of the new Jerusalem. CHAP. LXV, LXVI. God will be served in humble sincerity. mine elect† shall long enjoy the work | house that ye build unto me? and about 698. of their hands. where is the place of my rest? Before CHRIST + Heb, shall make them continue long, out. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they or, shall wear are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that e Ps. 32. 5. before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. It is commonly supposed that the oak, one of the most long-lived of the trees, lasts about a thousand years; the Prophet's idea, that the people should live to the age of the antediluvians, is therefore very justly expressed by the days of a tree. Bp. Lowth. Chap. LXVI. A continuation of the subject of the foregoing chapter, which the Prophet pursues with more express declaration of the new economy, and of the flourishing state of the Church under it. The increase of the Church is to be sudden and astonishing. They that escape of the Jews, that is, that become converts to the Christian faith, are to be employed in the Divine mission to the Gentiles, and are to act as priests in presenting the Gentiles as an offering to God. See Rom. xv. 16. And both, now collected into one body, shall be witnesses of the final perdition of the obstinate and irreclaimable. These two chapters manifestly relate to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, and the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction executed by the Romans. Bp. Lowth. Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, &c.] It hath pleased the divine goodness to signify to us by this, that He lives and reigns on high, infinitely above all that we can think; and that the earth is at His foot to do what He will with it, and all that is on it; so that the earth is full of His glory, and the heaven of heavens is not able to contain it. Yet nevertheless, as God is said to dwell in heaven, because He there unvails Himself, and shines forth in all His glory, before the pure and holy creatures that dwell there, and are capable of beholding it; so is He said to dwell upon earth, in those places where He is graciously pleased to discover any of His Divine perfections in a more peculiar manner than elsewhere: thus were the tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, called God's house; and now in 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. Before CHRIST about 698. 3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a || lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; || Or, kid. he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burn- + Heb. eth incense, as if he blessed an idol. memorial of. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. b maketh a chap. 65. 12. 4 I also will choose their || delu- || Or, devices. sions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none b Prov. 1.24. did answer; when I spake, they did Jer. 7. 13. not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let e Chap. 5. 19. the Christian Church, wheresoever His faithful people meet together in His name, He is there with them. Bp. Beveridge. A temple, in the Jewish notion, was God's habitation, where He resided as a king. W. Lowth. See note on chap. lx. 13. The Jews valued themselves much upon their temple, and the pompous system of services performed in it, which they thought of perpetual duration. Bp. Lowth. God admonishes them not to rely on His temple's being among them; that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; that an humble and truly pious man is a living temple to Him, ver. 2; (compare chap. lvii. 15;) and that without inward piety, "he that killeth an ox" for sacrifice "is as if he slew a man,' &c. Dr. Wells. Or ver. 3 may be translated more literally, "He that killeth an ox (the words is as if having been supplied) killeth a man; that sacrificeth a lamb, beheadeth a dog," &c.; and understood to express instances of extreme wickedness joined with hypocrisy ; of the most flagitious crimes committed by those, who at the same time affected great strictness in the external services of religion. God upbraids the Jews with the same practices, Ezek. xxiii. 39; and the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is described as much the same, Matt. xxiii. 14. Bp. Lowth. 3, 4.- they have chosen their own ways, &c.] God threatens the people, that, because they were abominable in their lives, He would abandon them, and give them over to a spirit of delusion. God is said to choose those things for us, which He permits us to fall into: when men abandon themselves to wickedness and impiety, God withdraws His grace from them; and, by His secret and just judgment, they are deprived of the faculty of discerning between truth and errour, between good and evil. See Rom. i. 28; 2 Thess. ii. 10-12. Abp. Tillotson. See notes on chap. vi. 10. 