unbridled licence. Judah +and every state bordering on the wilderness knew by painful experience +how large a measure of rapine and cruelty might coexist with primitive +customs, and the Jewish prophet gives Nebuchadnezzar a Divine +commission as for a holy war:-- + + "Arise, go up to Kedar; + Spoil the men of the east. + They (the Chaldeans) shall take away their tents and flocks; + They shall take for themselves their tent-coverings, + And all their gear and their camels: + Men shall cry concerning them, + Terror on every side."[240] + +Then the prophet turns to the more distant Hazor with words of +warning:-- + + "Flee, get you far off, dwell in hidden recesses of the land, + O inhabitants of Hazor-- + It is the utterance of Jehovah-- + For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath counselled a counsel + and purposed a purpose against you." + +But then, as if this warning were a mere taunt, he renews his address +to the Chaldeans and directs their attack against Hazor:-- + + "Arise, go up against a nation that is at ease, that dwelleth + without fear--it is the utterance of Jehovah-- + Which abide alone, without gates or bars"-- + +like the people of Laish before the Danites came, and like Sparta +before the days of Epaminondas. + +Possibly we are to combine these successive "utterances," and to +understand that it was alike Jehovah's will that the Chaldeans should +invade and lay waste Hazor, and that the unfortunate inhabitants +should escape--but escape plundered and impoverished: for + + "Their camels shall become a spoil, + The multitude of their cattle a prey: + I will scatter to every wind them that have the corners of + their hair polled;[241] + I will bring their calamity upon them from all sides. + Hazor shall be a haunt of jackals, a desolation for ever: + No one shall dwell there, + No soul shall sojourn therein." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[240] Magor-missabib: cf. xlvi. 5. + +[241] _I.e._ cut off. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + _ELAM_ + + xlix. 34-39 + + "I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might."--JER. + xlix. 35. + + +We do not know what principle or absence of principle determined the +arrangement of these prophecies; but, in any case, these studies in +ancient geography and politics present a series of dramatic contrasts. +From two ancient and enduring types of Eastern life, the city of +Damascus and the Bedouin of the desert, we pass to a state of an +entirely different order, only slightly connected with the +international system of Western Asia. Elam contended for the palm of +supremacy with Assyria and Babylon in the farther east, as Egypt did +to the south-west. Before the time of Abraham Elamite kings ruled over +Chaldea, and Genesis xiv. tells us how Chedorlaomer with his +subject-allies collected his tribute in Palestine. Many centuries +later, the Assyrian king Ashur-bani-pal (B.C. 668-626) conquered Elam, +sacked the capital Shushan, and carried away many of the inhabitants +into captivity. According to Ezra iv. 9, 10, Elamites were among the +mingled population whom "the great and noble Asnapper" (probably +Ashur-bani-pal) settled in Samaria. + +When we begin to recall even a few of the striking facts concerning +Elam discovered in the last fifty years, and remember that for +millenniums Elam had played the part of a first-class Asiatic power, +we are tempted to wonder that Jeremiah only devotes a few conventional +sentences to this great nation. But the prophet's interest was simply +determined by the relations of Elam with Judah; and, from this point +of view, an opposite difficulty arises. How came the Jews in Palestine +in the time of Jeremiah to have any concern with a people dwelling +beyond the Euphrates and Tigris, on the farther side of the Chaldean +dominions? One answer to this question has already been suggested: the +Jews may have learnt from the Elamite colonists in Samaria something +concerning their native country; it is also probable that Elamite +auxiliaries served in the Chaldean armies that invaded Judah. + +Accordingly the prophet sets forth, in terms already familiar to us, how +Elamite fugitives should be scattered to the four quarters of the earth +and be found in every nation under heaven, how the sword should follow +them into their distant places of refuge and utterly consume them. + + "I will set My throne in Elam; + I will destroy out of it both king and princes-- + It is the utterance of Jehovah." + +In the prophecy concerning Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar was to set his throne +at Tahpanhes to decide the fate of the captives; but here Jehovah +Himself is pictured as the triumphant and inexorable conqueror, holding +His court as the arbiter of life and death. The vision of the "great +white throne" was not first accorded to John in his Apocalypse. +Jeremiah's eyes were opened to see beside the tribunals of heathen +conquerors the judgment-seat of a mightier Potentate; and his inspired +utterances remind the believer that every battle may be an Armageddon, +and that at every congress there is set a mystic throne from which the +Eternal King overrules the decisions of plenipotentiaries. + +But this sentence of condemnation was not to be the final "utterance +of Jehovah" with regard to Elam. A day of renewed prosperity was to +dawn for Elam, as well as for Moab, Ammon, Egypt, and Judah:-- + + "In the latter days I will bring again the captivity of Elam-- + It is the utterance of Jehovah." + +The Apostle Peter[242] tells us that the prophets "sought and searched +diligently" concerning the application of their words, "searching what +time and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them +did point unto." We gather from these verses that, as Newton could not +have foreseen all that was contained in the law of gravitation, so the +prophets often understood little of what was involved in their own +inspiration. We could scarcely have a better example than this +prophecy affords of the knowledge of the principles of God's future +action combined with ignorance of its circumstances and details. If we +may credit the current theory, Cyrus, the servant of Jehovah, the +deliverer of Judah, was a king of Elam. If Jeremiah had foreseen how +his prophecies of the restoration of Elam and of Judah would be +fulfilled, we may be sure that this utterance would not have been so +brief, its hostile tone would have been mitigated, and the concluding +sentence would not have been so cold and conventional. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[242] 1 Peter i. 10, 11. + + + + + CHAPTER XXV + + _BABYLON_ + + l., li. + + "Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in + pieces."--JER. l., 2. + + +These chapters present phenomena analogous to those of Isaiah +xl.-lxvi., and have been very commonly ascribed to an author writing +at Babylon towards the close of the Exile, or even at some later date. +The conclusion has been arrived at in both cases by the application of +the same critical principles to similar data. In the present case the +argument is complicated by the concluding paragraph of chapter li., +which states that "Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should +come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against +Babylon," in the fourth year of Zedekiah, and gave the book to Seraiah +ben Neriah to take to Babylon and tie a stone to it and throw it into +the Euphrates. + +Such a statement, however, cuts both ways. On the one hand, we seem to +have--what is wanting in the case of Isaiah xl.-lxvi.--a definite and +circumstantial testimony as to authorship. But, on the other hand, +this very testimony raises new difficulties. If l. and li. had been +simply assigned to Jeremiah, without any specification of date, we +might possibly have accepted the tradition according to which he spent +his last years at Babylon, and have supposed that altered, +circumstances and novel experiences account for the differences +between these chapters and the rest of the book. But Zedekiah's fourth +year is a point in the prophet's ministry at which it is extremely +difficult to account for his having composed such a prophecy. If, +however, li. 59-64 is mistaken in its exact and circumstantial account +of the origin of the preceding section, we must hesitate to recognise +its authority as to that section's authorship. + +A detailed discussion of the question would be out of place here,[243] +but we may notice a few passages which illustrate the arguments for an +exilic date. We learn from Jeremiah xxvii.-xxix. that, in the fourth +year of Zedekiah,[244] the prophet was denouncing as false teachers +those who predicted that the Jewish captives in Babylon would speedily +return to their native land. He himself asserted that judgment would not +be inflicted upon Babylon for seventy years, and exhorted the exiles to +build houses and marry, and plant gardens, and to pray for the peace of +Babylon.[245] We can hardly imagine that, in the same breath almost, he +called upon these exiles to flee from the city of their captivity, and +summoned the neighbouring nations to execute Jehovah's judgment against +the oppressors of His people. And yet we read:-- + + "There shall come the Israelites, they and the Jews together: + They shall weep continually, as they go to seek Jehovah their + God; + They shall ask their way to Zion, with their faces + hitherward"[246] (l. 4, 5). + + * * * * * + + "Remove from the midst of Babylon, and be ye as he-goats + before the flock" (l. 8). + +These verses imply that the Jews were already in Babylon, and +throughout the author assumes the circumstances of the Exile. "The +vengeance of the Temple," _i.e._ vengeance for the destruction of the +Temple at the final capture of Jerusalem, is twice threatened.[247] +The ruin of Babylon is described as imminent:-- + + "Set up a standard on the earth, + Blow the trumpet among the nations, + Prepare the nations against her." + +If these words were written by Jeremiah in the fourth year of +Zedekiah, he certainly was not practising his own precept to pray for +the peace of Babylon. + +Various theories have been advanced to meet the difficulties which are +raised by the ascription of this prophecy to Jeremiah. It may have +been expanded from an authentic original. Or again, li. 59-64 may not +really refer to l. 1-li. 58; the two sections may once have existed +separately, and may owe their connection to an editor, who met with l. +1-li. 58 as an anonymous document, and thought he recognised in it the +"book" referred to in li. 59-64. Or again, l. 1-li. 58 may be a +hypothetical reconstruction of a lost prophecy of Jeremiah; li. 59-64 +mentioned such a prophecy and none was extant, and some student and +disciple of Jeremiah's school utilised the material and ideas of +extant writings to supply the gap. In any case, it must have been +edited more than once, and each time with modifications. Some support +might be obtained for any one of these theories from the fact that l. +1-li. 58 is _primâ facie_ partly a cento of passages from the rest of +the book and from the Book of Isaiah.[248] + +In view of the great uncertainty as to the origin and history of this +prophecy, we do not intend to attempt any detailed exposition. +Elsewhere whatever non-Jeremianic matter occurs in the book is mostly +by way of expansion and interpretation, and thus lies in the direct +line of the prophet's teaching. But the section on Babylon attaches +itself to the new departure in religious thought that is more fully +expressed in Isaiah xl.-lxvi. Chapters l., li., may possibly be +Jeremiah's swan-song, called forth by one of those Pisgah visions of a +new dispensation sometimes granted to aged seers; but such visions of +a new era and a new order can scarcely be combined with earlier +teaching. We will therefore only briefly indicate the character and +contents of this section. + +It is apparently a mosaic, complied from lost as well as extant +sources; and dwells upon a few themes with a persistent iteration of +ideas and phrases hardly to be paralleled elsewhere, even in the Book +of Jeremiah. It has been reckoned[249] that the imminence of the +attack on Babylon is introduced afresh eleven times, and its conquest +and destruction nine times. The advent of an enemy from the north is +announced four times.[250] + +The main theme is naturally that dwelt upon most frequently, the +imminent invasion of Chaldea by victorious enemies who shall capture +and destroy Babylon. Hereafter the great city and its territory will +be a waste, howling wilderness:-- + + "Your mother shall be sore ashamed, + She that bare you shall be confounded; + Behold, she shall be the hindmost of the nations, + A wilderness, a parched land, and a desert. + Because of the wrath of Jehovah, it shall be uninhabited; + The whole land shall be a desolation. + Every one that goeth by Babylon + Shall hiss with astonishment because of all her + plagues."[251] + +The gods of Babylon, Bel and Merodach, and all her idols, are involved +in her ruin, and reference is made to the vanity and folly of +idolatry.[252] But the wrath of Jehovah has been chiefly excited, not +by false religion, but by the wrongs inflicted by the Chaldeans on His +Chosen People. He is moved to avenge His Temple[253]:-- + + "I will recompense unto Babylon + And all the inhabitants of Chaldea + All the evil which they wrought in Zion, + And ye shall see it--it is the utterance of Jehovah" + (li. 24). + +Though He thus avenge Judah, yet its former sins are not yet blotted +out of the book of His remembrance:-- + + "Their adversaries said, We incur no guilt, + Because they have sinned against Jehovah, the Pasture of + Justice, + Against the Hope of their fathers, even Jehovah" (l. 7). + +Yet now there is forgiveness:-- + + "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall + be none; + And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: + For I will pardon the remnant that I preserve" (l. 20). + +The Jews are urged to flee from Babylon, lest they should be involved +in its punishment, and are encouraged to return to Jerusalem and enter +afresh into an everlasting covenant with Jehovah. As in Jeremiah +xxxi., Israel is to be restored as well as Judah:-- + + "I will bring Israel again to his Pasture: + He shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; + His desires shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in + Gilead" (l. 19). + +FOOTNOTES: + +[243] See against the authenticity Driver's _Introduction, in loco_; +and in support of it _Speaker's Commentary_, Streane (C.B.S.). Cf. +also Sayce, _Higher Criticism_, etc., pp. 484-486. + +[244] In xxvii. 1 we must read, "In the beginning of the reign of +_Zedekiah_," not Jehoiakim. + +[245] xxix. 4-14. + +[246] "Hitherward" seems to indicate that the writers local standpoint +is that of Palestine. + +[247] l. 28, li. 11. + +[248] Cf. l. 8, li. 6, with Isa. xlviii. 20; l. 13 with xlix. 17; l. +41-43 with vi. 22-24; l. 44-46 with xlix. 19-21; li. 15-19 with x. +12-16. + +[249] Budde ap. Giesebrecht, _in loco_. + +[250] l. 3, 9, li. 41, 48. + +[251] l. 12, 13: cf. l. 39, 40, li. 26, 29, 37, 41-43. + +[252] li. 17, 18. + +[253] l. 28. + + + + + BOOK III + + _JEREMIAH'S TEACHING CONCERNING + ISRAEL AND JUDAH_ + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI + + _INTRODUCTORY_ + + "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall + be My people."--JER. xxxi. 1. + + +In this third book an attempt is made to present a general view of +Jeremiah's teaching on the subject with which he was most +preoccupied--the political and religious fortunes of Judah. +Certain[254] chapters detach themselves from the rest, and stand in no +obvious connection with any special incident of the prophet's life. +These are the main theme of this book, and have been dealt with in the +ordinary method of detailed exposition. They have been treated +separately, and not woven into the continuous narrative, partly +because we thus obtain a more adequate emphasis upon important aspects +of their teaching, but chiefly because their date and occasion cannot +be certainly determined. With them other sections have been +associated, on account of the connection of subject. Further material +for a synopsis of Jeremiah's teaching has been collected from chapters +xxi.-xlix. generally, supplemented by brief[255] references to the +previous chapters. Inasmuch as the prophecies of our book do not form +an ordered treatise on dogmatic theology, but were uttered with +regard to individual conduct and critical events, topics are not +exclusively dealt with in a single section, but are referred to at +intervals throughout. Moreover, as both the individuals and the crises +were very much alike, ideas and phrases are constantly reappearing, so +that there is an exceptionally large amount of repetition in the Book +of Jeremiah. The method we have adopted avoids some of the +difficulties which would arise if we attempted to deal with these +doctrines in our continuous exposition. + +Our general sketch of the prophet's teaching is naturally arranged under +categories suggested by the book itself, and not according to the +sections of a modern treatise on Systematic Theology. No doubt much may +legitimately be extracted or deduced concerning Anthropology, +Soteriology, and the like; but true proportion is as important in +exposition as accurate interpretation. If we wish to understand +Jeremiah, we must be content to dwell longest upon what he emphasised +most, and to adopt the standpoint of time and race which was his own. +Accordingly in our treatment we have followed the cycle of sin, +punishment, and restoration, so familiar to students of Hebrew prophecy. + + * * * * * + + NOTE + + SOME CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSIONS OF + JEREMIAH + +This note is added partly for convenience of reference, and partly to +illustrate the repetition just mentioned as characteristic of +Jeremiah. The instances are chosen from expressions occurring in +chapters xxi.-lii. The reader will find fuller lists dealing with the +whole book in the _Speaker's Commentary_ and the _Cambridge Bible for +Schools and Colleges_. The Hebrew student is referred to the list in +Driver's _Introduction_, upon which the following is partly based. + +1. _Rising up early_: vii. 13, 25; xi. 7; xxv. 3, 4; xxvi. 5; xxix. 19; +xxxii. 33; xxxv. 14, 15; xliv. 4. This phrase, familiar to us in the +narratives of Genesis and in the historical books, is used here, as in 2 +Chron. xxxvi. 15, of God addressing His people on sending the prophets. + +2. _Stubbornness of heart_ (A.V. imagination of heart): iii. 17; vii. +24; ix. 14; xi. 8; xiii. 10; xvi. 12; xviii. 12; xxiii. 17; also found +Deut. xxix. 19 and Ps. lxxxi. 15. + +3. _The evil of your doings_: iv. 4; xxi. 12; xxiii. 2, 22; xxv. 5; +xxvi. 3; xliv. 22; also Deut. xxviii. 20; 1 Sam. xxv. 3; Isa. i. 16; +Hos. ix. 15; Ps. xxviii. 4; and in slightly different form in xi. 18 +and Zech. i. 4. + +_The fruit of your doings_: xvii. 10; xxi. 14; xxxii. 19; also found +in Micah vii. 13. + +_Doings, your doings_, etc., are also found in Jeremiah and elsewhere. + +4. _The sword, the pestilence, and the famine_, in various orders, and +either as a phrase or each word occurring in one of three successive +clauses: xiv. 12; xv. 2; xxi. 7, 9; xxiv. 10; xxvii. 8, 13; xxix. 17, +18; xxxii. 24, 36; xxxiv. 17; xxxviii. 2; xlii. 17, 22; xliv. 13. + +_The sword and the famine_, with similar variations: v. 12; xi. 22; +xiv. 13, 15, 16, 18; xvi. 4; xviii. 21; xlii. 16; xliv. 12, 18, 27. + +Cf. similar lists, etc., "death ... sword ... captivity" in xliii. 11; +"war ... evil ... pestilence," xxviii. 8. + +5. _Kings_ ... _princes_ ... _priests_ ... _prophets_, in various +orders and combinations: ii. 26; iv. 9; viii. 1; xiii. 13; xxiv. 8; +xxxii. 32. + +Cf. _Prophet_ ... _priest_ ... _people_, xxiii. 33, 34. _Prophets_ ... +_divines_ ... _dreamers_ ... _enchanters_ ... _sorcerers_, xxvii. 9. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[254] xxx., xxxi., and, in part, xxxiii. + +[255] Brief, in order not to trespass more than is absolutely +necessary upon the ground covered by the previous _Expositor's Bible_ +volume on Jeremiah. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII + + _SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CORRUPTION_ + + "Very bad figs, ... too bad to be eaten."--JER. xxiv. 2, 8, xxix. + 17. + + +Prophets and preachers have taken the Israelites for God's helots, as +if the Chosen People had been made drunk with the cup of the Lord's +indignation, in order that they might be held up as a warning to His +more favoured children throughout after ages. They seem depicted as +"sinners above all men," that by this supreme warning the heirs of a +better covenant may be kept in the path of righteousness. Their sin is +no mere inference from the long tragedy of their national history, +"because they have suffered such things"; their own prophets and their +own Messiah testify continually against them. Religious thought has +always singled out Jeremiah as the most conspicuous and uncompromising +witness to the sins of his people. One chief feature of his mission +was to declare God's condemnation of ancient Judah. Jeremiah watched +and shared the prolonged agony and overwhelming catastrophes of the +last days of the Jewish monarchy, and ever and anon raised his voice +to declare that his fellow-countrymen suffered, not as martyrs, but as +criminals. He was like the herald who accompanies a condemned man on +the way to execution, and proclaims his crime to the spectators. + +What were these crimes? How was Jerusalem a sink of iniquity, an +Augean stable, only to be cleansed by turning through it the floods of +Divine chastisement? The annalists of Egypt and Chaldea show no +interest in the morality of Judah; but there is no reason to believe +that they regarded Jerusalem as more depraved than Tyre, or Babylon, +or Memphis. If a citizen of one of these capitals of the East visited +the city of David he might miss something of accustomed culture, and +might have occasion to complain of the inferiority of local police +arrangements, but he would be as little conscious of any extraordinary +wickedness in the city as a Parisian would in London. Indeed, if an +English Christian familiar with the East of the nineteenth century +could be transported to Jerusalem under King Zedekiah, in all +probability its moral condition would not affect him very differently +from that of Cabul or Ispahan. + +When we seek to learn from Jeremiah wherein the guilt of Judah lay, +his answer is neither clear nor full: he does not gather up her sins +into any complete and detailed indictment; we are obliged to avail +ourselves of casual references scattered through his prophecies. For +the most part Jeremiah speaks in general terms; a precise and +exhaustive catalogue of current vices would have seemed too familiar +and commonplace for the written record. + +The corruption of Judah is summed up by Jeremiah in the phrase "the +evil of your doings,"[256] and her punishment is described in a +corresponding phrase as "the fruit of your doings," or as coming upon +her "because of the evil of your doings." The original of "doings" is +a peculiar word[257] occurring most frequently in Jeremiah, and the +phrases are very common in Jeremiah, and hardly occur at all +elsewhere. The constant reiteration of this melancholy refrain is an +eloquent symbol of Jehovah's sweeping condemnation. In the total +depravity of Judah, no special sin, no one group of sins, stood out +from the rest. Their "doings" were evil altogether. + +The picture suggested by the scattered hints as to the character of +these evil doings is such as might be drawn of almost any Eastern +state in its darker days. The arbitrary hand of the government is +illustrated by Jeremiah's own experience of the bastinado[258] and the +dungeon,[259] and by the execution of Uriah ben Shemaiah.[260] The +rights of less important personages were not likely to be more +scrupulously respected. The reproach of shedding innocent blood is +more than once made against the people and their rulers;[261] and the +more general charge of oppression occurs still more frequently.[262] + +The motive for both these crimes was naturally covetousness;[263] as +usual, they were specially directed against the helpless, "the +poor,"[264] "the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow"; and the +machinery of oppression was ready to hand in venal judges and rulers. +Upon occasion, however, recourse was had to open violence--men could +"steal and murder," as well as "swear falsely";[265] they lived in an +atmosphere of falsehood, they "walked in a lie."[266] Indeed the word +"lie" is one of the keynotes of these prophecies.[267] The last days +of the monarchy offered special temptations to such vices. Social +wreckers reaped an unhallowed harvest in these stormy times. +Revolutions were frequent, and each in its turn meant fresh plunder +for unscrupulous partisans. Flattery and treachery could always find a +market in the court of the suzerain or the camp of the invader. +Naturally, amidst this general demoralisation, the life of the family +did not remain untouched: "the land was full of adulterers."[268] +Zedekiah and Ahab, the false prophets at Babylon, are accused of +having committed adultery with their neighbours' wives.[269] In these +passages "adultery" can scarcely be a figure for idolatry; and even if +it is, idolatry always involved immoral ritual. + +In accordance with the general teaching of the Old Testament, Jeremiah +traces the roots of the people's depravity to a certain moral stupidity; +they are "a foolish people, without understanding," who, like the idols +in Psalm cxv. 5, 6, "have eyes and see not" and "have ears and hear +not."[270] In keeping with their stupidity was an unconsciousness of +guilt which even rose into proud self-righteousness. They could still +come with pious fervour to worship in the temple of Jehovah and to claim +the protection of its inviolable sanctity. They could still assail +Jeremiah with righteous indignation because he announced the coming +destruction of the place where Jehovah had chosen to set His name.[271] +They said that they had no sin, and met the prophet's rebukes with +protests of conscious innocence: "Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all +this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin +that we have committed against Jehovah our God?"[272] + +When the public conscience condoned alike the abuse of the forms of +law and its direct violation, actual legal rights would be strained to +the utmost against debtors, hired labourers, and slaves. In their +extremity, the princes and people of Judah sought to propitiate the +anger of Jehovah by emancipating their Hebrew slaves; when the +immediate danger had passed away for a time, they revoked the +emancipation.[273] The form of their submission to Jehovah reveals +their consciousness that their deepest sin lay in their behaviour to +their helpless dependents. This prompt repudiation of a most solemn +covenant illustrated afresh their callous indifference to the +well-being of their inferiors. + +The depravity of Judah was not only total, it was also universal. In +the older histories we read how Achan's single act of covetousness +involved the whole people in misfortune, and how the treachery of the +bloody house of Saul brought three years' famine upon the land; but +now the sins of individuals and classes were merged in the general +corruption. Jeremiah dwells with characteristic reiteration of idea +and phrase upon this melancholy truth. Again and again he enumerates +the different classes of the community: "kings, princes, priests, +prophets, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem." They had all +done evil and provoked Jehovah to anger; they were all to share the +same punishment.[274] They were all arch-rebels, given to slander; +nothing but base metal;[275] corrupters, every one of them.[276] The +universal extent of total depravity is most forcibly expressed when +Zedekiah with his court and people are summarily described as a basket +of "very bad figs, too bad to be eaten." + +The dark picture of Israel's corruption is not yet complete--Israel's +corruption, for now the prophet is no longer exclusively concerned +with Judah. The sin of these last days is no new thing; it is as old +as the Israelite occupation of Jerusalem. "This city hath been to Me a +provocation of My anger and of My fury from the day that they built it +even unto this day"; from the earliest days of Israel's national +existence, from the time of Moses and the Exodus, the people have been +given over to iniquity. "The children of Israel and the children of +Judah have done nothing but evil before Me from their youth up."[277] +Thus we see at last that Jeremiah's teaching concerning the sin of +Judah can be summed up in one brief and comprehensive proposition. +Throughout their whole history all classes of the community have been +wholly given over to every kind of wickedness. + +This gloomy estimate of God's Chosen People is substantially confirmed +by the prophets of the later monarchy, from Amos and Hosea onwards. +Hosea speaks of Israel in terms as sweeping as those of Jeremiah. "Hear +the word of Jehovah, ye children of Israel; for Jehovah hath a +controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, +nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Swearing and lying and +killing and stealing and committing adultery, they cast off all +restraint, and blood toucheth blood."[278] As a prophet of the Northern +Kingdom, Hosea is mainly concerned with his own country, but his casual +references to Judah include her in the same condemnation.[279] Amos +again condemns both Israel and Judah: Judah, "because they have despised +the law of Jehovah, and have not kept His commandments, and their lies +caused them to err, after the which their fathers walked"; Israel, +"because they sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of +shoes, and pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor and +turn aside the way of the meek."[280] The first chapter of Isaiah is in +a similar strain: Israel is "a sinful nation, a people laden with +iniquity, a seed of evil-doers"; "the whole head is sick, the whole +heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no +soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." According +to Micah, "Zion is built up with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The +heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, +and the prophets thereof divine for money."[281] + +Jeremiah's older and younger contemporaries, Zephaniah and Ezekiel, +alike confirm his testimony. In the spirit and even the style afterwards +used by Jeremiah, Zephaniah enumerates the sins of the nobles and +teachers of Jerusalem. "Her princes within her are roaring lions; her +judges are evening wolves.... Her prophets are light and treacherous +persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done +violence to the law."[282] Ezekiel xx. traces the defections of Israel +from the sojourn in Egypt to the Captivity. Elsewhere Ezekiel says that +"the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of +violence";[283] and in xxii. 23-31 he catalogues the sins of priests, +princes, prophets, and people, and proclaims that Jehovah "sought for a +man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap +before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." + +We have now fairly before us the teaching of Jeremiah and the other +prophets as to the condition of Judah: the passages quoted or referred +to represent its general tone and attitude; it remains to estimate its +significance. We should naturally suppose that such sweeping +statements as to the total depravity of the whole people throughout +all their history were not intended to be interpreted as exact +mathematical formulæ. And the prophets themselves state or imply +qualifications. Isaiah insists upon the existence of a righteous +remnant. When Jeremiah speaks of Zedekiah and his subjects as a basket +of very bad figs, he also speaks of the Jews who had already gone into +captivity as a basket of very good figs. The mere fact of going into +captivity can hardly have accomplished an immediate and wholesale +conversion. The "good figs" among the captives were presumably good +before they went into exile. Jeremiah's general statements that "they +were all arch-rebels" do not therefore preclude the existence of +righteous men in the community. Similarly, when he tells us that the +city and people have always been given over to iniquity, Jeremiah is +not ignorant of Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon, and the kings +"who did right in the eyes of Jehovah"; nor does he intend to +contradict the familiar accounts of ancient history. On the other +hand, the universality which the prophets ascribe to the corruption of +their people is no mere figure of rhetoric, and yet it is by no means +incompatible with the view that Jerusalem, in its worst days, was not +more conspicuously wicked than Babylon or Tyre; or even, allowing for +the altered circumstances of the times, than London or Paris. It would +never have occurred to Jeremiah to apply the average morality of +Gentile cities as a standard by which to judge Jerusalem; and +Christian readers of the Old Testament have caught something of the +old prophetic spirit. The very introduction into the present context +of any comparison between Jerusalem and Babylon may seem to have a +certain flavour of irreverence. We perceive with the prophets that the +City of Jehovah and the cities of the Gentiles must be placed in +different categories. The popular modern explanation is that +heathenism was so utterly abominable that Jerusalem at its worst was +still vastly superior to Nineveh or Tyre. However exaggerated such +views may be, they still contain an element of truth; but Jeremiah's +estimate of the moral condition of Judah was based on entirely +different ideas. His standards were not relative but absolute, not +practical but ideal. His principles were the very antithesis of the +tacit ignoring of difficult and unusual duties, the convenient and +somewhat shabby compromise represented by the modern word +"respectable." Israel was to be judged by its relation to Jehovah's +purpose for His people. Jehovah had called them out of Egypt, and +delivered them from a thousand dangers. He had raised up for them +judges and kings, Moses, David, and Isaiah. He had spoken to them by +Torah and by prophecy. This peculiar munificence of Providence and +Revelation was not meant to produce a people only better by some small +percentage than their heathen neighbours. + +The comparison between Israel and its neighbours would no doubt be +much more favourable under David than under Zedekiah, but even then +the outcome of Mosaic religion as practically embodied in the national +life was utterly unworthy of the Divine ideal; to have described the +Israel of David or the Judah of Hezekiah as Jehovah's specially +cherished possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,[284] +would have seemed a ghastly irony even to the sons of Zeruiah, far +more to Nathan, Gad, or Isaiah. Nor had any class, as a class, been +wholly true to Jehovah at any period of the history. If for any +considerable time the numerous order of professional prophets had had +a single eye to the glory of Jehovah, the fortunes of Israel would +have been altogether different, and where prophets failed, priests and +princes and common people were not likely to succeed. + +Hence, judged as citizens of God's Kingdom on earth, the Israelites +were corrupt in every faculty of their nature: as masters and +servants, as rulers and subjects, as priests, prophets, and +worshippers of Jehovah, they succumbed to selfishness and cowardice, +and perpetrated the ordinary crimes and vices of ancient Eastern life. + +The reader is perhaps tempted to ask: Is this all that is meant by the +fierce and impassioned denunciations of Jeremiah? Not quite all. +Jeremiah had had the mortification of seeing the great religious +revival under Josiah spend itself, apparently in vain, against the +ingrained corruption of the people. The reaction, as under Manasseh, +had accentuated the worst features of the national life. At the same +time the constant distress and dismay caused by disastrous invasions +tended to general licence and anarchy. A long period of decadence +reached its nadir. + +But these are mere matters of degree and detail; the main thing for +Jeremiah was not that Judah had become worse, but that it had failed +to become better. One great period of Israel's probation was finally +closed. The kingdom had served its purpose in the Divine Providence; +but it was impossible to hope any longer that the Jewish monarchy was +to prove the earthly embodiment of the Kingdom of God. There was no +prospect of Judah attaining a social order appreciably better than +that of the surrounding nations. Jehovah and His Revelation would be +disgraced by any further association with the Jewish state. + +Certain schools of socialists bring a similar charge against the +modern social order; that it is not a Kingdom of God upon earth is +sufficiently obvious; and they assert that our social system has +become stereotyped on lines that exclude and resist progress towards +any higher ideal. Now it is certainly true that every great +civilisation hitherto has grown old and obsolete; if Christian society +is to establish its right to abide permanently, it must show itself +something more than an improved edition of the Athens of Pericles or +the Empire of the Antonines. + +All will agree that Christendom falls sadly short of its ideal, and +therefore we may seek to gather instruction from Jeremiah's judgment +on the shortcomings of Judah. Jeremiah specially emphasises the +universality of corruption in individual character, in all classes of +society and throughout the whole duration of history. Similarly we +have to recognise that prevalent social and moral evils lower the +general tone of individual character. Moral faculties are not set +apart in watertight compartments. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, +and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all," is no mere forensic +principle. The one offence impairs the earnestness and sincerity with +which a man keeps the rest of the law, even though there may be no +obvious lapse. There are moral surrenders made to the practical +exigencies of commercial, social, political, and ecclesiastical life. +Probably we should be startled and dismayed if we understood the +consequent sacrifice of individual character. + +We might also learn from the prophet that the responsibility for our +social evils rests with all classes. Time was when the lower classes +were plentifully lectured as the chief authors of public troubles; now +it is the turn of the capitalist, the parson, and the landlord. The +former policy had no very marked success, possibly the new method may +not fare better. + +Wealth and influence imply opportunity and responsibility which do not +belong to the poor and feeble; but power is by no means confined to +the privileged classes; and the energy, ability, and self-denial +embodied in the great Trades Unions have sometimes shown themselves as +cruel and selfish towards the weak and destitute as any association of +capitalists. A necessary preliminary to social amendment is a General +Confession by each class of its own sins. + +Finally, the Divine Spirit had taught Jeremiah that Israel had always +been sadly imperfect. He did not deny Divine Providence and human +hope by teaching that the Golden Age lay in the past, that the Kingdom +of God had been realised and allowed to perish. He was under no +foolish delusion as to "the good old times"; in his most despondent +moods he was not given over to wistful reminiscence. His example may +help us not to become discouraged through exaggerated ideas about the +attainments of past generations. + +In considering modern life it may seem that we pass to an altogether +different quality of evil to that denounced by Jeremiah, that we have +lost sight of anything that could justify his fierce indignation, and +thus that we fail in appreciating his character and message. Any such +illusion may be corrected by a glance at the statistics of congested +town districts, sweated industries, and prostitution. A social +reformer, living in contact with these evils, may be apt to think +Jeremiah's denunciations specially adapted to the society which +tolerates them with almost unruffled complacency. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[256] Characteristic Expressions (1), p. 269. + +[257] מצלל. + +[258] xx. 2, xxxvii. 15. + +[259] xxxvii., xxxviii. + +[260] xxvi. 20-24. + +[261] ii. 34, xix. 4, xxii. 17. + +[262] v. 25, vi. 6, vii. 5. + +[263] vi. 13. + +[264] ii. 34. + +[265] vii. 5-9. + +[266] xxiii. 14. + +[267] Characteristic Expressions (2), p. 269. + +[268] xxiii. 10, 14. + +[269] xxix. 23. + +[270] v. 21, quoted by Ezekiel, xii. 2. The verse is also the +foundation of the description of Israel as "the blind people that have +eyes, and the deaf that have ears," in Isa. xlii. 18 ff., xliii. 8. +Cf. Giesebrecht on Jer. v. 21. + +[271] vii., xxvi. + +[272] xvi. 10. + +[273] xxxiv. + +[274] xxxii. 26-35: cf. p. 269, Characteristic Expressions (3). + +[275] Literally "copper and iron." + +[276] vi. 28. + +[277] xxxii. 26-35. + +[278] Hosea iv. 1, 2; also Hosea's general picture of the kingdom of +Samaria. + +[279] The A.V. translation of xi. 12 ("Judah yet ruleth with God, and +is faithful with the saints") must be set aside. The sense is obscure +and the text doubtful. + +[280] Amos ii. 4-8. + +[281] Micah iii. 10, 11. + +[282] Zeph. iii. 3, 4. + +[283] Ezek. vii. 23: cf. vii. 9, xxii. 1-12. + +[284] Exod. xix. 6. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII + + _PERSISTENT APOSTASY_ + + "They have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and + worshipped other gods, and served them."--JER. xxii. 9. + + "Every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his heart."--JER. + xxiii. 17. + + +The previous chapter has been intentionally confined, as far as +possible, to Jeremiah's teaching upon the moral condition of Judah. +Religion, in the narrower sense, was kept in the background, and +mainly referred to as a social and political influence. In the same +way the priests and prophets were mentioned chiefly as classes of +notables--estates of the realm. This method corresponds with a stage +in the process of Revelation; it is that of the older prophets. Hosea, +as a native of the Northern Kingdom, may have had a fuller experience +and clearer understanding of religious corruption than his +contemporaries in Judah. But, in spite of the stress that he lays upon +idolatry and the various corruptions of worship, many sections of his +book simply deal with social evils. We are not explicitly told why the +prophet was "a fool" and "a snare of a fowler," but the immediate +context refers to the abominable immorality of Gibeah.[285] The +priests are not reproached with incorrect ritual, but with conspiracy +to murder.[286] In Amos, the land is not so much punished on account +of corrupt worship, as the sanctuaries are destroyed because the +people are given over to murder, oppression, and every form of vice. +In Isaiah again the main stress is constantly upon international +politics and public and private morality.[287] For instance, none of +the woes in v. 8-24 are directed against idolatry or corrupt worship, +and in xxviii. 7 the charge brought against Ephraim does not refer to +ecclesiastical matters; they have erred through strong drink. + +In Jeremiah's treatment of the ruin of Judah, he insists, as Hosea had +done as regards Israel, on the fatal consequences of apostasy from +Jehovah to other gods. This very phrase "other gods" is one of +Jeremiah's favourite expressions, and in the writings of the other +prophets only occurs in Hosea iii. 1. On the other hand, references to +idols are extremely rare in Jeremiah. These facts suggest a special +difficulty in discussing the apostasy of Judah. The Jews often combined +the worship of other gods with that of Jehovah. According to the analogy +of other nations, it was quite possible to worship Baal and Ashtaroth, +and the whole heathen Pantheon, without intending to show any special +disrespect to the national Deity. Even devout worshippers, who confined +their adorations to the one true God, sometimes thought they did honour +to Him by introducing into His services the images and all the +paraphernalia of the splendid cults of the great heathen empires. It is +not always easy to determine whether statements about idolatry imply +formal apostasy from Jehovah, or merely a debased worship. When the +early Mohammedans spoke with lofty contempt of image-worshippers, they +were referring to the Eastern Christians; the iconoclast heretics +denounced the idolatry of the Orthodox Church, and the Covenanters used +similar terms as to prelacy. Ignorant modern Jews are sometimes taught +that Christians worship idols. + +Hence when we read of the Jews, "They set their abominations in the +house which is called by My name, to defile it," we are not to +understand that the Temple was transferred from Jehovah to some other +deities, but that the corrupt practices and symbols of heathen worship +were combined with the Mosaic ritual. Even the high places of Baal, in +the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, where children were passed through the fire +unto Moloch, professed to offer an opportunity of supreme devotion to +the God of Israel. Baal and Melech, Lord and King, had in ancient +times been amongst His titles; and when they became associated with +the more heathenish modes of worship, their misguided devotees still +claimed that they were doing homage to the national Deity. The inhuman +sacrifices to Moloch were offered in obedience to sacred tradition and +Divine oracles, which were supposed to emanate from Jehovah. In three +different places, Jeremiah explicitly and emphatically denies that +Jehovah had required or sanctioned these sacrifices: "I commanded them +not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this +abomination, to cause Judah to sin."[288] The Pentateuch preserves an +ancient ordinance which the Moloch-worshippers probably interpreted +in support of their unholy rites, and Jeremiah's protests are partly +directed against the misinterpretation of the command "the first-born +of thy sons shalt thou give Me." The immediate context also commanded +that the firstlings of sheep and oxen should be given to Jehovah. The +beasts were killed; must it not be intended that the children should +be killed too?