5.- said, Let the Lord be glorified:] Or, in derision The marvellous growth of the church. Before CHRIST ISAIAH. the LORD be glorified: but he shall about 698. appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. [ Or, beget. | Or, brightness. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not || cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: 11 That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the || abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye d Chap. 49. suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 22. & 60. 4. called on God to do something extraordinary in your behalf. W. Lowth. 7. Before she travailed, she brought forth; &c.] In the prophetick language, the affliction which a people suffers, or persecution, in labouring to bring forth a new kingdom, is represented by the pain of a woman in labour to bring forth a man-child. Sir. I. Newton. It is intimated here, that the increase of the Christian Church should be so sudden, as to be compared to a woman's bringing forth before her pains came on her. Dr. Wells. 12. - I will extend peace to her like a river,] Compare chap. xlviii. 18. W. Lowth. 14.- your bones shall flourish like an herb:] Ye shall be renewed, as if dry bones should recover their moisture; (compare Ecclus. xlvi. 12; xlix. 10.) In like manner St. Paul calls the receiving of the Jews into the Church, "life from the dead," Rom. xi. 15. The Jews from ancient times have used this text as a form over a person interred, at the same time throwing grass into the grave, to testify their belief in a resurrection. W. Lowth. See notes on chap. xxvi. 19. This passage, as well as that in chap. xxvi, seems to be, if not a direct assertion, at least an allusion, to a future resurrection of the dead; when the worshippers of the true God, in all ages of the world, shall have their lot in the kingdom promised to the saints of the Most High. Dr. S. Clarke. | God's judgments against the wicked. Before CHRIST 13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye about 698. shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh : and the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens | || behind one tree in the midst, eating Or.one after swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. 18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my another. 15. For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, &c.] See the introductory note on this chapter; and the note on chap. ii. 10. 17.-behind one tree] The last word is supplied. Some versions have the reading which is given in our margin: but many learned men have supposed, that by the Hebrew Achad (signifying one) may be meant the Syrian deity Achad or Adad, which they held to be the highest and greatest of the gods, the same with Jupiter and the Sun, and which name, says Macrobius, signifies one: we trace this idol in the names of the Syrian kings, Ben-hadad, Hadad-ezer, &c.; according to this interpretation we may render, "after the rites of Achad, in the midst of those who eat swine's flesh," &c. Vitringa, Bp. Lowth. Or, "behind (the chapel or shrine of Achad, or) the Sun, in the midst" (of the garden.) W. Lowth. eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse,] See notes on chap. lxv. 4. The heathens used some meats by way of purification, chiefly such as were not used for common food; such were several of those meats forbidden by the law, and called "abominable" by Moses, Deut. xiv. 3; of this kind was probably “the mouse," which is expressly prohibited, Lev. xi. 29. W. Lowth. All 19. unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, &c.] quarters of the globe. "Pul" does not occur any where else; it is supposed to be a place in the extremity of The Gentiles shall have an holy church, CHAP. LXVI. and see the damnation of the wicked. : 21 And I will also take of them priests and for Levites, saith for e the LORD. 22 For as the new heavens and flesh. Egypt the Prophet's object here is to designate the most remote parts. Vitringa. 21. And I will also take of them for priests &c.] Such was to be the privilege of the Gospel times! They were not to be legal" priests and Levites," but "taken from all nations:" such as might be proper ministers of the great High Priest, who was to come from the tribe of Judah, and be, not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. Dr. Berriman. 22. the new heavens and the new earth, &c.] Very rationally then does the Apostle (Heb. xii. 28.) call the Christian dispensation "a kingdom which cannot be moved." Dr. Berriman. 