[289] A similar blind literalism has been responsible +for many of the follies and crimes perpetrated in the name of Christ. +The Church is apt to justify its most flagrant enormities by appealing +to a misused and misinterpreted Old Testament. "Thou shalt not suffer +a witch to live" and "Cursed be Canaan" have been proof-texts for +witch-hunting and negro-slavery; and the book of Joshua has been +regarded as a Divine charter, authorising the unrestrained indulgence +of the passion for revenge and blood. + +When it was thus necessary to put on record reiterated denials that +inhuman rites of Baal and Moloch were a divinely sanctioned adoration +of Jehovah, we can understand that the Baal-worship constantly +referred to by Hosea, Jeremiah, and Zephaniah[290] was not generally +understood to be apostasy. The worship of "other gods," "the sun, the +moon, and all the host of heaven,"[291] and of the "Queen of Heaven," +would be more difficult to explain as mere syncretism, but the +assimilation of Jewish worship to heathen ritual and the confusion of +the Divine Name with the titles of heathen deities masked the +transition from the religion of Moses and Isaiah to utter apostasy. + +Such assimilation and confusion perplexed and baffled the +prophets.[292] Social and moral wrongdoing were easily exposed and +denounced; and the evils thus brought to light were obvious symptoms +of serious spiritual disease. The Divine Spirit taught the prophets +that sin was often most rampant in those who professed the greatest +devotion to Jehovah and were most punctual and munificent in the +discharge of external religious duties. When the prophecy in Isaiah i. +was uttered it almost seemed as if the whole system of Mosaic ritual +would have to be sacrificed, in order to preserve the religion of +Jehovah. But the further development of the disease suggested a less +heroic remedy. The passion for external rites did not confine itself +to the traditional forms of ancient Israelite worship. The practices +of unspiritual and immoral ritualism were associated specially with +the names of Baal and Moloch and with the adoration of the host of +heaven; and the departure from the true worship became obvious when +the deities of foreign nations were openly worshipped. + +Jeremiah clearly and constantly insisted on the distinction between +the true and the corrupt worship. The worship paid to Baal and Moloch +was altogether unacceptable to Jehovah. These and other objects of +adoration were not to be regarded as forms, titles, or manifestations +of the one God, but were "other gods," distinct and opposed in nature +and attributes; in serving them the Jews were forsaking Him. So far +from recognising such rites as homage paid to Jehovah, Jeremiah +follows Hosea in calling them "backsliding,"[293] a falling away from +true loyalty. When they addressed themselves to their idols, even if +they consecrated them in the Temple and to the glory of the Most High, +they were not really looking to Him in reverent supplication, but with +impious profanity were turning their backs upon Him: "They have turned +unto Me the back, and not the face."[294] These proceedings were a +violation of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel.[295] + +The same anxiety to discriminate the true religion from spurious +imitations and adulterations underlies the stress which Jeremiah lays +upon the Divine Name. His favourite formula, "Jehovah Sabaoth is His +name,"[296] may be borrowed from Amos, or may be an ancient liturgical +sentence; in any case, its use would be a convenient protest against +the doctrine that Jehovah could be worshipped under the names of and +after the manner of Baal and Moloch. When Jehovah speaks of the people +forgetting "My name," He does not mean either that the people would +forget all about Him, or would cease to use the name Jehovah; but that +they would forget the character and attributes, the purposes and +ordinances, which were properly expressed by His Name. The prophets +who "prophesy lies in My name" "cause My people to forget My +name."[297] Baal and Moloch had sunk into fit titles for a god who +could be worshipped with cruel, obscene, and idolatrous rites, but the +religion of Revelation had been for ever associated with the one +sacred Name, when "Elohim said unto Moses, Thou shalt say unto the +Israelites: Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the +God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My +name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations." All +religious life and practice inconsistent with this Revelation given +through Moses and the prophets--all such worship, even if offered to +beings which, as Jehovah, sat in the Temple of Jehovah, professing to +be Jehovah--were nevertheless service and obedience paid to other and +false gods. Jeremiah's mission was to hammer these truths into dull +and unwilling minds. + +His work seems to have been successful. Ezekiel, who is in a measure +his disciple,[298] drops the phrase "other gods," and mentions "idols" +very frequently.[299] Argument and explanation were no longer +necessary to show that idolatry was sin against Jehovah; the word +"idol" could be freely used and universally understood as indicating +what was wholly alien to the religion of Israel.[300] Jeremiah was too +anxious to convince the Jews that all syncretism was apostasy to +distinguish it carefully from the avowed neglect of Jehovah for other +gods. It is not even clear that such neglect existed in his day. In +chap. xliv. we have one detailed account of false worship to the Queen +of Heaven. It was offered by the Jewish refugees in Egypt; shortly +before, these refugees had unanimously entreated Jeremiah to pray for +them to Jehovah, and had promised to obey His commands. The punishment +of their false worship was that they should no longer be permitted to +name the Holy Name. Clearly, therefore, they had supposed that +offering incense to the Queen of Heaven was not inconsistent with +worshipping Jehovah. We need not dwell on a distinction which is +largely ignored by Jeremiah; the apostasy of Judah was real and +widespread, it matters little how far the delinquents ventured to +throw off the cloak of orthodox profession.[301] The most lapsed +masses in a Christian country do not utterly break their connection +with the Church; they consider themselves legitimate recipients of its +alms, and dimly contemplate as a vague and distant possibility the +reformation of their life and character through Christianity. So the +blindest worshippers of stocks and stones claimed a vested interest in +the national Deity, and in the time of their trouble they turned to +Jehovah with the appeal "Arise and save us."[302] + +Jeremiah also dwells on the deliberate and persistent character of the +apostasy of Judah. Nations have often experienced a sort of satanic +revival when the fountains of the nether deep seemed broken up, and +flood-tides of evil influence swept all before them. Such, in a +measure, was the reaction from the Puritan Commonwealth, when so much +of English society lapsed into reckless dissipation. Such too was the +carnival of wickedness into which the First French Republic was +plunged in the Reign of Terror. But these periods were transient, and +the domination of lust and cruelty soon broke down before the +reassertion of an outraged national conscience. But we noticed, in the +previous chapter, that Israel and Judah alike steadily failed to +attain the high social ideal of the Mosaic dispensation. Naturally, +this continuous failure is associated with persistent apostasy from +true religious teaching of the Mosaic and prophetic Revelation. +Exodus, Deuteronomy and the Chronicler agree with Jeremiah that the +Israelites were a stiff-necked people;[303] and, in the Chronicler's +time at any rate, Israel had played a part in the world long enough +for its character to be accurately ascertained; and subsequent history +has shown that, for good or for evil, the Jews have never lacked +tenacity. Syncretism, the tendency to adulterate true teaching and +worship with elements from heathen sources, had been all along a +morbid affection of Israelite religion. The Pentateuch and the +historical books are full of rebukes of the Israelite passion for +idolatry, which must for the most part be understood as introduced +into or associated with the worship of Jehovah. Jeremiah constantly +refers to "the stubbornness of their evil heart":[304] "they ... have +walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the +Baalim." This stubbornness was shown in their resistance to all the +means which Jehovah employed to wean them from their sin. Again and +again, in our book, Jehovah speaks of Himself as "rising up +early"[305] to speak to the Jews, to teach them, to send prophets to +them, to solemnly adjure them to submit themselves to Him; but they +would not hearken either to Jehovah or to His prophets, they would not +accept His teaching or obey His commands, they made themselves +stiff-necked and would not bow to His will. He had subjected them to +the discipline of affliction, instruction had become correction; +Jehovah had wounded them "with the wound of an enemy, with the +chastisement of a cruel one"; but as they had been deaf to +exhortation, so they were proof against chastisement--"they refused to +receive correction." Only the ruin of the state and the captivity of +the people could purge out this evil leaven. + +Apostasy from the Mosaic and prophetic religion was naturally +accompanied by social corruption. It has recently been maintained that +the universal instinct which inclines man to be religious is not +necessarily moral, and that it is the distinguishing note of the true +faith, or of religion proper, that it enlists this somewhat neutral +instinct in the cause of a pure morality. The Phœnician and Syrian +cults, with which Israel was most closely in contact, sufficiently +illustrated the combination of fanatical religious feeling with gross +impurity. On the other hand, the teaching of Revelation to Israel +consistently inculcated a high morality and an unselfish benevolence. +The prophets vehemently affirmed the worthlessness of religious +observances by men who oppressed the poor and helpless. Apostasy from +Jehovah to Baal and Moloch involved the same moral lapse as a change +from loyal service of Christ to a pietistic antinomianism. Widespread +apostasy meant general social corruption. The most insidious form of +apostasy was that specially denounced by Jeremiah, in which the +authority of Jehovah was more or less explicitly claimed for practices +and principles which defied His law. The Reformer loves a clear issue, +and it was more difficult to come to close quarters with the enemy +when both sides professed to be fighting in the King's name. Moreover +the syncretism which still recognised Jehovah was able without any +violent revolution to control the established institutions and orders +of the state--palace and temple, king and princes, priests and +prophets. For a moment the Reformation of Josiah, and the covenant +entered into by king and people to observe the law as laid down in the +newly discovered Book of Deuteronomy, seemed to have raised Judah from +its low estate. But the defeat and death of Josiah and the deposition +of Jehoahaz followed to discredit Jeremiah and his friends. In the +consequent reaction it seemed as if the religion of Jehovah and the +life of His people had become hopelessly corrupt. + +We are too much accustomed to think of the idolatry of Israel as +something openly and avowedly distinct from and opposed to the worship +of Jehovah. Modern Christians often suppose that the true worshipper +and the ancient idolater were as contrasted as a pious Englishman and +a devotee of one of the hideous images seen on missionary platforms; +or, at any rate, that they were as easily distinguishable as a native +Indian evangelist from his unconverted fellow-countrymen. + +This mistake deprives us of the most instructive lessons to be derived +from the record. The sin which Jeremiah denounced is by no means outside +Christian experience; it is much nearer to us than conversion to +Buddhism--it is possible to the Church in every stage of its history. +The missionary finds that the lives of his converts continually threaten +to revert to a nominal profession which cloaks the immorality and +superstition of their old heathenism. The Church of the Roman Empire +gave the sanction of Christ's name and authority to many of the most +unchristian features of Judaism and Paganism; once more the rites of +strange gods were associated with the worship of Jehovah, and a new +Queen of Heaven was honoured with unlimited incense. The Reformed +Churches in their turn, after the first "kindness of their youth," the +first "love of their espousals," have often fallen into the very abuses +against which their great leaders protested; they have given way to the +ritualistic spirit, have put the Church in the place of Christ, and have +claimed for human formulæ the authority that can only belong to the +inspired Word of God. They have immolated their victims to the Baals and +Molochs of creeds and confessions, and thought that they were doing +honour to Jehovah thereby. + +Moreover we have still to contend like Jeremiah with the continual +struggle of corrupt human nature to indulge in the luxury of religious +sentiment and emotion without submitting to the moral demands of +Christ. The Church suffers far less by losing the allegiance of the +lapsed masses than it does by those who associate with the service of +Christ those malignant and selfish vices which are often canonised as +Respectability and Convention. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[285] Hosea ix. 7-9: cf. Judges xix. 22. + +[286] Hosea vi. 9. + +[287] Isaiah xl.-lxvi. is excluded from this statement. + +[288] xxxii. 34, 35, repeating vii. 30, 31, with slight variations. A +similar statement occurs in xix. 4, 5. Cf. 2 Kings xvi. 3, xxi. 6, +xxiii. 10; also Giesebrecht and Orelli _in loco_. + +[289] Exod. xxii. 29 (JE.). Exod. xxxiv. 20 is probably a later +interpretation intended to guard against misunderstandings. + +[290] Baal is not mentioned in the other prophetical books. + +[291] vii. 2. + +[292] Here and elsewhere, "prophet," unless specially qualified by the +context, is used of the true prophet, the messenger of Divine +Revelation, and does not include the mere professional prophets. Cf. +Chap. VIII. + +[293] ii. 19, etc. + +[294] xxxii. 33, etc. + +[295] xxii. 9: cf. xi. 10, xxxi. 32, and Hosea vi. 7, viii. 1. + +[296] x. 16: cf. Amos iv. 13. + +[297] xxiii. 25-27: cf. Giesebrecht, _in loco_. + +[298] Cheyne, _Jeremiah: Life and Times_, p. 150. + +[299] Jeremiah hardly mentions idols. + +[300] Cf. on this whole subject, Cheyne, _Jeremiah: Life and Times_, +p. 319. + +[301] The strongest expressions are in chap. ii., for which see +previous volume on Jeremiah. + +[302] ii. 27. + +[303] xvii. 23: cf. Exod. xxxii. 9, etc. (JE.); Deut. ix. 6; 2 Chron. +xxx. 8. + +[304] Characteristic Expressions, p. 269. + +[305] _Ibid._, p. 269. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX + + _RUIN_ + + xxii. 1-9, xxvi. 14. + + "The sword, the pestilence, and the famine."--JER. xxi. 9 _and + passim_.[306] + + "Terror on every side."--JER. vi. 25, xx. 10, xlvi. 5, xlix. 29; + _also as proper name_, MAGOR-MISSABIB, xx. 3. + + +We have seen, in the two previous chapters, that the moral and +religious state of Judah not only excluded any hope of further +progress towards the realisation of the Kingdom of God, but also +threatened to involve Revelation itself in the corruption of His +people. The Spirit that opened Jeremiah's eyes to the fatal +degradation of his country showed him that ruin must follow as its +swift result. He was elect from the first to be a herald of doom, to +be set "over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to +break down, and to destroy and to overthrow."[307] In his earliest +vision he saw the thrones of the northern conquerors set over against +the walls of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.[308] + +But Jeremiah was called in the full vigour of early manhood;[309] he +combined with the uncompromising severity of youth its ardent +affection and irrepressible hope. The most unqualified threats of +Divine wrath always carried the implied condition that repentance +might avert the coming judgment;[310] and Jeremiah recurred again and +again to the possibility that, even in these last days, amendment +might win pardon. Like Moses at Sinai and Samuel at Ebenezer, he +poured out his whole soul in intercession for Judah, only to receive +the answer, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind +could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight and let +them go forth."[311] The record of these early hopes and prayers is +chiefly found in chapters i.-xx., and is dealt with in the previous +volume on Jeremiah. The prophecies in xiv. 1-xvii. 18 seem to +recognise the destiny of Judah as finally decided, and to belong to +the latter part of the reign of Jehoiakim,[312] and there is little in +the later chapters of an earlier date. In xxii. 1-5 the king of Judah +is promised that if he and his ministers and officers will refrain +from oppression, faithfully administer justice, and protect the +helpless, kings of the elect dynasty shall still pass with magnificent +retinues in chariots and on horses through the palace gates to sit +upon the throne of David. Possibly this section belongs to the earlier +part of Jeremiah's career. But there were pauses and recoils in the +advancing tide of ruin, alternations of hope and despair; and these +varying experiences were reflected in the changing moods of the court, +the people, and the prophet himself. We may well believe that Jeremiah +hastened to greet any apparent zeal for reformation with a renewed +declaration that sincere and radical amendment would be accepted by +Jehovah. The proffer of mercy did not avert the ruin of the state, but +it compelled the people to recognise that Jehovah was neither harsh +nor vindictive. His sentence was only irrevocable because the obduracy +of Israel left no other way open for the progress of Revelation, +except that which led through fire and blood. The Holy Spirit has +taught mankind in many ways that when any government or church, any +school of thought or doctrine, ossifies so as to limit the expansion +of the soul, that society or system must be shattered by the forces it +seeks to restrain. The decadence of Spain and the distractions of +France sufficiently illustrate the fruits of persistent refusal to +abide in the liberty of the Spirit. + +But, until the catastrophe is clearly inevitable, the Christian, both +as patriot and as churchman,[313] will be quick to cherish all those +symptoms of higher life which indicate that society is still a living +organism. He will zealously believe and teach that even a small leaven +may leaven the whole mass. He will remember that ten righteous men +might have saved Sodom; that, so long as it is possible, God will work +by encouraging and rewarding willing obedience rather than by +chastising and coercing sin. + +Thus Jeremiah, even when he teaches that the day of grace is over, +recurs wistfully to the possibilities of salvation once offered to +repentance.[314] Was not this the message of all the prophets: "Return +ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, +and dwell in the land that Jehovah hath given unto your fathers"?[315] +Even at the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign Jehovah entrusted Jeremiah +with a message of mercy, saying: "It may be they will hearken, and +turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent Me of the evil, +which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their +doings."[316] When the prophet multiplied the dark and lurid features +of his picture, he was not gloating with morbid enjoyment over the +national misery, but rather hoped that the awful vision of judgment +might lead them to pause, and reflect and repent. In his age history +had not accumulated her now abundant proofs that the guilty conscience +is panoplied in triple brass against most visions of judgment. The +sequel of Jeremiah's own mission was added evidence for this truth. + +Yet it dawned but slowly on the prophet's mind. The covenant of +emancipation[317] in the last days of Zedekiah was doubtless proposed +by Jeremiah as a possible beginning of better things, an omen of +salvation, even at the eleventh hour. To the very last the prophet +offered the king his life and promised that Jerusalem should not be +burnt, if only he would submit to the Chaldeans, and thus accept the +Divine judgment and acknowledge its justice. + +Faithful friends have sometimes stood by the drunkard or the gambler, +and striven for his deliverance through all the vicissitudes of his +downward career; to the very last they have hoped against hope, have +welcomed and encouraged every feeble stand against evil habit, every +transient flash of high resolve. But, long before the end, they have +owned, with sinking heart, that the only way to salvation lay through +the ruin of health, fortune, and reputation. So, when the edge of +youthful hopefulness had quickly worn itself away, Jeremiah knew in +his inmost heart that, in spite of prayers and promises and +exhortations, the fate of Judah was sealed. Let us therefore try to +reproduce the picture of coming ruin which Jeremiah kept persistently +before the eyes of his fellow-countrymen. The pith and power of his +prophecies lay in the prospect of their speedy fulfilment. With him, +as with Savonarola, a cardinal doctrine was that "before the +regeneration must come the scourge," and that "these things will come +quickly." Here again, Jeremiah took up the burden of Hosea's +utterances. The elder prophet said of Israel, "The days of visitation +are come";[318] and his successor announced to Judah the coming of +"the year of visitation."[319] The long-deferred assize was at hand, +when the Judge would reckon with Judah for her manifold infidelities, +would pronounce sentence and execute judgment. + +If the hour of doom had struck, it was not difficult to surmise whence +destruction would come or the man who would prove its instrument. The +North (named in Hebrew the hidden quarter) was to the Jews the mother of +things unforeseen and terrible. Isaiah menaced the Philistines with "a +smoke out of the north,"[320] _i.e._ the Assyrians. Jeremiah and Ezekiel +both speak very frequently of the destroyers of Judah as coming from the +north. Probably the early references in our book to northern enemies +denote the Scythians, who invaded Syria towards the beginning of +Josiah's reign; but later on the danger from the north is the restored +Chaldean Empire, under its king Nebuchadnezzar. "North" is even less +accurate geographically for Chaldea than for Assyria. Probably it was +accepted in a somewhat symbolic sense for Assyria, and then transferred +to Chaldea as her successor in the hegemony of Western Asia. + +Nebuchadnezzar is first[321] introduced in the fourth year of +Jehoiakim; after the decisive defeat of Pharaoh Necho by +Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, Jeremiah prophesied the devastation of +Judah by the victor; it is also prophesied that he is to carry +Jehoiachin away captive,[322] and similar prophecies were repeated +during the reign of Zedekiah.[323] Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans +very closely resembled the Assyrians, with whose invasions the Jews +had long been only too familiar; indeed, as Chaldea had long been +tributary to Assyria, it is morally certain that Chaldean princes must +have been present with auxiliary forces at more than one of the many +Assyrian invasions of Palestine. Under Hezekiah, on the other hand, +Judah had been allied with Merodach-baladan of Babylon against his +Assyrian suzerain. So that the circumstances of Chaldean invasions and +conquests were familiar to the Jews before the forces of the restored +empire first attacked them; their imagination could readily picture +the horrors of such experiences. + +But Jeremiah does not leave them to their unaided imagination, which +they might preferably have employed upon more agreeable subjects. He +makes them see the future reign of terror, as Jehovah had revealed it +to his shuddering and reluctant vision. With his usual frequency of +iteration, he keeps the phrase "the sword, the famine, and the +pestilence" ringing in their ears. The sword was the symbol of the +invading hosts, "the splendid and awful military parade" of the +"bitter and hasty nation" that were "dreadful and terrible."[324] "The +famine" inevitably followed from the ravages of the invaders, and the +impossibility of ploughing, sowing, and reaping. It became most +gruesome in the last desperate agonies of besieged garrisons, when, as +in Elisha's time and the last siege of Jerusalem, "men ate the flesh +of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and ate every one the +flesh of his friend."[325] Among such miseries and horrors, the stench +of unburied corpses naturally bred a pestilence, which raged amongst +the multitudes of refugees huddled together in Jerusalem and the +fortified towns. We are reminded how the great plague of Athens struck +down its victims from among the crowds driven within its walls during +the long siege of the Peloponnesian war. + +An ordinary Englishman can scarcely do justice to such prophecies; his +comprehension is limited by a happy inexperience. The constant +repetition of general phrases seems meagre and cold, because they carry +few associations and awaken no memories. Those who have studied French +and Russian realistic art, and have read Erckmann-Chatrain, Zola, and +Tolstoï, may be stirred somewhat more by Jeremiah's grim rhetoric. It +will not be wanting in suggestiveness to those who have known battles +and sieges. For students of missionary literature we may roughly +compare the Jews, when exposed to the full fury of a Chaldean attack, to +the inhabitants of African villages raided by slave-hunters. + +The Jews, therefore, with their extensive, first-hand knowledge of the +miseries denounced against them, could not help filling in for +themselves the rough outline drawn by Jeremiah. Very probably, too, +his speeches were more detailed and realistic than the written +reports. As time went on, the inroads of the Chaldeans and their +allies provided graphic and ghastly illustrations of the prophecies +that Jeremiah still reiterated. In a prophecy, possibly originally +referring to the Scythian inroads and afterwards adapted to the +Chaldean invasions, Jeremiah speaks of himself: "I am pained at my +very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; for +my soul heareth[326] the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.... +How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the +trumpet?"[327] Here, for once, Jeremiah expressed emotions that +throbbed in every heart. There was "terror on every hand"; men seemed +to be walking "through slippery places in darkness,"[328] or to +stumble along rough paths in a dreary twilight. Wormwood was their +daily food, and their drink maddening draughts of poison.[329] + +Jeremiah and his prophecies were no mean part of the terror. To the +devotees of Baal and Moloch Jeremiah must have appeared in much the +same light as the fanatic whose ravings added to the horrors of the +Plague of London, while the very sanity and sobriety of his utterances +carried a conviction of their fatal truth. + +When the people and their leaders succeeded in collecting any force of +soldiers or store of military equipment, and ventured on a sally, +Jeremiah was at once at hand to quench any reviving hope of effective +resistance. How could soldiers and weapons preserve the city which +Jehovah had abandoned to its fate? "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of +Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons in your hands, with which +ye fight without the walls against your besiegers, the king of Babylon +and the Chaldeans, and will gather them into the midst of this city. I +Myself will fight against you in furious anger and in great wrath, with +outstretched hand and strong arm. I will smite the inhabitants of this +city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence."[330] + +When Jerusalem was relieved for a time by the advance of an Egyptian +army, and the people allowed themselves to dream of another +deliverance like that from Sennacherib, the relentless prophet only +turned upon them with renewed scorn: "Though ye had smitten the whole +hostile army of the Chaldeans, and all that were left of them were +desperately wounded, yet should they rise up every man in his tent and +burn this city."[331] Not even the most complete victory could avail +to save the city. + +The final result of invasions and sieges was to be the overthrow of +the Jewish state, the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, and the +captivity of the people. This unhappy generation were to reap the +harvest of centuries of sin and failure. As in the last siege of +Jerusalem there came upon the Jews "all the righteous blood shed on +the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of +Zachariah son of Barachiah,"[332] so now Jehovah was about to bring +upon His Chosen People all the evil that He had spoken against +them[333]--all that had been threatened by Isaiah and his +brother-prophets, all the curses written in Deuteronomy. But these +threats were to be fully carried out, not because predictions must be +fulfilled, nor even merely because Jehovah had spoken and His word +must not return to Him void, but because the people had not hearkened +and obeyed. His threats were never meant to exclude the penitent from +the possibility of pardon. + +As Jeremiah had insisted upon the guilt of every class of the community, +so he is also careful to enumerate all the classes as about to suffer +from the coming judgment: "Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes";[334] +"the people, the prophet, and the priest."[335] This Last Judgment of +Judah, as it took the form of the complete overthrow of the State, +necessarily included all under its sentence of doom. One of the +mysteries of Providence is that those who are most responsible for +national sins seem to suffer least by public misfortunes. Ambitious +statesmen and bellicose journalists do not generally fall in battle and +leave destitute widows and children. When the captains of commerce and +manufacture err in their industrial policy, one great result is the +pauperism of hundreds of families who had no voice in the matter. A +spendthrift landlord may cripple the agriculture of half a county. And +yet, when factories are closed and farmers ruined, the manufacturer and +the landlord are the last to see want. In former invasions of Judah, +the princes and priests had some share of suffering; but wealthy nobles +might incur losses and yet weather the storm by which poorer men were +overwhelmed. Fines and tribute levied by the invaders would, after the +manner of the East, be wrung from the weak and helpless. But now ruin +was to fall on all alike. The nobles had been flagrant in sin, they were +now to be marked out for most condign punishment--"To whomsoever much is +given, of him shall much be required." + +Part of the burden of Jeremiah's prophecy, one of the sayings constantly +on his lips, was that the city would be taken and destroyed by +fire.[336] The Temple would be laid in ruins like the ancient sanctuary +of Israel at Shiloh.[337] The palaces[338] of the king and princes would +be special marks for the destructive fury of the enemy, and their +treasures and all the wealth of the city would be for a spoil; those who +survived the sack of the city would be carried captive to Babylon.[339] + +In this general ruin the miseries of the people would not end with +death. All nations have attached much importance to the burial of the +dead and the due performance of funeral rites. In the touching Greek +story Antigone sacrificed her life in order to bury the remains of her +brother. Later Judaism attached exceptional importance to the burial +of the dead, and the Book of Tobit lays great stress on this sacred +duty. The angel Raphael declares that one special reason why the Lord +had been merciful to Tobias was that he had buried dead bodies, and +had not delayed to rise up and leave his meal to go and bury the +corpse of a murdered Jew, at the risk of his own life.[340] + +Jeremiah prophesied of the slain in this last overthrow: "They shall +not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung +on the face of the ground; ... their carcases shall be meat for the +fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth." + +When these last had done their ghastly work, the site of the Temple, the +city, the whole land would be left silent and desolate. The stranger, +wandering amidst the ruins, would hear no cheerful domestic sounds; when +night fell, no light gleaming through chink or lattice would give the +sense of human neighbourhood. Jehovah "would take away the sound of the +millstones and the light of the candle."[341] The only sign of life +amidst the desolate ruins of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would be +the melancholy cry of the jackals round the traveller's tent.[342] + +The Hebrew prophets and our Lord Himself often borrowed their symbols +from the scenes of common life, as they passed before their eyes. As +in the days of Noah, as in the days of Lot, as in the days of the Son +of Man, so in the last agony of Judah there was marrying and giving in +marriage. Some such festive occasion suggested to Jeremiah one of his +favourite formulæ; it occurs four times in the Book of Jeremiah, and +was probably uttered much oftener. Again and again it may have +happened that, as a marriage procession passed through the streets, +the gay company were startled by the grim presence of the prophet, and +shrank back in dismay as they found themselves made the text for a +stern homily of ruin: "Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, I will take away +from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of +the bridegroom and the voice of the bride." At any rate, however, and +whenever used, the figure could not fail to arrest attention, and to +serve as an emphatic declaration that the ordinary social routine +would be broken up and lost in the coming calamity. + +Henceforth the land would be as some guilty habitation of sinners, +devoted to eternal destruction, an astonishment and a hissing and a +perpetual desolation.[343] When the heathen sought some curse to +express the extreme of malignant hatred, they would use the formula, +"God make thee like Jerusalem."[344] Jehovah's Chosen People would +become an everlasting reproach, a perpetual shame, which should not be +forgotten.[345] The wrath of Jehovah pursued even captives and +fugitives. In chapter xxix. Jeremiah predicts the punishment of the +Jewish prophets at Babylon. When we last hear of him, in Egypt, he is +denouncing ruin against "the remnant of Judah that have set their +faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there." He still +reiterates the same familiar phrases: "Ye shall die by the sword, by +the famine, and by the pestilence"; they shall be "an execration, and +an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach." + +We have now traced the details of the prophet's message of doom. +Fulfilment followed fast upon the heels of prediction, till Jeremiah +rather interpreted than foretold the thick-coming disasters. When his +book was compiled, the prophecies were already, as they are now, part +of the history of the last days of Judah. The book became the record +of this great tragedy, in which these prophecies take the place of the +choric odes in a Greek drama. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[306] Characteristic Expressions, p. 269. + +[307] i. 10. + +[308] i. 15. + +[309] i. 7. The word for "child" (na'ar) is an elastic term, equalling +"boy" or "young man," with all the range of meaning possible in +English to the latter phrase. + +[310] Cf. the Book of Jonah. + +[311] xv. 1. + +[312] Driver, _Introduction_, p. 242. + +[313] "Church" is used, in the true Catholic sense, to embrace all +Christians. + +[314] xxvii. 18. + +[315] xxv. 5, xxxv. 15. + +[316] xxvi. 3, xxxvi. 2. + +[317] Chap. XI. + +[318] Hosea ix. 7. + +[319] xxiii. 12. + +[320] Isa. xiv. 31. + +[321] xxv. 1-14: "first," _i.e._, in time, not in the order of +chapters in our Book of Jeremiah. + +[322] xxii. 25. Jehoiachin (Kings, Chronicles, and Jer. lii. 31) is +also called Coniah (Jer. xxii. 24, 28, xxxvii. 1) and Jeconiah +(Chronicles, Esther, Jer. xxiv. 1, xxvii. 20, xxviii. 4, xxix. 2). +They are virtually forms of the same name, the "Yah" of the Divine +Name being prefixed in the first and affixed in the last two. + +[323] xxi. 7, xxviii. 14. + +[324] Habakkuk i. 6, 7. + +[325] xix. 9. + +[326] R.V. margin. + +[327] iv. 21. + +[328] xxiii. 12. + +[329] xxiii. 15. + +[330] xxi. 3-6. + +[331] xxxvii. 10. + +[332] Matt. xxiii. 35. + +[333] xxxv. 17: cf. xix. 15, xxxvi. 31. + +[334] xxxiv. 21. + +[335] xxiii. 33, 34. + +[336] xxxiv. 2, 22, xxxvii. 8. + +[337] vii. and xxvi. + +[338] vi. 5. + +[339] xx. 5. + +[340] Tobit xii. 13: cf. ii. + +[341] xxv. 10. + +[342] ix. 11, x. 22. + +[343] xxv. 9, 10. + +[344] xxvi. 6. + +[345] xxiii. 40. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX + + _RESTORATION--I. THE SYMBOL_ + + xxxii + + "And I bought the field of Hanameel."--JER. xxxii. 9. + + +When Jeremiah was first called to his prophetic mission, after the +charge "to pluck up and to break down, and to destroy and to +overthrow," there were added--almost as if they were an +afterthought--the words "to build and to plant."[346] Throughout a +large part of the book little or nothing is said about building and +planting; but, at last, four consecutive chapters, xxx.-xxxiii., are +almost entirely devoted to this subject. Jeremiah's characteristic +phrases are not all denunciatory; we owe to him the description of +Jehovah as "the Hope of Israel."[347] Sin and ruin, guilt and +punishment, could not quench the hope that centred in Him. Though the +day of Jehovah might be darkness and not light,[348] yet, through the +blackness of this day turned into night, the prophets beheld a radiant +dawn. When all other building and planting were over for Jeremiah, +when it might seem that much that he had planted was being rooted up +again in the overthrow of Judah, he was yet permitted to plant shoots +in the garden of the Lord, which have since become trees whose leaves +are for the healing of the nations. + +The symbolic act dealt with in this chapter is a convenient +introduction to the prophecies of restoration, especially as chapters +xxx., xxxi., have no title and are of uncertain date. + +The incident of the purchase of Hanameel's field is referred by the +title to the year 587 B.C., when Jeremiah was in prison and the +capture of the city was imminent. Verses 2-6 are an introduction by +some editor, who was anxious that his readers should fully understand +the narrative that follows. They are compiled from the rest of the +book, and contain nothing that need detain us. + +When Jeremiah was arrested and thrown into prison, he was on his way +to Anathoth "to receive his portion there,"[349] _i.e._, as we gather +from this chapter, to take possession of an inheritance that devolved +upon him. As he was now unable to attend to this business at Anathoth, +his cousin Hanameel came to him in the prison, to give him the +opportunity of observing the necessary formalities. In his enforced +leisure Jeremiah would often recur to the matter on which he had been +engaged when he was arrested. An interrupted piece of work is apt to +intrude itself upon the mind with tiresome importunity; moreover his +dismal surroundings would remind him of his business--it had been the +cause of his imprisonment. The bond between an Israelite and the +family inheritance was almost as close and sacred as that between +Jehovah and the Land of Promise. Naboth had died a martyr to the duty +he owed to the land. "Jehovah forbid that I should give thee the +inheritance of my fathers,"[350] said he to Ahab. And now, in the +final crisis of the fortunes of Judah, the prophet whose heart was +crushed by the awful task laid upon him had done what he could to +secure the rights of his family in the "field" at Anathoth. + +Apparently he had failed. The oppression of his spirits would suggest +that Jehovah had disapproved and frustrated his purpose. His failure +was another sign of the utter ruin of the nation. The solemn grant of +the Land of Promise to the Chosen People was finally revoked; and +Jehovah no longer sanctioned the ancient ceremonies which bound the +households and clans of Israel to the soil of their inheritance. + +In some such mood, Jeremiah received the intimation that his cousin +Hanameel was on his way to see him about this very business. "The word +of Jehovah came unto him: Behold, thine uncle Shallum's son Hanameel +is coming to thee, to say unto thee, Buy my field in Anathoth, for it +is thy duty to buy it by way of redemption." The prophet was roused to +fresh perplexity. The opportunity might be a Divine command to proceed +with the redemption. And yet he was a childless man doomed to die in +exile. What had he to do with a field at Anathoth in that great and +terrible day of the Lord? Death or captivity was staring every one in +the face; land was worthless. The transaction would put money into +Hanameel's pocket. The eagerness of a Jew to make sure of a good +bargain seemed no very safe indication of the will of Jehovah. + +In this uncertain frame of mind Hanameel found his cousin, when he +came to demand that Jeremiah should buy his field. Perhaps the +prisoner found his kinsman's presence a temporary mitigation of his +gloomy surroundings, and was inspired with more cheerful and kindly +feelings. The solemn and formal appeal to fulfil a kinsman's duty +towards the family inheritance came to him as a Divine command: "I +knew that this was the word of Jehovah." + +The cousins proceeded with their business, which was in no way +hindered by the arrangements of the prison. We must be careful to +dismiss from our minds all the associations of the routine and +discipline of a modern English gaol. The "court of the guard" in which +they were was not properly a prison; it was a place of detention, not +of punishment. The prisoners may have been fettered, but they were +together and could communicate with each other and with their friends. +The conditions were not unlike those of a debtors' prison such as the +old Marshalsea, as described in _Little Dorrit_. + +Our information as to this right or duty of the next-of-kin to buy or +buy back land is of the scantiest.[351] The leading case is that in +the Book of Ruth, where, however, the purchase of land is altogether +secondary to the levirate marriage. The land custom assumes that an +Israelite will only part with his land in case of absolute necessity, +and it was evidently supposed that some member of the clan would feel +bound to purchase. On the other hand, in Ruth, the next-of-kin is +readily allowed to transfer the obligation to Boaz. Why Hanameel sold +his field we cannot tell; in these days of constant invasion, most of +the small landowners must have been reduced to great distress, and +would gladly have found purchasers for their property. The kinsman to +whom land was offered would pretty generally refuse to pay anything +but a nominal price. Formerly the demand that the next-of-kin should +buy an inheritance was seldom made, but the exceptional feature in +this case was Jeremiah's willingness to conform to ancient custom. + +The price paid for the field was seventeen shekels of silver, but, +however precise this information may seem, it really tells us very +little. A curious illustration is furnished by modern currency +difficulties. The shekel, in the time of the Maccabees, when we are +first able to determine its value with some certainty, contained about +half an ounce of silver, _i.e._ about the amount of metal in an +English half-crown. The commentaries accordingly continue to reckon +the shekel as worth half-a-crown, whereas its value by weight +according to the present price of silver would be about fourteenpence. +Probably the purchasing power of silver was not more stable in ancient +Palestine than it is now. Fifty shekels seemed to David and Araunah a +liberal price for a threshing-floor and its oxen, but the Chronicler +thought it quite inadequate.[352] We know neither the size of +Hanameel's field nor the quality of the land, nor yet the value of the +shekels;[353] but the symbolic use made of the incident implies that +Jeremiah paid a fair and not a panic price. + +The silver was duly weighed in the presence of witnesses and of all +the Jews that were in the court of the guard, apparently including the +prisoners; their position as respectable members of society was not +affected by their imprisonment. A deed or deeds were drawn up, signed +by Jeremiah and the witnesses, and publicly delivered to Baruch to be +kept safely in an earthen vessel. The legal formalities are described +with some detail; possibly they were observed with exceptional +punctiliousness; at any rate, great stress is laid upon the exact +fulfilment of all that law and custom demanded. Unfortunately, in the +course of so many centuries, much of the detail has become +unintelligible. For instance, Jeremiah the purchaser signs the record +of the purchase, but nothing is said about Hanameel signing. When +Abraham bought the field of Machpelah of Ephron the Hittite there was +no written deed, the land was simply transferred in public at the gate +of the city.[354] Here the written record becomes valid by being +publicly delivered to Baruch in the presence of Hanameel and the +witnesses. The details with regard to the deeds are very obscure, and +the text is doubtful. The Hebrew apparently refers to two deeds, but +the Septuagint for the most part to one only. The R.V. of verse 11 +runs: "So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, +according to the law and the custom, and that which was open." The +Septuagint omits everything after "that which was sealed"; and, in any +case, the words "the law and the custom"--better, as R.V. margin, +"_containing_ the terms and the conditions"--are a gloss. In verse 14 +the R.V. has: "Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase, both that +which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put _them_ in an +earthen vessel." The Septuagint reads: "Take this book of the purchase +and this book that has been read,[355] and thou shalt put _it_ in an +earthen vessel."