23. —from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship] The expression here is accommodated to the condition of the Church under the Old Testament; (see note on chap. xix. 19 ;) but we are to understand, that in the "new world" here treated of, not the Jews only, (as was the case at the time of the delivery of the prophecy,) but all nations should come before the Lord to worship, in the frequent festivals of those blessed times. Jos. Mede. We are perhaps to understand the words to speak of these saints as being perpetually employed in serving and praising Him: see Rev. iv. 8; vii. Mark referred to in the margin) to express the everlasting punishment of the wicked in hell: as our Lord expressed the state of the blessed by sensible images, such as Paradise, Abraham's bosom, &c. so He represents the place of torment under the image of Gehenna, and the punishment of the wicked, by the worm which there preyed on the carcases, and the fire which consumed the wretched victims: (see note on chap. xxx. 33 :) marking however this difference strongly, that in the figurative Gehenna, the instruments of punishment shall be everlasting, the suffering without end. Bp. Lowth. In these two concluding chapters we are made acquainted with God's reasons for rejecting His ancient people the Jews, and for calling the Gentiles into the Church and kingdom of the Messiah. His reason for rejecting the Jews was their incorrigible wickedness: His reason for calling the Gentiles was, not any merit or worthiness in them, but His own free grace and goodness towards them. Let these considerations impress upon our minds a profound sense of gratitude and love for the mercy of God to us Gentiles, and an awful apprehension of His justice towards those who refuse His grace or, as St. Paul expresses it, let us in this extraordinary dispensation towards the Jews and Gentiles "behold the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward us, goodness, if we continue in His goodness; otherwise we also shall be cut off." Reading, Wogan. The following are the Chapters from Isaiah appointed for Proper Lessons, or as Portions of Scripture for Epistles, on Sundays and Holydays: 1st Sunday in Advent,.....Morning. CHAP. XLIV. ... 1st Sunday after Epiphany, Morning. ....Evening. VII. 10-15. Annunciation, .....For the Epistle. VII. 10-17. Nativity of Christ, ......Evening. IX. 1-8. ditto, .Morning. XI............ Whitsunday, Evening. XXIV....... 2d Sunday in Advent,. .Evening. XXV. 3d ditto, ..Morning. XXVI. ...... ditto, Evening. XXX. 4th ditto, ..Morning. XXXVII... Ist Sunday after Christmas, Morning. XXXVIII. .ditto, ..Evening. XL. 1-11..St. John Baptist, ... For the Epistle. XLI...... 2d Sunday after Christmas, Morning. XLIII. ditto, .....Evening. LXIII. ... Monday before Easter, For the Epistle. LXIV. ... 5th Sunday after Epiphany, Evening. LXV. .....6th ditto, LXVI. ... ditto, ..Morning. .....Evening. THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. INTRODUCTION. THE Prophet Jeremiah was of the sacerdotal race, being, as he records himself, one of the priests that dwelt at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, a city appropriated out of that tribe to the use of the priests the sons of Aaron, (Josh. xxi. 18,) and situate, as we learn from St. Jerome, about three miles north of Jerusalem. Some have supposed his father to have been that Hilkiah the high priest, by whom the book of the law was found in the temple in the reign of Josiah; but for this there is no better ground than his having borne the same name, which was no uncommon one among the Jews; whereas had he been in reality the high priest, he would doubtless have been mentioned by that distinguishing title, and not put upon a level with priests of an ordinary and inferiour class. Jeremiah appears to have been very young when he was called to the exercise of the prophetical office; from which he modestly endeavoured to excuse himself by pleading his youth and incapacity; but being overruled by the Divine authority, he set himself to discharge the duties of his function with unremitted diligence and fidelity during a period of at least forty-two years, reckoned from the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. In the course of his ministry he met with great difficulties and opposition from his countrymen of all degrees; whose persecution and ill usage sometimes wrought so far upon his mind, as to draw from him expressions in the bitterness of his soul, which many have thought hard to reconcile with his religious principles; but which, when duly weighed, may be found to demand our pity for his unmerited sufferings, rather than our censure for any want of piety and reverence towards God. He was in truth a man of unblemished piety and conscientious integrity; a warm lover of his country, whose