[356] It is possible that, as has been suggested, the +reference to two deeds has arisen out of a misunderstanding of the +description of a single deed. Scribes may have altered or added to the +text in order to make it state explicitly what they supposed to be +implied. No reason is given for having two deeds. We could have +understood the double record if each party had retained one of the +documents, or if one had been buried in the earthen vessel and the +other kept for reference, but both are put into the earthen vessel. +The terms "that which is sealed" and "that which is open" may, +however, be explained of either of one or two documents[357] somewhat +as follows: the record was written, signed, and witnessed; it was then +folded up and sealed; part or the whole of the contents of this +sealed-up record was then written again on the outside or on a +separate parchment, so that the purport of the deed could easily be +ascertained without exposing the original record. The Assyrian and +Chaldean contract-tablets were constructed on this principle; the +contract was first written on a clay tablet, which was further +enclosed in an envelope of clay, and on the outside was engraved an +exact copy of the writing within. If the outer writing became +indistinct or was tampered with, the envelope could be broken and the +exact terms of the contract ascertained from the first tablet. +Numerous examples of this method can be seen in the British Museum. +The Jews had been vassals of Assyria and Babylon for about a century, +and thus must have had ample opportunity to become acquainted with +their legal procedure; and, in this instance, Jeremiah and his +friends may have imitated the Chaldeans. Such an imitation would be +specially significant in what was intended to symbolise the +transitoriness of the Chaldean conquest. + +The earthen vessel would preserve the record from being spoilt by the +damp; similarly bottles are used nowadays to preserve the documents +that are built up into the memorial stones of public buildings. In +both cases the object is that "they may continue many days." + +So far the prophet had proceeded in simple obedience to a Divine +command to fulfil an obligation which otherwise might excusably have +been neglected. He felt that his action was a parable which suggested +that Judah might retain its ancient inheritance,[358] but Jeremiah +hesitated to accept an interpretation seemingly at variance with the +judgments he had pronounced upon the guilty people. When he had handed +over the deed to Baruch, and his mind was no longer occupied with +legal minutiæ, he could ponder at leisure on the significance of his +purchase. The prophet's meditations naturally shaped themselves into a +prayer; he laid his perplexity before Jehovah.[359] Possibly, even +from the court of the guard, he could see something of the works of +the besiegers; and certainly men would talk constantly of the progress +of the siege. Outside the Chaldeans were pushing their mounds and +engines nearer and nearer to the walls, within famine and pestilence +decimated and enfeebled the defenders; the city was virtually in the +enemy's hands. All this was in accordance with the will of Jehovah and +the mission entrusted to His prophet. "What thou hast spoken of is +come to pass, and, behold, thou seest it." And yet, in spite of all +this, "Thou hast said unto me, O Lord Jehovah, Buy the field for money +and take witnesses--and the city is in the hands of the Chaldeans!" + +Jeremiah had already predicted the ruin of Babylon and the return of +the captives at the end of seventy years.[360] It is clear, therefore, +that he did not at first understand the sign of the purchase as +referring to restoration from the Captivity. His mind, at the moment, +was preoccupied with the approaching capture of Jerusalem; apparently +his first thought was that his prophecies of doom were to be set +aside, and at the last moment some wonderful deliverance might be +wrought out for Zion. In the Book of Jonah, Nineveh is spared in spite +of the prophet's unconditional and vehement declaration: "Yet forty +days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Was it possible, thought +Jeremiah, that after all that had been said and done, buying and +selling, building and planting, marrying and giving in marriage, were +to go on as if nothing had happened? He was bewildered and confounded +by the idea of such a revolution in the Divine purposes. + +Jehovah in His answer at once repudiates this idea. He asserts His +universal sovereignty and omnipotence; these are to be manifested, +first in judgment and then in mercy. He declares afresh that all the +judgments predicted by Jeremiah shall speedily come to pass. Then He +unfolds His gracious purpose of redemption and deliverance. He will +gather the exiles from all lands and bring them back to Judah, and +they shall dwell there securely. They shall be His people and He will +be their God. Henceforth He will make an everlasting covenant with +them, that He will never again abandon them to misery and destruction, +but will always do them good. By Divine grace they shall be united in +purpose and action to serve Jehovah; He Himself will put His fear in +their hearts. + +And then returning to the symbol of the purchased field, Jehovah +declares that fields shall be bought, with all the legal formalities +usual in settled and orderly societies, deeds shall be signed, sealed, +and delivered in the presence of witnesses. This restored social order +shall extend throughout the territory of the Southern Kingdom, +Benjamin, the environs of Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, of the hill +country, of the Shephelah and the Negeb. The exhaustive enumeration +partakes of the legal character of the purchase of Hanameel's field. + +Thus the symbol is expounded: Israel's tenure of the Promised Land +will survive the Captivity; the Jews will return to resume their +inheritance, and will again deal with the old fields and vineyards and +oliveyards, according to the solemn forms of ancient custom. + +The familiar classical parallel to this incident is found in Livy, +xxvi. 11, where we are told that when Hannibal was encamped three +miles from Rome, the ground he occupied was sold in the Forum by +public auction, and fetched a good price. + +Both at Rome and at Jerusalem the sale of land was a symbol that the +control of the land would remain with or return to its original +inhabitants. The symbol recognised that access to land is essential to +all industry, and that whoever controls this access can determine the +conditions of national life. This obvious and often forgotten truth +was constantly present to the minds of the inspired writers: to them +the Holy Land was almost as sacred as the Chosen People; its right use +was a matter of religious obligation, and the prophets and legislators +always sought to secure for every Israelite family some rights in +their native soil. + +The selection of a legal ceremony and the stress laid upon its forms +emphasise the truth that social order is the necessary basis of morality +and religion. The opportunity to live healthily, honestly, and purely is +an antecedent condition of the spiritual life. This opportunity was +denied to slaves in the great heathen empires, just as it is denied to +the children in our slums. Both here and more fully in the sections we +shall deal with in the following chapters, Jeremiah shows that he was +chiefly interested in the restoration of the Jews because they could +only fulfil the Divine purpose as a separate community in Judah. + +Moreover, to use a modern term, he was no anarchist; spiritual +regeneration might come through material ruin, but the prophet did not +look for salvation either in anarchy or through anarchy. While any +fragment of the State held together, its laws were to be observed; as +soon as the exiles were re-established in Judah, they would resume the +forms and habits of an organised community. The discipline of society, +like that of an army, is most necessary in times of difficulty and +danger, and, above all, in the crisis of defeat. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[346] i. 10. + +[347] xiv. 8, xvii. 13. + +[348] Amos v. 18, 20. + +[349] xxxvii. 12 (R.V.). + +[350] 1 Kings xxi. 3. + +[351] Lev. xxv. 25, Law of Holiness; Ruth iv. + +[352] 2 Sam. xxiv. 24: cf. 1 Chron. xxi. 25, where the price is six +hundred shekels of _gold_. It is scarcely necessary to point out that +"threshing-floor" (Sam.) and "place of the threshing-floor" (Chron.) +are synonymous. + +[353] By _value_ here is meant purchasing power, to which the weight +denoted by the term shekel is now no clue. + +[354] Gen. xxiii. (_P._). + +[355] ἀνεγνωσμένον probably a corruption of ἀνεωγμένον. + +[356] The text varies in different MSS. of the LXX. + +[357] Cf. Cheyne, etc., _in loco_. + +[358] Verse 15 anticipates by way of summary verses 42-44, and is +apparently ignored in verse 25. It probably represents Jeremiah's +interpretation of God's command at the time when he wrote the chapter. +In the actual development of the incident, the conviction of the +Divine promise of restoration came to him somewhat later. + +[359] What was said of verse 15 partly applies to verses 17-23 (with +the exception of the introductory words: "Ah, Lord Jehovah!"). These +verses are not dealt with in the text, because they largely anticipate +the ideas and language of the following Divine utterance. Kautzsch and +Cornill, following Stade, mark these verses as a later addition; +Giesebrecht is doubtful. Cf. v. 20 ff. and xxvii. 5 f. + +[360] xxv. 12, xxix. 10. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI + + _RESTORATION--II. THE NEW ISRAEL_ + + xxiii. 3-8, xxiv. 6, 7, xxx., xxxi., xxxiii.[361] + + "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell + safely: and this is the name whereby she shall be called."--JER. + xxxiii. 16. + + +The Divine utterances in chapter xxxiii. were given to Jeremiah when +he was shut up in the "court of the guard" during the last days of the +siege. It may, however, have been committed to writing at a later +date, possibly in connection with chapters xxx. and xxxi., when the +destruction of Jerusalem was already past. It is in accordance with +all analogy that the final record of a "word of Jehovah" should +include any further light which had come to the prophet through his +inspired meditations on the original message. Chapters xxx., xxxi., +and xxxiii. mostly expound and enforce leading ideas contained in +xxxii. 37-44 and in earlier utterances of Jeremiah. They have much in +common with II. Isaiah. The ruin of Judah and the captivity of the +people were accomplished facts to both writers, and they were both +looking forward to the return of the exiles and the restoration of the +kingdom of Jehovah. We shall have occasion to notice individual points +of resemblance later on. + +In xxx. 2 Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all that Jehovah +has spoken to him; and according to the present context the "all," in +this case, refers merely to the following four chapters. These +prophecies of restoration would be specially precious to the exiles; +and now that the Jews were scattered through many distant lands, they +could only be transmitted and preserved in writing. After the command +"to write in a book" there follows, by way of title, a repetition of +the statement that Jehovah would bring back His people to their +fatherland. Here, in the very forefront of the Book of Promise, Israel +and Judah are named as being recalled together from exile. As we read +twice[362] elsewhere in Jeremiah, the promised deliverance from +Assyria and Babylon was to surpass all earlier manifestations of the +Divine power and mercy. The Exodus would not be named in the same +breath with it: "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall +no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites out +of the land of Egypt; but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the +Israelites from the land of the north, and from all the countries +whither He had driven them." This prediction has waited for fulfilment +to our own times: hitherto the Exodus has occupied men's minds much +more than the Return; we are now coming to estimate the supreme +religious importance of the latter event. + +Elsewhere again Jeremiah connects his promise with the clause in his +original commission "to build and to plant":[363] "I will set My eyes +upon them (the captives) for good, and I will bring them again to this +land; and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant +them, and not pluck them up."[364] As in xxxii. 28-35, the picture of +restoration is rendered more vivid by contrast with Judah's present +state of wretchedness; the marvellousness of Jehovah's mercy is made +apparent by reminding Israel of the multitude of its iniquities. The +agony of Jacob is like that of a woman in travail. But travail shall be +followed by deliverance and triumph. In the second Psalm the subject +nations took counsel against Jehovah and against His Anointed:-- + + "Let us break their bands asunder, + And cast away their cords from us"; + +but now this is the counsel of Jehovah concerning His people and their +Babylonian conqueror:-- + + "I will break his yoke from off thy neck, + And break thy bands asunder."[365] + +Judah's lovers, her foreign allies, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and all +the other states with whom she had intrigued, had betrayed her; they +had cruelly chastised her, so that her wounds were grievous and her +bruises incurable. She was left without a champion to plead her cause, +without a friend to bind up her wounds, without balm to allay the pain +of her bruises. "Because thy sins were increased, I have done these +things unto thee, saith Jehovah." Jerusalem was an outcast, of whom +men said contemptuously: "This is Zion, whom no man seeketh +after."[366] But man's extremity was God's opportunity; because Judah +was helpless and despised, therefore Jehovah said, "I will restore +health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds."[367] + +While Jeremiah was still watching from his prison the progress of the +siege, he had seen the houses and palaces beyond the walls destroyed by +the Chaldeans to be used for their mounds; and had known that every +sally of the besieged was but another opportunity for the enemy to +satiate themselves with slaughter, as they executed Jehovah's judgments +upon the guilty city. Even at this extremity He announced solemnly and +emphatically the restoration and pardon of His people. "Thus saith +Jehovah, who established the earth, when He made and fashioned +it--Jehovah is His name: Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and will +show thee great mysteries, which thou knowest not."[368] + +"I will bring to this city healing and cure, and will cause them to +know all the fulness of steadfast peace.... I will cleanse them from +all their iniquities, and will pardon all their iniquities, whereby +they have sinned and transgressed against Me."[369] + +The healing of Zion naturally involved the punishment of her cruel and +treacherous lovers.[370] The Return, like other revolutions, was not +wrought by rose-water; the yokes were broken and the bands rent +asunder by main force. Jehovah would make a full end of all the +nations whither He had scattered them. Their devourers should be +devoured, all their adversaries should go into captivity, those who +had spoiled and preyed upon them should become a spoil and a prey. +Jeremiah had been commissioned from the beginning to pull down foreign +nations and kingdoms as well as his native Judah.[371] Judah was only +one of Israel's evil neighbours who were to be plucked up out of their +land.[372] And at the Return, as at the Exodus, the waves at one and +the same time opened a path of safety for Israel and overwhelmed her +oppressors. + +Israel, pardoned and restored, would again be governed by legitimate +kings of the House of David. In the dying days of the monarchy Israel +and Judah had received their rulers from the hands of foreigners. +Menahem and Hoshea bought the confirmation of their usurped authority +from Assyria. Jehoiakim was appointed by Pharaoh Necho, and Zedekiah +by Nebuchadnezzar. We cannot doubt that the kings of Egypt and Babylon +were also careful to surround their nominees with ministers who were +devoted to the interests of their suzerains. But now "their nobles +were to be of themselves, and their ruler was to proceed out of their +midst,"[373] _i.e._ nobles and rulers were to hold their offices +according to national custom and tradition. + +Jeremiah was fond of speaking of the leaders of Judah as shepherds. We +have had occasion already[374] to consider his controversy with the +"shepherds" of his own time. In his picture of the New Israel he uses +the same figure. In denouncing the evil shepherds, he predicts that, +when the remnant of Jehovah's flock is brought again to their folds, +He will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them,[375] +shepherds according to Jehovah's own heart, who should feed them with +knowledge and understanding.[376] + +Over them Jehovah would establish as Chief Shepherd a Prince of the +House of David. Isaiah had already included in his picture of +Messianic times the fertility of Palestine; its vegetation,[377] by +the blessing of Jehovah, should be beautiful and glorious: he had also +described the Messianic King as a fruitful Branch[378] out of the root +of Jesse. Jeremiah takes the idea of the latter passage, but uses the +language of the former. For him the King of the New Israel is, as it +were, a Growth (çemaḥ) out of the sacred soil, or perhaps more +definitely from the roots of the House of David, that ancient tree +whose trunk had been hewn down and burnt. Both the Growth (çemaḥ) and +the Branch (neçer) had the same vital connection with the soil of +Palestine and the root of David. Our English versions exercised a wise +discretion when they sacrificed literal accuracy and indicated the +identity of idea by translating both "çemaḥ" and "neçer" by "Branch." + +"Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise up unto David a +righteous Branch; and He shall be a wise and prudent King, and He shall +execute justice and maintain the right. In His days Judah shall be saved +and Israel shall dwell securely, and His name shall be Jehovah +'Çidqenu,' Jehovah is our righteousness."[379] Jehovah Çidqenu might +very well be the personal name of a Jewish king, though the form would +be unusual; but what is chiefly intended is that His character shall be +such as the "name" describes. The "name" is a brief and pointed censure +upon a king whose character was the opposite of that described in these +verses, yet who bore a name of almost identical meaning--Zedekiah, +Jehovah is my righteousness. The name of the last reigning Prince of the +House of David had been a standing condemnation of his unworthy life, +but the King of the New Israel, Jehovah's true Messiah, would realise in +His administration all that such a name promised. Sovereigns delight to +accumulate sonorous epithets in their official designations--Highness, +High and Mighty, Majesty, Serene, Gracious. The glaring contrast between +character and titles often only serves to advertise the worthlessness of +those who are labelled with such epithets: the Majesty of James I., the +Graciousness of Richard III. Yet these titles point to a standard of +true royalty, whether the sovereign be an individual or a class or the +people; they describe that Divine Sovereignty which will be realised in +the Kingdom of God.[380] + +The material prosperity of the restored community is set forth with +wealth of glowing imagery. Cities and palaces are to be rebuilt on their +former sites with more than their ancient splendour. "Out of them shall +proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry: and I will +multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and +they shall not be small. And the children of Jacob shall be as of old, +and their assembly shall be established before Me."[381] The figure +often used of the utter desolation of the deserted country is now used +to illustrate its complete restoration: "Yet again there shall be heard +in this place ... the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice +of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride." Throughout all the land +"which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities +thereof," shepherds shall dwell and pasture and fold their flocks; and +in the cities of all the districts of the Southern Kingdom (enumerated +as exhaustively as in xxxii. 44) shall the flocks again pass under the +shepherd's hands to be told.[382] + +Jehovah's own peculiar flock, His Chosen People, shall be fruitful and +multiply according to the primæval blessing; under their new shepherds +they shall no more fear nor be dismayed, neither shall any be +lacking.[383] Jeremiah recurs again and again to the quiet, the +restfulness, the freedom from fear and dismay of the restored Israel. In +this, as in all else, the New Dispensation was to be an entire contrast +to those long weary years of alternate suspense and panic, when men's +hearts were shaken by the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of +war.[384] Israel is to dwell securely at rest from fear of harm.[385] +When Jacob returns, he "shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make +him afraid."[386] Egyptian, Assyrian, and Chaldean shall all cease from +troubling; the memory of past misery shall become dim and shadowy. + +The finest expansion of this idea is a passage which always fills the +soul with a sense of utter rest. "He shall dwell on high: his refuge +shall be the inaccessible rocks: his bread shall be given him; his +waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: +they shall behold a far-stretching land. Thine heart shall muse on the +terror: where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the +tribute? where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see the +fierce people, a people of a deep speech that thou canst not perceive; +of a strange tongue that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, +the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet +habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall +never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. +There Jehovah will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and +streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant +ship pass thereby."[387] + +For Jeremiah too the presence of Jehovah in majesty was the only +possible guarantee of the peace and prosperity of Israel. The voices of +joy and gladness in the New Jerusalem were not only those of bride and +bridegroom, but also of those that said, "Give thanks to Jehovah +Sabaoth, for Jehovah is good, for His mercy endureth for ever," and of +those that "came to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving in the house of +Jehovah."[388] This new David, as the Messianic King is called,[389] is +to have the priestly right of immediate access to God: "I will cause Him +to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me: for else who would risk his +life by daring to approach Me?"[390] Israel is liberated from foreign +conquerors to serve Jehovah their God and David their King; and the Lord +Himself rejoices in His restored and ransomed people. + +The city that was once a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a +curse among all nations shall now be to Jehovah "a name of joy, a +praise and a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall +hear all the good that I do unto them, and shall tremble with fear for +all the good and all the peace that I procure unto it."[391] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[361] Vatke and Stade reject chapters xxx., xxxi., xxxiii., but they +are accepted by Driver, Cornill, Kautzsch (for the most part). +Giesebrecht assigns them partly to Baruch and partly to a later +editor. It is on this account that the full exposition of certain +points in xxxii. and elsewhere has been reserved for the present +chapter. Moreover, if the cardinal ideas come from Jeremiah, we need +not be over-anxious to decide whether the expansion, illustration, and +enforcing of them is due to the prophet himself, or to his disciple +Baruch, or to some other editor. The question is somewhat parallel to +that relating to the discourses of our Lord in the Fourth Gospel. + +[362] xvi. 14, 15, xxiii. 7, 8. + +[363] i. 10. + +[364] xxiv. 6. + +[365] xxx. 5-8. + +[366] xxx. 12-17. + +[367] The two verses xxx. 10, 11, present some difficulty here. +According to Kautzsch, and of course Giesebrecht, they are a later +addition. The ideas can mostly be paralleled elsewhere in Jeremiah. +Verse 11 _b_, "I will correct thee with judgment, and will in no wise +leave thee unpunished," seems inconsistent with the context, which +represents the punishment as actually inflicted. Still, the verses +might be a genuine fragment misplaced. Driver (_Introduction_, 246) +says: "The title of honour 'My servant' ... appears to have formed the +basis upon which II. Isaiah constructs his great conception of +Jehovah's ideal servant." + +[368] xxxiii. 2, 3; "earth" is inserted with the LXX. Many regard these +verses as a later addition, based on II. Isaiah: cf. Isa. xlviii. 6. The +phrase "Jehovah is His name" and the terms "make" and "fashion" are +specially common in II. Isaiah. xxxiii. so largely repeats the ideas of +xxx. that it is most convenient to deal with them together. + +[369] xxxiii. 6-8, slightly paraphrased and condensed. + +[370] xxx. 8, 11, 16, 20. Cf. also the chapters on the prophecies +concerning foreign nations. + +[371] i. 10. + +[372] xii. 14. xxx. 23, 24, is apparently a gloss, added as a suitable +illustration of this chapter, from xxiii. 19, 20, which are almost +identical with these two verses. + +[373] xxx. 21. + +[374] Cf. Chap. VIII. + +[375] xxiii. 3, 4. + +[376] iii. 15. + +[377] Isa. iv. 2, çemaḥ; A.V. and R.V. Branch, R.V. margin Shoot or Bud. + +[378] Isa. xi. 1. + +[379] xxv. 5, 6; repeated in xxxiii. 15, 16, with slight variations. + +[380] In xxxiii. 14-26 the permanence of the Davidic dynasty, the +Levitical priests, and the people of Israel is solemnly assured by a +Divine promise. These verses are not found in the LXX., and are +considered by many to be a later addition; see Kautzsch, Giesebrecht, +Cheyne, etc. They are mostly of a secondary character--15, 16, = +xxiii. 5, 6; here Jerusalem and not its king is called Jehovah +C̦idqenu, possibly because the addition was made when there was no +visible prospect of the restoration of the Davidic dynasty. Verse 17 +is based on the original promise in 2 Sam. vii. 14-16, and is +equivalent to Jer. xxii. 4, 30. The form and substance of the Divine +promise imitate xxxi. 35-37. + +[381] xxx. 18-20. + +[382] xxxiii. 10-13. + +[383] xxiii. 3, 4. + +[384] iv. 19. + +[385] xxiii. 6. + +[386] xxx. 10. + +[387] Isa. xxxiii. 16-21: cf. xxxii. 15-18. + +[388] xxxiii. 11. + +[389] xxx. 9. + +[390] xxx. 21, as Kautzsch. + +[391] xxxiii. 9. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII + + _RESTORATION--III. REUNION_ + + xxxi. + + "I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the + seed of man, and with the seed of beast."--JER. xxxi. 27. + + +In his prophecies of restoration, Jeremiah continually couples +together Judah and Israel.[392] Israel, it is true, often stands for +the whole elect nation, and is so used by Jeremiah. After the +disappearance of the Ten Tribes, the Jewish community is spoken of as +Israel. But Israel, in contrast to Judah, will naturally mean the +Northern Kingdom or its exiled inhabitants. In this chapter Jeremiah +clearly refers to this Israel; he speaks of it under its distinctive +title of Ephraim, and promises that vineyards shall again be planted +on the mountains of Samaria. Jehovah had declared that He would cast +Judah out of His sight, as He had cast out the whole seed of +Ephraim.[393] In the days to come Jehovah would make His new covenant +with the House of Israel, as well as with the House of Judah. +Amos,[394] who was sent to declare the captivity of Israel, also +prophesied its return; and similar promises are found in Micah and +Isaiah.[395] But, in his attitude towards Ephraim, Jeremiah, as in so +much else, is a disciple of Hosea. Both prophets have the same +tender, affectionate interest in this wayward child of God. Hosea +mourns over Ephraim's sin and punishment: "How shall I give thee up, +Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee to thine enemies, O Israel? how +shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim?"[396] +Jeremiah exults in the glory of Ephraim's restoration. Hosea barely +attains to the hope that Israel will return from captivity, or +possibly that its doom may yet be averted. "Mine heart is turned +within Me, My compassions are kindled together. I will not execute the +fierceness of Mine anger, I will not again any more destroy Ephraim: +for I am God, and not man; the Holy One of Israel in the midst of +thee."[397] But Jehovah rather longs to pardon than finds any sign of +the repentance that makes pardon possible; and similarly the +promise--"I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the +lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, +and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as +Lebanon"--is conditioned upon the very doubtful response to the appeal +"O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God."[398] But Jeremiah's +confidence in the glorious future of Ephraim is dimmed by no shade of +misgiving. "They shall be My people, and I will be their God," is the +refrain of Jeremiah's prophecies of restoration; this chapter opens +with a special modification of the formula, which emphatically and +expressly includes both Ephraim and Judah--"I will be the God of all +the clans of Israel, and they shall be My people." + +The Assyrian and Chaldean captivities carried men's thoughts back to +the bondage in Egypt; and the experiences of the Exodus provided +phrases and figures to describe the expected Return. The judges had +delivered individual tribes or groups of tribes. Jeroboam II. had been +the saviour of Samaria; and the overthrow of Sennacherib had rescued +Jerusalem. But the Exodus stood out from all later deliverances as the +birth of the whole people. Hence the prophets often speak of the +Return as a New Exodus. + +This prophecy takes the form of a dialogue between Jehovah and the +Virgin of Israel, _i.e._ the nation personified. Jehovah announces that +the Israelite exiles, the remnant left by the sword of Shalmaneser and +Sargon, were to be more highly favoured than the fugitives from the +sword of Pharaoh, of whom Jehovah sware in His wrath "that they should +not enter into My rest; whose carcases fell in the wilderness." "A +people that hath survived the sword hath found favour in the wilderness; +Israel hath entered into his rest,"[399]--_hath_ found favour--_hath_ +entered--because Jehovah regards His purpose as already accomplished. + +Jehovah speaks from his ancient dwelling-place in Jerusalem, and, when +the Virgin of Israel hears Him in her distant exile, she answers:-- + + "From afar hath Jehovah appeared unto me (saying), + With My ancient love do I love thee; + Therefore My lovingkindness is enduring toward thee."[400] + +His love is as old as the Exodus, His mercy has endured all through +the long, weary ages of Israel's sin and suffering. + +Then Jehovah replies:-- + + "Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O Virgin of + Israel; + Again shalt thou take thy tabrets, and go forth in the dances + of them that make merry; + Again shalt thou plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria, + while they that plant shall enjoy the fruit." + +This contrasts with the times of invasion when the vintage was +destroyed or carried off by the enemy. Then follows the Divine +purpose, the crowning mercy of Israel's renewed prosperity:-- + + "For the day cometh when the vintagers[401] shall cry in the + hill-country of Ephraim, + Arise, let us go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God." + +Israel will no longer keep her vintage feasts in schism at Samaria and +Bethel and her countless high places, but will join with Judah in the +worship of the Temple, which Josiah's covenant had accepted as the one +sanctuary of Jehovah. + +The exultant strain continues stanza after stanza:-- + + "Thus saith Jehovah: + Exult joyously for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the + nations; + Make your praises heard, and say, Jehovah hath saved His + people,[402] even the remnant of Israel. + Behold, I bring them from the land of the north, and gather + them from the uttermost ends of the earth; + Among them blind and lame, pregnant women and women in + travail together." + +None are left behind, not even those least fit for the journey. + + "A great company shall return hither. + They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I + lead them." + +Of old, weeping and supplication had been heard upon the heights of +Israel because of her waywardness and apostasy;[403] but now the +returning exiles offer prayers and thanksgiving mingled with tears, +weeping partly for joy, partly for pathetic memories. + + "I will bring them to streams of water, by a plain path, + wherein they cannot stumble: + For I am become once more a father to Israel, and Ephraim is + My first-born son." + +Of the two Israelite states, Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom, had long +been superior in power, wealth, and religion. Judah was often little +more than a vassal of Samaria, and owed her prosperity and even her +existence to the barrier which Samaria interposed between Jerusalem +and invaders from Assyria or Damascus. Until the latter days of +Samaria, Judah had no prophets that could compare with Elijah and +Elisha. The Jewish prophet is tenacious of the rights of Zion, but he +does not base any claim for the ascendency of Judah on the +geographical position of the Temple; he does not even mention the +sacerdotal tribe of Levi. Jew and priest as he was, he acknowledges +the political and religious hegemony of Ephraim. The fact is a +striking illustration of the stress laid by the prophets on the unity +of Israel, to which all sectional interests were to be sacrificed. If +Ephraim was required to forsake his ancient shrines, Jeremiah was +equally ready to forego any pride of tribe or caste. Did we, in all +our different Churches, possess the same generous spirit, Christian +reunion would no longer be a vain and distant dream. But, passing on +to the next stanza,-- + + "Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and make it known in + the distant islands. + Say, He that scattered Israel doth gather him, and watcheth + over him as a shepherd over his flock. + For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the + hand of him that was too strong for him. + They shall come and sing for joy in the height of Zion; + They shall come in streams to the bounty of Jehovah, for corn + and new wine and oil and lambs and calves." + +Jeremiah does not dwell, in any grasping sacerdotal spirit, on the +contributions which these reconciled schismatics would pay to the +Temple revenues, but rather delights to make mention of their share in +the common blessings of God's obedient children. + + "They shall be like a well-watered garden; they shall no more + be faint and weary: + Then shall they rejoice--the damsels in the dance--the young + men and the old together. + I will turn their mourning into gladness, and will comfort + them, and will bring joy out of their wretchedness. + I will fill the priests with plenty, and My people shall be + satisfied with My bounty-- + It is the utterance of Jehovah." + +It is not quite clear how far, in this chapter, Israel is to be +understood exclusively of Ephraim. If the foregoing stanza is, as it +seems, perfectly general, the priests are simply those of the restored +community, ministering at the Temple; but if the reference is +specially to Ephraim, the priests belong to families involved in the +captivity of the ten tribes, and we have further evidence of the +catholic spirit of the Jewish prophet. + +Another stanza:-- + + "Thus saith Jehovah: + A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, + Rachel weeping for her children. + She refuseth to be comforted for her children, for they are + not." + +Rachel, as the mother of Benjamin and Joseph, claimed an interest in +both the Israelite kingdoms. Jeremiah shows special concern for +Benjamin, in whose territory his native Anathoth was situated.[404] + +"Her children" would be chiefly the Ephraimites and Manassites, who +formed the bulk of the Northern Kingdom; but the phrase was doubtless +intended to include other Jews, that Rachel might be a symbol of +national unity. + +The connection of Rachel with Ramah is not obvious; there is no +precedent for it. Possibly Ramah is not intended for a proper name, +and we might translate "A voice is heard upon the heights." In Gen. +xxxv. 19, Rachel's grave is placed between Bethel and Ephrath,[405] +and in 1 Sam. x. 2, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; only here has +Rachel anything to do with Ramah. The name, however, in its various +forms, was not uncommon. Ramah, to the north of Jerusalem, seems to +have been a frontier town, and debatable territory[406] between the +two kingdoms; and Rachel's appearance there might symbolise her +relation to both. This Ramah was also a slave depot for the +Chaldeans[407] after the fall of Jerusalem, and Rachel might well +revisit the glimpses of the moon at a spot where her descendants had +drunk the first bitter draught of the cup of exile. In any case, the +lines are a fresh appeal to the spirit of national unity. The prophet +seems to say: "Children of the same mother, sharers in the same fate, +whether of ruin or restoration, remember the ties that bind you and +forget your ancient feuds." Rachel, wailing in ghostly fashion, was +yet a name to conjure with, and the prophet hoped that her symbolic +tears could water the renewed growth of Israel's national life. +Christ, present in His living Spirit, lacerated at heart by the bitter +feuds of those who call Him Lord, should temper the harsh judgments +that Christians pass on servants of their One Master. The Jewish +prophet lamenting the miseries of schismatic Israel contrasts with the +Pope singing _Te Deums_ over the massacre of St. Bartholomew. + +Then comes the answer:-- + + "Thus saith Jehovah: + Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears. + Thou shalt have wages for thy labour--it is the utterance of + Jehovah--they shall return from the enemy's land. + There is hope for thee in the days to come--it is the + utterance of Jehovah--thy children shall return to + their own border."[408] + +The Niobe of the nation is comforted, but now is heard another voice:-- + + "Surely I hear Ephraim bemoaning himself: Thou hast chastised + me; I am chastised like a calf not yet broken to the + yoke. + Restore me to Thy favour, that I may return unto Thee, for + Thou art Jehovah my God. + In returning unto Thee, I repent; when I come to myself, I + smite upon my thigh in penitence."[409] + +The image of the calf is another reminiscence of Hosea, with whom +Israel figures as a "backsliding heifer" and Ephraim as a "heifer that +has been broken in and loveth to tread out the corn"; though +apparently in Hosea Ephraim is broken in to wickedness. Possibly this +figure was suggested by the calves at Bethel and Dan. + +The moaning of Ephraim, like the wailing of Rachel, is met and +answered by the Divine compassion. By a bold and touching figure, +Jehovah is represented as surprised at the depth of His passionate +affection for His prodigal son:-- + + "Can it be that Ephraim is indeed a son that is precious to + Me? is he indeed a darling child? + As often as I speak against him, I cannot cease to remember + him,[410] + Wherefore My tender compassion is moved towards him: verily I + will have mercy on him-- + It is the utterance of Jehovah." + +As with Hosea, Israel is still the child whom Jehovah loved, the son +whom He called out of Egypt. But now Israel is called with a more +effectual calling:-- + + "Set thee up pillars of stone,[411] to mark the way; make thee + guide-posts: set thy heart toward the highway + whereby thou wentest. + Return, O Virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities." + +The following verse strikes a note of discord, that suggests the +revulsion of feeling, the sudden access of doubt, that sometimes +follows the most ecstatic moods:-- + + "How long wilt thou wander to and fro, O backsliding daughter? + Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth--a woman shall + compass a man." + +It is just possible that this verse is not intended to express doubt +of Israel's cordial response, but is merely an affectionate urgency +that presses the immediate appropriation of the promised blessings. +But such an exegesis seems forced, and the verse is a strange +termination to the glowing stanzas that precede. It may have been +added when all hope of the return of the ten tribes was over.[412] + +The meaning of the concluding enigma is as profound a mystery as the +fate of the lost tribes, and the solutions rather more unsatisfactory. +The words apparently denote that the male and the female shall +interchange functions, and an explanation often given is that, in the +profound peace of the New Dispensation, the women will protect the men. +This portent seems to be the sign which is to win the Virgin of Israel +from her vacillation and induce her to return at once to Palestine. + +In Isaiah xliii. 19 the "new thing" which Jehovah does is to make a +way in the untrodden desert and rivers in the parched wilderness. A +parallel interpretation, suggested for our passage, is that women +should develop manly strength and courage, as abnormal to them as +roads and rivers to a wilderness. When women were thus endowed, men +could not for shame shrink from the perils of the Return. + +In Isaiah iv. 1 seven women court one man, and it has been +suggested[413] that the sense here is "women shall court men," but it +is difficult to see how this would be relevant. Another parallel has +been sought for in the Immanuel and other prophecies of Isaiah, in +which the birth of a child is set forth as a sign. Our passage would +then assume a Messianic character; the return of the Virgin of Israel +would be postponed till her doubts and difficulties should be solved +by the appearance of a new Moses.[414] This view has much to commend +it, but does not very readily follow from the usage of the word +translated "compass." Still less can we regard these words as a +prediction of the miraculous conception of our Lord. + +The next stanza connects the restoration of Judah with that of +Ephraim, and, for the most part, goes over ground already traversed in +our previous chapters; one or two points only need be noticed here. It +is in accordance with the catholic and gracious spirit which +characterises this chapter that the restoration of Judah is expressly +connected with that of Ephraim. The combination of the future fortunes +of both in a single prophecy emphasises their reunion. The heading of +this stanza, "Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel," is +different from that hitherto used, and has a special significance in +its present context. It is "the God of Israel" to whom Ephraim is a +darling child and a first-born son, the God of that Israel which for +centuries stood before the world as Ephraim; it is this God who +blesses and redeems Judah. Her faint and weary soul is also to be +satisfied with His plenty; Zion is to be honoured as the habitation of +justice and the mountain of holiness. + +"Hereupon," saith the prophet, "I awaked and looked about me, and felt +that my sleep had been pleasant to me." The vision had come to him, in +some sense, as a dream. Zechariah[415] had to be aroused, like a man +wakened out of his sleep, in order to receive the Divine message; and +possibly Zechariah's sleep was the ecstatic trance in which he had +beheld previous visions. Jeremiah, however, shows scant +confidence[416] in the inspiration of those who dream dreams, and it +does not seem likely that this is a unique exception to his ordinary +experience. Perhaps we may say with Orelli that the prophet had become +lost in the vision of future blessedness as in some sweet dream. + +In the following stanza Jehovah promises to recruit the dwindled +numbers of Israel and Judah; with a sowing more gracious and fortunate +than that of Cadmus, He will scatter[417] over the land, not dragons' +teeth, but the seed of man and beast. Recurring[418] to Jeremiah's +original commission, He promises that as He watched over Judah to +pluck up and to break down, to overthrow and to destroy and to +afflict, so now He will watch over them to build and to plant. + +The next verse is directed against a lingering dread, by which men's +minds were still possessed. More than half a century elapsed between +the death of Manasseh and the fall of Jerusalem. He was succeeded by +Josiah, who "turned to Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his +soul, and with all his might."[419] Yet Jehovah declared to Jeremiah +that Manasseh's sins had irrevocably fixed the doom of Judah, so that +not even the intercession of Moses and Samuel could procure her +pardon.[420] Men might well doubt whether the guilt of that wicked +reign was even yet fully expiated, whether their teeth might not still +be set on edge because of the sour grapes which Manasseh had eaten. +Therefore the prophet continues: "In those days men shall no longer +say, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are +set on edge; but every man shall die for his own transgression, all +who eat sour grapes shall have their own teeth set on edge." Or to use +the explicit words of Ezekiel, in the great chapter in which he +discusses this permanent theological difficulty: "The soul that +sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the +father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the +righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness +of the wicked shall be upon him."