misery he pathetically deplores; and so affectionately attached to his countrymen, notwithstanding their injurious treatment of him, that he chose rather to abide with them, and undergo all hardships in their company, than separately to enjoy a state of ease and plenty, which the favour of the king of Babylon would have secured to him. At length, after the destruction of Jerusalem, being carried with the remnant of the Jews into Egypt, whither they had resolved to retire, though contrary to his advice, upon the murder of Gedaliah, whom the Chaldeans had left governour in Judea, he there continued warmly to remonstrate against their idolatrous practices, foretelling the consequences that would inevitably follow. But his freedom and zeal are said to have cost him his life; for the Jews at Tahpanhes, as tradition goes, took such offence thereat, that they stoned him to death; which account of the manner of his end, though not absolutely certain, is at least very probable, considering the temper and disposition of the parties concerned. Their wickedness however did not long pass without its reward; for in a few years after, they were miserably destroyed by the Babylonian armies, which invaded Egypt according to the Prophet's prediction, chap. xliv. 27, 28. The idolatrous apostasy, and other criminal enormities of the people of Judah, and the severe judgments which God was prepared to inflict upon them, but not without a distant prospect of future restoration and deliverance, are the principal subject matters of the following prophecies; excepting only the 45th chapter, which relates personally to Baruch; and the six succeeding chapters, which respect the fortunes of some particular heathen nations. It is observable however, that though many of these prophecies have their particular dates annexed to them, and other dates may be tolerably well conjectured from certain internal marks and circumstances, there appears much disorder in the arrangement, not easy to be accounted for on any principle of regular design, but probably the result of some accident or other, which has disturbed the original order. The best arrangement of the chapters appears to be according to the list, which will be presently subjoined: the different reigns, in which the prophecies were delivered, were most probably as follows. The twelve first chapters seem to contain all the prophecies delivered in the reign of the good king Josiah. During the short reign of Shallum, or Jehoahaz, his second son, who succeeded him, Jeremiah does not appear to have had any revelation. Jehoiakim, the eldest son of Josiah, succeeded. The prophecies of this reign are continued on from the 13th to the 20th chapter inclusively; to which we must add the 22d, 23d, 25th, 26th, 35th and 36th chapters, together with the 45th, 46th, 47th, and most probably the 48th, and as far as to verse 34 of the 49th chapter. Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, succeeded. We read of no prophecy that Jeremiah actually delivered in this king's reign but the fate of Jeconiah, his being carried into captivity, and continuing an exile till the time of his death, were foretold early in his father's reign, as may be particularly seen in the 22d chapter. : The last king of Judah was Zedekiah, the youngest son of Josiah. The prophecies delivered in his reign are contained in the 21st and 24th chapters, the 27th to the 34th, and the 37th to the 39th inclusively, together with the six last verses of the 49th chapter, and the 50th and 51st chapters, concerning the fall of Babylon. The time, and JEREMIAH. the calling of Jeremiah. The siege of Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah, and the capture of the city, are circumstantially related in the 52d chapter: and the particular account of the subsequent transactions is given in the 40th to the 44th inclusively. The arrangement of the chapters, alluded to above, is here subjoined; 1-20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 35, 36, 45, 24, 29, 30, 31, 27, 28, 21, 34, 37, 32, 33, 38, 39 from the 15th to the 18th verse, 39 from the 1st to the 14th verse, 40, 41, 24, 43, 44, 46, and so on. Dr. Blayney. The prophecies of Jeremiah, of which the circumstantial accomplishment is often specified in the Old and New Testaments, are of a very distinguished and illustrious character. He foretold the fate of Zedekiah, chap. xxxiv. 2-5; (compare with 2 Chron. xxxvi. 19; 2 Kings xxv. 5; and Jer. lii. 11;) the Babylonish captivity, the precise time of its duration, and the return of the Jews. He described the destruction of Babylon, and the downfall of many nations, chap. xxv. 12, (see also chap. ix. 26; xxv. 19—25; xlii. 10-18; xlvi. and following chapters,) in predictions, of which the gradual and successive completion kept up the confidence of the Jews for the accomplishment of those prophecies, which he delivered relative to the Messiah and His period, chap. xxiii. 