[421] With the fall of Jerusalem, a +chapter in the history of Israel was concluded for ever; Jehovah +blotted out the damning record of the past, and turned over a new leaf +in the annals of His people. The account between Jehovah and the +Israel of the monarchy was finally closed, and no penal balance was +carried over to stand against the restored community. + +The last portion of this chapter is so important that we must reserve +it for separate treatment, but we may pause for a moment to consider +the prophecy of the restoration of Ephraim from two points of +view--the unity of Israel and the return of the ten tribes. + +In the first place, this chapter is an eirenicon, intended to consign +to oblivion the divisions and feuds of the Chosen People. After the +fall of Samaria, the remnant of Israel had naturally looked to Judah +for support and protection, and the growing weakness of Assyria had +allowed the Jewish kings to exercise a certain authority over the +territory of northern tribes. The same fate--the sack of the capital +and the deportation of most of the inhabitants--had successively +befallen Ephraim and Judah. His sense of the unity of the race was too +strong to allow the prophet to be satisfied with the return of Judah +and Benjamin, apart from the other tribes. Yet it would have been +monstrous to suppose that Jehovah would bring back Ephraim from +Assyria, and Judah from Babylon, only that they might resume their +mutual hatred and suspicion. Even wild beasts are said not to rend one +another when they are driven by floods to the same hill-top. + +Thus various causes contributed to produce a kindlier feeling between +the survivors of the catastrophes of Samaria and Jerusalem; and from +henceforth those of the ten tribes who found their way back to Palestine +lived in brotherly union with the other Jews. And, on the whole, the +Jews have since remained united both as a race and a religious +community. It is true that the relations of the later Jews to Samaria +were somewhat at variance both with the letter and spirit of this +prophecy, but that Samaria had only the slightest claim to be included +in Israel. Otherwise the divisions between Hillel and Shammai, Sadducees +and Pharisees, Karaites, Sephardim and Ashkenazim, Reformed and +Unreformed Jews, have rather been legitimate varieties of opinion and +practice within Judaism than a rending asunder of the Israel of God. + +Matters stand very differently with regard to the restoration of +Ephraim. We know that individual members and families of the ten +tribes were included in the new Jewish community, and that the Jews +reoccupied Galilee and portions of Eastern Palestine. But the +husbandmen who had planted vineyards on the hills of Samaria were +violently repulsed by Ezra and Nehemiah, and were denied any part or +lot in the restored Israel. The tribal inheritance of Ephraim and +Manasseh was never reoccupied by Ephraimites and Manassites who came +to worship Jehovah in His Temple at Jerusalem. There was no return of +the ten tribes that in any way corresponded to the terms of this +prophecy or that could rank with the return of their brethren. Our +growing acquaintance with the races of the world seems likely to +exclude even the possibility of any such restoration of Ephraim. Of +the two divisions of Israel, so long united in common experiences of +grace and chastisement, the one has been taken and the other left. + +Christendom is the true heir of the ideals of Israel, but she is +mostly content to inherit them as counsels of perfection. Isaiah[422] +struck the keynote of this chapter when he prophesied that Ephraim +should not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim. Our prophet, in the +same generous spirit, propounds a programme of reconciliation. It +might serve for a model to those who construct schemes for Christian +Reunion. When two denominations are able to unite on such terms that +the one admits the other to be the first-born of God, His darling +child and precious in His sight, and the latter is willing to accept +the former's central sanctuary as the headquarters of the united body, +we shall have come some way towards realising this ancient Jewish +ideal. Meanwhile Ephraim remains consumed with envy of Judah; and +Judah apparently considers it her most sacred duty to vex Ephraim. + +Moreover the disappearance of what was at one time the most +flourishing branch of the Hebrew Church has many parallels in Church +History. Again and again religious dissension has been one of the +causes of political ruin, and the overthrow of a Christian state has +sometimes involved the extinction of its religion. Christian thought +and doctrine owe an immense debt to the great Churches of Northern +Africa and Egypt. But these provinces were torn by the dissensions of +ecclesiastical parties; and the quarrels of Donatists, Arians, and +Catholics in North Africa, the endless controversies over the Person +of Christ in Egypt, left them helpless before the Saracen invader. +To-day the Church of Tertullian and Augustine is blotted out, and the +Church of Origen and Clement is a miserable remnant. Similarly the +ecclesiastical strife between Rome and Constantinople lost to +Christendom some of the fairest provinces of Europe and Asia, and +placed Christian races under the rule of the Turk. + +Even now the cause of Christians in heathen and Mohammedan countries +suffers from the jealousy of Christian states, and modern Churches +sometimes avail themselves of this jealousy to try and oust their +rivals from promising fields for mission work. + +It is a melancholy reflection that Jeremiah's effort at reconciliation +came too late, when the tribes whom it sought to reunite were hopelessly +set asunder. Reconciliation, which involves a kind of mutual repentance, +can ill afford to be deferred to the eleventh hour. In the last agonies +of the Greek Empire, there was more than one formal reconciliation +between the Eastern and Western Churches; but they also came too late, +and could not survive the Empire which they failed to preserve. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[392] xxxiii., 7, etc. + +[393] vii. 15. + +[394] Amos ix. 14. + +[395] Micah ii. 12; Isa. xi. 10-16. + +[396] Hosea xi. 8. + +[397] Hosea xi. 9. + +[398] Hosea xiv. + +[399] So _Giesebrecht_, reading with Jerome and Targum _l'margô'ô_ for +the obscure and obviously corrupt _l'hargî'ô_. The other versions vary +widely in their readings. + +[400] R.V. "with lovingkindness have I drawn thee," R.V. margin "have +I continued lovingkindness unto thee"; the word for "drawn" occurs +also in Hosea xi. 4, "I drew them ... with bands of love." + +[401] So Giesebrecht's conjecture of _bocerim_ (vintages), for the +_nocerim_ (watchmen, R.V.). The latter is usually explained of the +watcher who looked for the appearance of the new moon, in order to +determine the time of the feasts. The practice is stated on negative +grounds to be post-exilic, but seems likely to be ancient. On the other +hand "vintagers" seems a natural sequel to the preceding clauses. + +[402] According to the reading of the LXX. and the Targum, the Hebrew +Text has (as R.V.) "O Jehovah, save Thy people." + +[403] iii. 21. + +[404] Isaiah does not mention Benjamin. + +[405] "Which is Bethlehem," in Genesis, is probably a later +explanatory addition; and the explanation is not necessarily a +mistake. Cf. Matt. ii. 18. + +[406] 1 Kings xv. 17. + +[407] xl. 1. + +[408] LXX. omits verse 17 _b_, _i.e._ from "Jehovah" to "border." + +[409] Slightly paraphrased. + +[410] More literally as R.V., "I do earnestly remember him still." + +[411] The Hebrew Text has the same word, "tamrurim," here that is used +in verse 15 in the phrase "bekhi tamrurim," "weeping of bitternesses" or +"bitter weeping." It is difficult to believe that the coincidence is +accidental, and Hebrew literature is given to paronomasia; at the same +time the distance of the words and the complete absence of point in this +particular instance are remarkable. The LXX., not understanding the +word, represented it _more suo_ by the similar Greek word τιμωρίαν, +which may indicate that the original reading was "timorim," and the +assimilation to "tamrurim" may be a scribe's caprice. In any case, the +word here connects with "tamar," a palm, the post being made of or like +a palm tree. Cf. Giesebrecht, Orelli, Cheyne, etc. + +[412] Giesebrecht treats verses 21-26 as a later addition, but this +seems unnecessary. + +[413] So Kautzsch. + +[414] Cf. Streane, Cambridge Bible. + +[415] Zech. iv. 1. + +[416] xxiii, 25-32, xxvii. 9, xxix. 8: cf. Deut. xiii. 1-5. + +[417] Cf. Hosea ii. 23, "I will sow her unto Me in the earth" (or +land), in reference to _Jezreel_, understood as "Whom God soweth" +(R.V. margin). + +[418] i. 10-12. + +[419] 2 Kings xxiii. 25. + +[420] xv. 1-4. + +[421] Ezek. xviii. 20: cf. Cheyne, _Jeremiah_ (Men of the Bible), p. +150. + +[422] Isa. xi. 13. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII + + _RESTORATION--IV. THE NEW COVENANT_ + + xxxi. 31-38: cf. Hebrews viii. + + "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house + of Judah."--JER. xxxi. 31. + + +The religious history of Israel in the Old Testament has for its +epochs a series of covenants: Jehovah declared His gracious purposes +towards His people, and made known the conditions upon which they were +to enjoy His promised blessings; they, on their part, undertook to +observe faithfully all that Jehovah commanded. We are told that +covenants were made with Noah, after the Flood; with Abraham, when he +was assured that his descendants should inherit the land of Canaan; at +Sinai, when Israel first became a nation; with Joshua, after the +Promised Land was conquered; and, at the close of Old Testament +history, when Ezra and Nehemiah established the Pentateuch as the Code +and Canon of Judaism. + +One of the oldest sections of the Pentateuch, Exodus xx. 20-xxiii. 33, +is called the "Book of the Covenant,"[423] and Ewald named the +Priestly Code the "Book of the Four Covenants." Judges and Samuel +record no covenants between Jehovah and Israel; but the promise of +permanence to the Davidic dynasty is spoken of as an everlasting +covenant. Isaiah,[424] Amos, and Micah make no mention of the Divine +covenants. Jeremiah, however, imitates Hosea[425] in emphasising this +aspect of Jehovah's relation to Israel, and is followed in his turn by +Ezekiel and II. Isaiah. + +Jeremiah had played his part in establishing covenants between Israel +and its God. He is not, indeed, even so much as mentioned in the account +of Josiah's reformation; and it is not clear that he himself makes any +express reference to it; so that some doubt must still be felt as to his +share in that great movement. At the same time indirect evidence seems +to afford proof of the common opinion that Jeremiah was active in the +proceedings which resulted in the solemn engagement to observe the code +of Deuteronomy. But yet another covenant occupies a chapter[426] in the +Book of Jeremiah, and in this case there is no doubt that the prophet +was the prime mover in inducing the Jews to release their Hebrew slaves. +This act of emancipation was adopted in obedience to an ordinance of +Deuteronomy,[427] so that Jeremiah's experience of former covenants was +chiefly connected with the code of Deuteronomy and the older Book of the +Covenant upon which it was based. + +The Restoration to which Jeremiah looked forward was to throw the +Exodus into the shade, and to constitute a new epoch in the history of +Israel more remarkable than the first settlement in Canaan. The nation +was to be founded anew, and its regeneration would necessarily rest +upon a New Covenant, which would supersede the Covenant of Sinai. + +"Behold, the days come--it is the utterance of Jehovah--when I will +enter into a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of +Judah: not according to the covenant into which I entered with your +fathers, when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of +Egypt." + +The Book of the Covenant and Deuteronomy had both been editions of the +Mosaic Covenant, and had neither been intended nor regarded as +anything new. Whatever was fresh in them, either in form or substance, +was merely the adaptation of existing ordinances to altered +circumstances. But now the Mosaic Covenant was declared obsolete, the +New Covenant was not to be, like Deuteronomy, merely a fresh edition +of the earliest code. The Return from Babylon, like the primitive +Migration from Ur and like the Exodus from Egypt, was to be the +occasion of a new Revelation, placing the relations of Jehovah and His +people on a new footing. + +When Ezra and Nehemiah established, as the Covenant of the +Restoration, yet another edition of the Mosaic ordinances, they were +acting in the teeth of this prophecy--not because Jehovah had changed +His purpose, but because the time of fulfilment had not yet come.[428] + +The rendering of the next clause is uncertain, and, in any case, the +reason given for setting aside the old covenant is not quite what +might have been expected. The Authorised and Revised Versions +translate: "Which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband +unto them";[429] thus introducing that Old Testament figure of +marriage between Jehovah and Israel which is transferred in Ephesians +and the Apocalypse to Christ and the Church. The margin of the Revised +Version has: "Forasmuch as they brake My covenant, although I was lord +over them." There is little difference between these two translations, +both of which imply that in breaking the covenant Israel was setting +aside Jehovah's legitimate claim to obedience. A third translation, on +much the same lines, would be "although I was Baal unto _or_ over +them";[430] Baal or ba'al being found for lord, husband, in ancient +times as a name of Jehovah, and in Jeremiah's time as a name of +heathen gods. Jeremiah is fond of paronomasia, and frequently refers +to Baal, so that he may have been here deliberately ambiguous. The +phrase might suggest to the Hebrew reader that Jehovah was the true +lord or husband of Israel, and the true Baal or God, but that Israel +had come to regard Him as a mere Baal, like one of the Baals of the +heathen. "Forasmuch as they, on their part, set at nought My covenant; +so that I, their true Lord, became to them as a mere heathen Baal." +The covenant and the God who gave it were alike treated with contempt. + +The Septuagint, which is quoted in Hebrews viii. 9, has another +translation: "And I regarded them not."[431] Unless this represents a +different reading,[432] it is probably due to a feeling that the form +of the Hebrew sentence required a close parallelism. Israel neglected +to observe the covenant, and Jehovah ceased to feel any interest in +Israel. But the idea of the latter clause seems alien to the context. + +In any case, the new and better covenant is offered to Israel, after +it has failed to observe the first covenant. This Divine procedure is +not quite according to many of our theories. The law of ordinances is +often spoken of as adapted to the childhood of the race. We set +children easy tasks, and when these are successfully performed we +require of them something more difficult. We grant them limited +privileges, and if they make a good use of them the children are +promoted to higher opportunities. We might perhaps have expected that +when the Israelites failed to observe the Mosaic ordinances, they +would have been placed under a narrower and harsher dispensation; yet +their very failure leads to the promise of a better covenant still. +Subsequent history, indeed, qualifies the strangeness of the Divine +dealing. Only a remnant of Israel survived as the people of God. The +Covenant of Ezra was very different from the New Covenant of Jeremiah; +and the later Jews, as a community,[433] did not accept that +dispensation of grace which ultimately realised Jeremiah's prophecy. +In a narrow and unspiritual fashion the Jews of the Restoration +observed the covenant of external ordinances; so that, in a certain +sense, the Law was fulfilled before the new Kingdom of God was +inaugurated. But if Isaiah and Jeremiah had reviewed the history of +the restored community, they would have declined to receive it as, in +any sense, the fulfilling of a Divine covenant. The Law of Moses was +not fulfilled, but made void, by the traditions of the Pharisees. The +fact therefore remains, that failure in the lower forms, so to speak, +of God's school is still followed by promotion to higher privileges. +However little we may be able to reconcile this truth with _a priori_ +views of Providence, it has analogies in nature, and reveals new +depths of Divine love and greater resourcefulness of Divine grace. +Boys whose early life is unsatisfactory nevertheless grow up into the +responsibilities and privileges of manhood; and the wilful, +disobedient child does not always make a bad man. We are apt to think +that the highest form of development is steady, continuous, and +serene, from good to better, from better to best. The real order is +more awful and stupendous, combining good and evil, success and +failure, victory and defeat, in its continuous advance through the +ages. The wrath of man is not the only evil passion that praises God +by its ultimate subservience to His purpose. We need not fear lest +such Divine overruling of sin should prove any temptation to +wrongdoing, seeing that it works, as in the exile of Israel, through +the anguish and humiliation of the sinner. + +The next verse explains the character of the New Covenant; once +Jehovah wrote His law on tables of stone, but now:-- + + "This is the covenant which I will conclude with the House of + Israel after those days--it is the utterance of + Jehovah-- + I will put My law within them, and will write it upon their + heart; + And I will be their God, and they shall be My people." + +These last words were an ancient formula for the immemorial relation +of Jehovah and Israel, but they were to receive new fulness of +meaning. The inner law, written on the heart, is in contrast to Mosaic +ordinances. It has, therefore, two essential characteristics: first, +it governs life, not by fixed external regulations, but by the +continual control of heart and conscience by the Divine Spirit; +secondly, obedience is rendered to the Divine Will, not from external +compulsion, but because man's inmost nature is possessed by entire +loyalty to God. The new law involves no alteration of the standards of +morality or of theological doctrine, but it lays stress on the +spiritual character of man's relation to God, and therefore on the +fact that God is a spiritual and moral being. When man's obedience is +claimed on the ground of God's irresistible power, and appeal is made +to material rewards and punishments, God's personality is obscured and +the way is opened for the deification of political or material Force. +This doctrine of setting aside of ancient codes by the authority of +the Inner Law is implied in many passages of our book. The superseding +of the Mosaic Law is set forth by a most expressive symbol,[434] "When +ye are multiplied and increased in the land, 'The Ark of the Covenant +of Jehovah' shall no longer be the watchword of Israel: men shall +neither think of the ark nor remember it; they shall neither miss the +ark nor make another in its place." The Ark and the Mosaic Torah were +inseparably connected; if the Ark was to perish and be forgotten, the +Law must also be annulled. + +Jeremiah moreover discerned with Paul that there was a law in the +members warring against the Law of Jehovah: "The sin of Judah is written +with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon +the table of their heart, and upon the horns of their altars."[435] + +Hence the heart of the people had to be changed before they could +enter into the blessings of the Restoration: "I will give them an +heart to know Me, that I am Jehovah: and they shall be My people, and +I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole +heart."[436] In the exposition of the symbolic purchase of Hanameel's +field, Jehovah promises to make an everlasting covenant with His +people, that He will always do them good and never forsake them. Such +continual blessings imply that Israel will always be faithful. Jehovah +no longer seeks to ensure their fidelity by an external law, with its +alternate threats and promises: He will rather control the inner life +by His grace. "I will give them one heart and one way, that they may +fear Me for ever; ... I will put My fear in their hearts, that they +may not depart from Me."[437] + +We must not, of course, suppose that these principles--of obedience from +loyal enthusiasm, and of the guidance of heart and conscience by the +Spirit of Jehovah--were new to the religion of Israel. They are implied +in the idea of prophetic inspiration. When Saul went home to Gibeah, +"there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched."[438] +In Deuteronomy, Israel is commanded to "love Jehovah thy God with all +thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these +words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart."[439] + +The novelty of Jeremiah's teaching is that these principles are made +central in the New Covenant. Even Deuteronomy, which approaches so +closely to the teaching of Jeremiah, was a new edition of the Covenant +of the Exodus, an attempt to secure a righteous life by exhaustive +rules and by external sanctions. Jeremiah had witnessed and probably +assisted the effort to reform Judah by the enforcement of the +Deuteronomic Code. But when Josiah's religious policy collapsed after +his defeat and death at Megiddo, Jeremiah lost faith in elaborate +codes, and turned from the letter to the spirit. + +The next feature of the New Covenant naturally follows from its being +written upon men's hearts by the finger of Jehovah:-- + + "Men shall no longer teach one another and teach each other, + saying, Know ye Jehovah! + For all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest--it is + the utterance of Jehovah." + +In ancient times men could only "know Jehovah" and ascertain His will by +resorting to some sanctuary, where the priests preserved and transmitted +the sacred tradition and delivered the Divine oracles. Written codes +scarcely altered the situation; copies would be few and far between, and +still mostly in the custody of the priests. Whatever drawbacks arise +from attaching supreme religious authority to a printed book were +multiplied a thousandfold when codes could only be copied. But, in the +New Israel, men's spiritual life would not be at the mercy of pen, ink, +and paper, of scribe and priest. The man who had a book and could read +would no longer be able, with the self-importance of exclusive +knowledge, to bid his less fortunate brethren to know Jehovah. He +Himself would be the one teacher, and His instruction would fall, like +the sunshine and the rain, upon all hearts alike. + +And yet again Israel is assured that past sin shall not hinder the +fulfilment of this glorious vision:-- + + "For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I + remember no more." + +Recurring to the general topic of the Restoration of Israel, the +prophet affixes the double seal of two solemn Divine asseverations. Of +old, Jehovah had promised Noah: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime +and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall +not cease."[440] Now He promises that while sun and moon and stars and +sea continue in their appointed order, Israel shall not cease from +being a nation. And, again, Jehovah will not cast off Israel on +account of its sin till the height of heaven can be measured and the +foundations of the earth searched out.[441] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[423] Exod. xxiv. 7. + +[424] _I.e._ in the sections generally acknowledged. + +[425] Hosea ii. 18, vi. 7, viii. 1. + +[426] xxxiv. + +[427] Cf. xxxiv. 14 with Deut. xv. 12 and Exod. xxi. 2. + +[428] Cf. Prof. Adeney's _Ezra_, _Nehemiah_, etc., in this series. + +[429] So also Kautzsch, Reuss, Sugfried, and Stade. The same phrase is +thus translated in iii. 14. + +[430] "I was Baal" = "ba'alti." + +[431] ἠμέλησα. + +[432] נצלתי; נצל occurs in xiv. 19, and is translated by A.V. and R.V. +"loathed." + +[433] We usually underrate the proportion of Jews who embraced +Christianity. Hellenistic Judaism disappeared as Christianity became +widely diffused, and was probably for the most part absorbed into the +new faith. + +[434] iii. 16, slightly paraphrased. + +[435] xvii. 1. + +[436] xxiv. 7. + +[437] xxxii. 39, 40. + +[438] 1 Sam. x. 26. + +[439] Deut. vi. 5, 6. + +[440] Gen. viii. 22 (J.). + +[441] Verses 35-37 occur in the LXX. in the order 37, 35, 36. They are +considered by many critics to be a later addition. The most remarkable +feature of the paragraph is the clause translated by the Authorised +Version "which divideth [Revised Version, text "stirreth up," margin +"stilleth"] the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of Hosts is +His name." This whole clause is taken word for word from Isa. li. 15, +"I am Jehovah thy God, which stirreth up," etc. It seems clear that +either this clause or 35-37 as a whole were added by an editor +acquainted with II. Isaiah. The prophecy, as it stands in the +Masoretic text, is concluded by a detailed description of the site of +the restored Jerusalem. The contrast between the glorious vision of +the New Israel and these architectural specifications is almost +grotesque. Verses 38-40 are regarded by many as a later addition; and +even if they are by Jeremiah, they form an independent prophecy and +have no connection with the rest of the chapter. Our knowledge of the +geographical points mentioned is not sufficient to enable us to define +the site assigned to the restored city. The point of verse 40 is that +the most unclean districts of the ancient city shall partake of the +sanctity of the New Jerusalem. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV + + _RESTORATION--V. REVIEW_ + + xxx.-xxxiii. + + +In reviewing these chapters we must be careful not to suppose that +Jeremiah knew all that would ultimately result from his teaching. When +he declared that the conditions of the New Covenant would be written, +not in a few parchments, but on every heart, he laid down a principle +which involved the most characteristic teaching of the New Testament and +the Reformers, and which might seem to justify extreme mysticism. When +we read these prophecies in the light of history, they seem to lead by a +short and direct path to the Pauline doctrines of Faith and Grace. +Constraining grace is described in the words: "I will put My fear in +their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."[442] Justification by +faith instead of works substitutes the response of the soul to the +Spirit of God for conformity to a set of external regulations--the +writing on the heart for the carving of ordinances on stone. Yet, as +Newton's discovery of the law of gravitation did not make him aware of +all that later astronomers have discovered, so Jeremiah did not +anticipate Paul and Augustine, Luther and Calvin: he was only their +forerunner. Still less did he intend to affirm all that has been taught +by the Brothers of the Common Life or the Society of Friends. We have +followed the Epistle to the Hebrews in interpreting his prophecy of the +New Covenant as abrogating the Mosaic code and inaugurating a new +departure upon entirely different lines. This view is supported by his +attitude towards the Temple, and especially the Ark. At the same time we +must not suppose that Jeremiah contemplated the summary and entire +abolition of the previous dispensation. He simply delivers his latest +message from Jehovah, without bringing its contents into relation with +earlier truth, without indeed waiting to ascertain for himself how the +old and the new were to be combined. But we may be sure that the Divine +writing on the heart would have included much that was already written +in Deuteronomy, and that both books and teachers would have had their +place in helping men to recognise and interpret the inner leadings of +the Spirit. + +In rising from the perusal of these chapters the reader is tempted to +use the prophet's words with a somewhat different meaning: "I awaked +and looked about me, and felt that I had had a pleasant dream."[443] +Renan, with cynical frankness, heads a chapter on such prophecies with +the title "Pious Dreams." While Jeremiah's glowing utterances rivet +our attention, the gracious words fall like balm upon our aching +hearts, and we seem, like the Apostle, caught up into Paradise. But as +soon as we try to connect our visions with any realities, past, +present, or in prospect, there comes a rude awakening. The restored +community attained to no New Covenant, but was only found worthy of a +fresh edition of the written code. Instead of being committed to the +guidance of the ever-present Spirit of Jehovah, they were placed under +a rigid and elaborate system of externals--"carnal ordinances, +concerned with meats and drinks and divers washings, imposed until a +time of reformation."[444] They still remained under the covenant +"from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. Now +this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to the Jerusalem +that now is: for she is in bondage with her children."[445] + +For these bondservants of the letter, there arose no David, no glorious +Scion of the ancient stock. For a moment the hopes of Zechariah rested +on Zerubbabel, but this Branch quickly withered away and was forgotten. +We need not underrate the merits and services of Ezra and Nehemiah, of +Simon the Just and Judas Maccabæus; and yet we cannot find any one of +them who answers to the Priestly King of Jeremiah's visions. The new +Growth of Jewish royalty came to an ignominious end in Aristobulus, +Hyrcanus, and the Herods, Antichrists rather than Messiahs. + +The Reunion of long-divided Israel is for the most part a misnomer; +there was no healing of the wound, and the offending member was cut off. + +Even now, when the leaven of the Kingdom has been working in the lump +of humanity for nearly two thousand years, any suggestion that these +chapters are realised in Modern Christianity would seem cruel irony. +Renan accuses Christianity of having quickly forgotten the programme +which its Founder borrowed from the prophets, and of having become a +religion like other religions, a religion of priests and sacrifices, +of external observances and superstitions.[446] It is sometimes +asserted that Protestants lack faith and courage to trust to any law +written on the heart, and cling to a printed book, as if there were no +Holy Spirit--as if the Branch of David had borne fruit once for all, +and Christ were dead. The movement for Christian Reunion seems thus +far chiefly to emphasise the feuds that make the Church a kingdom +divided against itself. + +But we must not allow the obvious shortcomings of Christendom to blind +us to brighter aspects of truth. Both in the Jews of the Restoration +and in the Church of Christ we have a real fulfilment of Jeremiah's +prophecies. The fulfilment is no less real because it is utterly +inadequate. Prophecy is a guide-post and not a mile-stone; it shows +the way to be trodden, not the duration of the journey. Jews and +Christians have fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecies because they have +advanced by the road along which he pointed towards the spiritual city +of his vision. The "pious dreams" of a little group of enthusiasts +have become the ideals and hopes of humanity. Even Renan ranks himself +among the disciples of Jeremiah: "The seed sown in religious tradition +by inspired Israelites will not perish; all of us who seek a God +without priests, a revelation without prophets, a covenant written in +the heart, are in many respects the disciples of these ancient +fanatics (_ces vieux égarés_)."[447] + +The Judaism of the Return, with all its faults and shortcomings, was +still an advance in the direction Jeremiah had indicated. However +ritualistic the Pentateuch may seem to us, it was far removed from +exclusive trust in ritual. Where the ancient Israelite had relied upon +correct observance of the forms of his sanctuary, the Torah of Ezra +introduced a large moral and spiritual element, which served to bring +the soul into direct fellowship with Jehovah. "Pity and humanity are +pushed to their utmost limits, always of course in the bosom of the +family of Israel."[448] The Torah moreover included the great commands +to love God and man, which once for all placed the religion of Israel +on a spiritual basis. If the Jews often attached more importance to +the letter and form of Revelation than to its substance, and were more +careful for ritual and external observances than for inner +righteousness, we have no right to cast a stone at them. + +It is a curious phenomenon that after the time of Ezra the further +developments of the Torah were written no longer on parchment, but, in +a certain sense, on the heart. The decisions of the rabbis +interpreting the Pentateuch, "the fence which they made round the +law," were not committed to writing, but learnt by heart and handed +down by oral tradition. Possibly this custom was partly due to +Jeremiah's prophecy. It is a strange illustration of the way in which +theology sometimes wrests the Scriptures to its own destruction, that +the very prophecy of the triumph of the spirit over the letter was +made of none effect by a literal interpretation. + +Nevertheless, though Judaism moved only a very little way towards +Jeremiah's ideal, yet it did move, its religion was distinctly more +spiritual than that of ancient Israel. Although Judaism claimed finality +and did its best to secure that no future generation should make further +progress, yet in spite of, nay, even by means of, Pharisee and Sadducee, +the Jews were prepared to receive and transmit that great resurrection +of prophetic teaching which came through Christ. + +If even Judaism did not altogether fail to conform itself to +Jeremiah's picture of the New Israel, clearly Christianity must have +shaped itself still more fully according to his pattern. In the Old +Testament both the idea and the name of a "New Covenant,"[449] +superseding that of Moses, are peculiar to Jeremiah, and the New +Testament consistently represents the Christian dispensation as a +fulfilment of Jeremiah's prophecy. Besides the express and detailed +application in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ instituted the +Lord's Supper as the Sacrament of His New Covenant--"This cup is the +New Covenant in My blood";[450] and St. Paul speaks of himself as "a +minister of the New Covenant."[451] Christianity has not been unworthy +of the claim made on its behalf by its Founder, but has realised, at +any rate in some measure, the visible peace, prosperity, and unity of +Jeremiah's New Israel, as well as the spirituality of his New +Covenant. Christendom has its hideous blots of misery and sin, but, on +the whole, the standard of material comfort and intellectual culture +has been raised to a high average throughout the bulk of a vast +population. Internal order and international concord have made +enormous strides since the time of Jeremiah. If an ancient Israelite +could witness the happy security of a large proportion of English +workmen and French peasants, he would think that many of the +predictions of his prophets had been fulfilled. But the advance of +large classes to a prosperity once beyond the dreams of the most +sanguine only brings out in darker relief the wretchedness of their +less fortunate brethren. In view of the growing knowledge and enormous +resources of modern society, any toleration of its cruel wrongs is an +unpardonable sin. Social problems are doubtless urgent because a large +minority are miserable, but they are rendered still more urgent by the +luxury of many and the comfort of most. The high average of prosperity +shows that we fail to right our social evils, not for want of power, +but for want of devotion. Our civilisation is a Dives, at whose gate +Lazarus often finds no crumbs. + +Again Christ's Kingdom of the New Covenant has brought about a larger +unity. We have said enough elsewhere on the divisions of the Church. +Doubtless we are still far from realising the ideals of chapter xxxi., +but, at any rate, they have been recognised as supreme, and have worked +for harmony and fellowship in the world. Ephraim and Judah are +forgotten, but the New Covenant has united into brotherhood a worldwide +array of races and nations. There are still divisions in the Church, and +a common religion will not always do away with national enmities; but in +spite of all, the influence of our common Christianity has done much to +knit the nations together and promote mutual amity and goodwill. The +vanguard of the modern world has accepted Christ as its standard and +ideal, and has thus attained an essential unity, which is not destroyed +by minor differences and external divisions. + +And, finally, the promise that the New Covenant should be written on +the heart is far on the way towards fulfilment. If Roman and Greek +orthodoxy interposes the Church between the soul and Christ, yet the +inspiration claimed for the Church to-day is, at any rate in some +measure, that of the living Spirit of Christ speaking to the souls of +living men. On the other hand, a predilection for Rabbinical methods +of exegesis sometimes interferes with the influence and authority of +the Bible. Yet in reality there is no serious attempt to take away the +key of knowledge or to forbid the individual soul to receive the +direct teaching of the Holy Ghost. The Reformers established the right +of private judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures; and the +interpretation of the Library of Sacred Literature, the spiritual +harvest of a thousand years, affords ample scope for reverent +development of our knowledge of God. + +One group of Jeremiah's prophecies has indeed been entirely +fulfilled.[452] In Christ, God has raised up a Branch of Righteousness +unto David, and through Him judgment and righteousness are wrought in +the earth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[442] xxxii. 40. + +[443] xxxi. 26. + +[444] Heb. ix. 10. + +[445] Gal. iv. 24, 25. + +[446] _Histoire du Peuple d'Israel_, iii., 340. + +[447] Renan, iii., 340. + +[448] Renan, iii., 425. + +[449] We have the idea of a spiritual covenant in Isa. lix. 21, "This +is My covenant with them: ... My spirit that is upon thee, and My +words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy +mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy +seed's seed, ... from henceforth and for ever"; but nothing is said as +to a _new_ covenant. + +[450] Luke xxii. 20; 1 Cor. xi. 25. The word "new" is omitted by Codd. +Sin. and Vat. and the R.V. in Matt. xxvi. 28 and Mark xiv. 24. + +[451] 2 Cor. iii. 6. + +[452] xxxiii. 15. + + + + + EPILOGUE + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV + + _JEREMIAH AND CHRIST_ + + "Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from amongst + thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye + hearken."--DEUT. xviii. 15. + + "Jesus ... asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the + Son of Man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, + Elijah: and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."--MATT. xvi. + 13, 14. + + +English feeling about Jeremiah has long ago been summed up and +stereotyped in the single word "jeremiad." The contempt and dislike +which this word implies are partly due to his supposed authorship of +Lamentations; but, to say the least, the Book of Jeremiah is not +sufficiently cheerful to remove the impression created by the linked +wailing, long drawn out, which has been commonly regarded as an +appendix to its prophecies. We can easily understand the unpopularity +of the prophet of doom in modern Christendom. Such prophets are seldom +acceptable, except to the enemies of the people whom they denounce; +and even ardent modern advocates of Jew-baiting would not be entirely +satisfied with Jeremiah--they would resent his patriotic sympathy with +sinful and suffering Judah. Most modern Christians have ceased to +regard the Jews as monsters of iniquity, whose chastisement should +give profound satisfaction to every sincere believer. History has +recorded but few of the crimes which provoked and justified our +prophet's fierce indignation, and those of which we do read repel our +interest by a certain lack of the picturesque, so that we do not take +the trouble to realise their actual and intense wickedness. Ahab is a +by-word, but how many people know anything about Ishmael ben +Nethaniah? The cruelty of the nobles and the unctuous cant of their +prophetic allies are forgotten in--nay, they seem almost atoned for +by--the awful calamities that befell Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah's +memory may even be said to have suffered from the speedy and complete +fulfilment of his prophecies. The national ruin was a triumphant +vindication of his teaching, and his disciples were eager to record +every utterance in which he had foretold the coming doom. Probably the +book, in its present form, gives an exaggerated impression of the +stress which Jeremiah laid upon this topic. + +Moreover, while the prophet's life is essentially tragic, its drama +lacks an artistic close and climax. Again and again Jeremiah took his +life in his hand, but the good confession which he witnessed for so +long does not culminate in the crown of martyrdom. A final scene like +the death of John the Baptist would have won our sympathy and +conciliated our criticism. + +We thus gather that the popular attitude towards Jeremiah rests on a +superficial appreciation of his character and work; it is not +difficult to discern that a careful examination of his history +establishes important claims on the veneration and gratitude of the +Christian Church. + +For Judaism was not slow to pay her tribute of admiration and +reverence to Jeremiah as to a Patron Saint and Confessor. His prophecy +of the Restoration of Israel is appealed to in Ezra and Daniel; and +the Hebrew Chronicler, who says as little as he can of Isaiah, adds +to the references made by the Book of Kings to Jeremiah. We have +already seen that apocryphal legends clustered round his honoured +name. He was credited with having concealed the Tabernacle and the Ark +in the caves of Sinai.[453] On the eve of a great victory, he appeared +to Judas Maccabæus, in a vision, as "a man distinguished by grey +hairs, and a majestic appearance; but something wonderful and +exceedingly magnificent was the grandeur about him," and was made +known to Judas as a "lover of the brethren, who prayeth much for the +people and for the holy city, to wit, Jeremiah the prophet of God. And +Jeremiah stretching forth his right hand delivered over to Judas a +sword of gold."[454] The Son of Sirach does not fail to include +Jeremiah in his praise of famous men;[455] and there is an apocryphal +epistle purporting to be written by our prophet.[456] It is noteworthy +that in the New Testament Jeremiah is only mentioned by name in the +Judaistic Gospel of St. Matthew. + +In the Christian Church, notwithstanding the lack of popular sympathy, +earnest students of the prophet's life and words have ranked him with +some of the noblest characters of history. A modern writer enumerates +as amongst those with whom he has been compared Cassandra, Phocion, +Demosthenes, Dante, Milton, and Savonarola.[457] The list might easily +be enlarged, but another parallel has been drawn which has supreme +claims on our consideration. The Jews in New Testament times looked +for the return of Elijah or Jeremiah to usher in Messiah's reign; and +it seemed to some among them that the character and teaching of Jesus +of Nazareth identified him with the ancient prophet who had been +commissioned "to root out, pull down, destroy and throw down, to build +and to plant." The suggested comparison has often been developed, but +undue stress has been laid on such accidental and external +circumstances as the prophet's celibacy and the statement that he was +"sanctified from the womb." The discussion of such details does not +greatly lend itself to edification. But it has also been pointed out +that there is an essential resemblance between the circumstances and +mission of Jeremiah and his Divine Successor, and to this some little +space may be devoted. + +Jeremiah and our Lord appeared at similar crises in the history of +Israel and of revealed religion. The prophet foretold the end of the +Jewish monarchy, the destruction of the First Temple and of ancient +Jerusalem; Christ, in like manner, announced the end of the restored +Israel, the destruction of the Second Temple and of the newer +Jerusalem. In both cases the doom of the city was followed by the +dispersion and captivity of the people. At both eras the religion of +Jehovah was supposed to be indissolubly bound up with the Temple and +its ritual; and, as we have seen, Jeremiah, like Stephen and Paul and +our Lord Himself, was charged with blasphemy because he predicted its +coming ruin. The prophet, like Christ, was at variance with the +prevalent religious sentiment of his time and with what claimed to be +orthodoxy. Both were regarded and treated by the great body of +contemporary religious teachers as dangerous and intolerable heretics; +and their heresy, as we have said, was practically one and the same. +To the champions of the Temple, their teaching seemed purely +destructive, an irreverent attack upon fundamental doctrines and +indispensable institutions. But the very opposite was the truth; they +destroyed nothing but what deserved to perish. Both in Jeremiah's time +and in our Lord's, men tried to assure themselves of the permanence of +erroneous dogmas and obsolete rites by proclaiming that these were of +the essence of Divine Revelation. In either age to succeed in this +effort would have been to plunge the world into spiritual darkness: +the light of Hebrew prophecy would have been extinguished by the +Captivity, or, again, the hope of the Messiah would have melted away +like a mirage, when the legions of Titus and Hadrian dispelled so many +Jewish dreams. But before the catastrophe came, Jeremiah had taught +men that Jehovah's Temple and city were destroyed of His own set +purpose, because of the sins of His people; there was no excuse for +supposing that He was discredited by the ruin of the place where He +had once chosen to set His Name. Thus the Captivity was not the final +page in the history of Hebrew religion, but the opening of a new +chapter. In like manner Christ and His Apostles, more especially Paul, +finally dissociated Revelation from the Temple and its ritual, so that +the light of Divine truth was not hidden under the bushel of Judaism, +but shone forth upon the whole world from the many-branched +candlestick of the Universal Church. + +Again, in both cases, not only was ancient faith rescued from the ruin +of human corruption and commentary, but the purging away of the old +leaven made room for a positive statement of new teaching. Jeremiah +announced a new covenant--that is, a formal and complete change in +the conditions and method of man's service to God and God's +beneficence to men. The ancient Church, with its sanctuary, its +clergy, and its ritual, was to be superseded by a new order, without +sanctuary, clergy, or ritual, wherein every man would enjoy immediate +fellowship with his God. This great ideal was virtually ignored by the +Jews of the Restoration, but it was set forth afresh by Christ and His +Apostles. The "New Covenant" was declared to be ratified by His +sacrifice, and was confirmed anew at every commemoration of His death. +We read in John iv. 21-23: "The hour cometh, when neither in this +mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.... The hour +cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father +in spirit and truth." + +Thus when we confess that the Church is built upon the foundation of +the Prophets and Apostles, we have to recognise that to this +foundation Jeremiah's ministry supplied indispensable elements, alike +by its positive and in its negative parts. This fact was manifest even +to Renan, who fully shared the popular prejudices against Jeremiah. +Nothing short of Christianity, according to him, is the realisation of +the prophet's dream: "Il ajoute un facteur essentiel à l'œuvre +humaine; Jérémie est, avant Jean-Baptiste, l'homme qui a le plus +contribué à la fondation du Christianisme; il doit compter, malgré la +distance des siècles, entre les précurseurs immédiats de Jésus."[458] + + _Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._ + +FOOTNOTES: + +[453] 2 Macc. ii. 1-8. + +[454] 2 Macc. xv. 12-16. + +[455] Ecclus. xlix. 6, 7. + +[456] Sometimes appended to the Book of Baruch as a sixth chapter. + +[457] Smith's _Dictionary of the Bible_, art. "Jeremiah." + +[458] _Hist._, iii., 251, 305. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout. + +Inconsistent hyphenation left as in the original text. + +Footnote 101: Anchor was missing from original text, added anchor. + +Footnote 452: Anchor was missing from original text, added anchor. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositor's Bible: The Book of Jeremiah, by +William Henry Bennett + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41893 *** |