5, 6; xxx. 9; xxxi. 15; xxxiii. 14-18; xxxiii. 9, 26. He foreshewed the miraculous conception of Christ, chap. xxxi. 22; the virtue of His atonement; the spiritual character of His covenant; and the inward efficacy of His laws, chap. xxxi. 31-36; xxxiii. 8. Jeremiah, contemplating those calamities which impended over his country, represented, in the most descriptive terms, and under the most expressive images, the destruction that the invading enemy should produce. He bewailed, in pathetick expostulation, the shameless adulteries which had provoked the Almighty, after long forbearance, to threaten Judah with inevitable punishment, at the time that false prophets deluded the nation with the promises of "assured peace," and when the people, in impious contempt of "the Lord's word," defied its accomplishment. Jeremiah intermingles with his prophecies some historical relations relative to his own conduct, and to the completion of those predictions which he had delivered. The reputation of Jeremiah had spread among foreign nations, and his prophecies were deservedly celebrated in other countries. Many heathen writers have likewise undesignedly borne testimony to the truth and accuracy of his prophetick and historical descriptions. Dr. Gray. As to the style of Jeremiah, this Prophet is by no means wanting either in elegance or sublimity, although, generally speaking, inferiour to Isaiah in both. His thoughts indeed are somewhat less elevated, and he is commonly more large and diffuse in his sentences; but the reason of this may be, that he is mostly taken up with the gentler passions of grief and pity, for the expression of which he has a peculiar talent. This is most evident in "the Lamentations," where those passions altogether predominate; but it is often visible also in his "Prophecies," in the former part of the book more especially, which is principally poetical; the middle parts are chiefly historical; but the last part, consisting of six chapters, is entirely poetical, and contains several oracles distinctly marked, in which this Prophet falls very little short of the lofty style of Isaiah. But of the whole book of Jeremiah it is hardly the one half which I look upon as poetical. Bp. Lowth. Before CHRIST about 629. CHAP. I. Before CHRIST 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, about 629. 1 The time, 3 and the calling of Jeremiah. 11 His prophetical visions of an almond unto the end of the eleventh year of rod and a seething pot. 15 His heavy Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of message against Judah. 17 God encourageth Judah, unto the carrying away of him with his promise of assistance. Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 4 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, TH HE words of Jeremiah the son of 5. in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: 5 Before I a formed thee in the a Isai. 49. 1, Chap. I. ver. 1. The words of Jeremiah] This chapter forms an entire section by itself. It contains the call of Jeremiah, and the commission given him by God, the purport of which is explained by two symbolical images. God encourages him to proceed in the execution of it by assuring him of protection and support. Dr. Blayney. - Anathoth] See the Introduction for the situation of this place. 2, 3.-in the days of Josiah, -unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah] See the chapters distributed according to the reigns of the several kings in the Introduction to this book. Jeremiah prophesied forty-one years and upwards, if we take in the prophecies he uttered in Egypt after the captivity, chap. xliii. xliv, which are not included between the reigns of Josiah and Zedekiah, W. Lowth. 16. 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,] This seems to have been a visible appearance of the Divine Majesty, made by the Son of God, or the second Person of the blessed Trinity; see note on Isai. vi. 1 : who appeared in a human shape, as a prelude to the incarnation, first to Adam, Gen. iii. 8; then to Abraham, Gen. xviii. 2; afterwards to Joshua, Josh. v. 13; as also to Ezekiel, chap. i. 26; and to Daniel, chap. viii. 15, 18; x. 6, 10. Of the same kind was this vision represented to Jeremiah. Compare the ninth verse of this chapter with the forementioned texts of Daniel. W. Lowth. 5.- I knew thee;] Some persons have been designed for certain offices by a particular decree of God, from or before their coming into the world. So was John the Baptist, Luke i. 15; and St. Paul, Gal. i. 15; and the Prophet Jeremiah here in the text. This favour is ex |