XIII.

Jeremíab. (B. C. 629.)

JEREMIAH has been called "the weeping prophet." This is partly because one part of his writings is called "The Lamentations of Jeremiah," and partly because all through his life his heart seemed so torn by grief, on account of the misery that came on his people. He lived a long time, and gave God's messages to five kings of Judah-to Josiah, her good king; to Jehoahaz, his son; to Jehoiakim, his second son; to Jehoiachin, his grandson; and to Zedekiah, his third son, and the last king of Judah.

Jeremiah was the son of a priest whose name was Hilkiah. He lived at Anathoth, a village, which belonged to the priests, and which was about three miles from Jerusalem. He was a very brave man, and however much it pained him he never shrank from declaring God's judgments. For this he suffered persecution all his life. He tells us, "I am in derision daily; every one mocketh me." The people of his own village sought his life; and worse, his own brothers "dealt treacherously with him." His feet were put in the stocks. He was accused of being a traitor to his country. He was cast into a horrible miry dungeon by the princes of Judah. At last he was put in fetters, and led off with King Zedekiah towards Babylon. He only got as far as Ramah

when the captain of the King of Babylon received a message about him. It was from Nebuchadnezzar himself! He had heard of Jeremiah, of his prophecies, and he knew they had come true; therefore he had a regard for the servant of God, and sent this command to his captain, "Look well to him, and do him no harm." So Jeremiah's fetters were loosed from his hands. Then two proposals were made to him by the captain. One was, "Will you go to Babylon, where I will look well to you?" And the other was, "Will you go back to your own land and dwell with the governor, or in any part of the land which is convenient for you?" Jeremiah chose to go back, so the captain gave him some presents, and he returned to live with his poor brethren. But he was not to end his days in his beloved native land; for some time after he was taken to Egypt, where, it is commonly supposed, he died.

We believe that Jeremiah had no wife or children to comfort him in his long, sad life. Perhaps he could not have borne to see the misery that might have come upon them. So it was love to His sorrowful servant that prompted the Lord to say, "Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; they shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried." So at least this one sorrow was spared to Jeremiah.

(Read Jer. i. 1-3; xxxix. 11-14; xliii. 6-7; xvi. 1-3.)

2. JEREMIAH CALLED.

You remember how Isaiah was set apart as a prophet of the Lord. Jeremiah too was called by God, or else he would not have dared to speak to the people. He was a young man, perhaps about twenty ; he had done no public service when God called him. The Lord told him that from the beginning, from his very birth, He had ordained him and sanctified him. What for? To be a prophet; and that not to Judah only, but to "all the nations." This was a great honour. Too great, Jeremiah thought, for him, so young and inexperienced. So he answers, "Ah!

Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child.” He was like Moses, who shrank so much at first from speaking to Pharaoh. But you know God never gives his servants difficult work without giving them help to do it. So at once He said to Jeremiah, "Say not, 'I am a child;' for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee."

Still more to strengthen Jeremiah's faith the Lord. graciously gave him three signs. He "put forth" His strong, loving hand, and touched his mouth, saying, "Behold, I have put my words into thy mouth." Ah! what wonders are done when the Lord's hand is put forth; none can resist it. Jeremiah's fear passed away, and from that day he proclaimed to the nations God's will concerning them; no matter whether that will was "to root out and pull down and destroy, or to build and to plant."

The other two signs were of a different kind. Jeremiah's eyes were opened, and he saw the

branch of an almond tree bursting into leaf and bud.

The Lord calls His servant by name. "Jeremiah, what seest thou ?" He answers, "I see the rod of an almond tree." The Lord explains the meaning of the sign. "I will hasten My word to perform it." Jeremiah knew that the almond was always the earliest of all the trees to revive, for it began to flower in January. So he saw that the Lord meant that His word would be fulfilled as quickly.

Again the Lord says to Jeremiah, "What seest thou?" The prophet answered, "A seething (boiling) pot, and its face is towards the north."

The Lord again condescends to tell the meaning of this: "Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. The families of the kingdoms of the north shall come against the gates of Jerusalem, and against the cities of Judah.”

Jeremiah did not need to be told what enemies these were. The Babylonians always invaded the land by its northern boundary; and a boiling pot, he knew too well, meant a cruel and destructive war.

The Lord felt how hard was the work He had given His servant to do. So again He tells him "not to be afraid or dismayed at their faces." They would fight against him, but they should not prevail against him. How could they, when the Lord in His lovingkindness added, for " I am with thee, to deliver thee?"

So with the Lord on His side Jeremiah could stand "like a strong city, and an iron pillar and brazen gates," even though the whole land, with its kings, its princes, its priests, and its people, rose up against him.

(Read Jer. i. 4-19; Exodus iv. 10-13.)

3. JEHOVAH'S COMPLAINT AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. When the Lord utters His complaint against His people by Isaiah's lips, He speaks of Himself as a Father, and they His rebellious children. But when He speaks by Jeremiah, He uses a still more tender name. He is the Husband of His people. He is "married unto them." He has not forgotten the time, though so long past, when He took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. He says, "I remember thee; the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown." The Lord remembers these first days of Israel's love and faithfulness to Him; but she has quite forgotten His love and faithfulness to her, though it was so much more strong and enduring. His people never ask, "Where is the Lord that brought us through the wilderness; through a land of deserts and of pits; through a land of drought and of the shadow of death; through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt ? "

The Lord sorrowfully asks, "What iniquity have your fathers found in Me that they are gone far from Me?" They were worse than the very heathen, for they kept steadfast to their idols. No one heard of them changing their gods, which yet are no gods. But the Lord says, "My people have changed their glory into that which doth not profit." They had committed two evils: they forsook "the Lord, the fountain of living waters;" then "they hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Israel was the first to forsake the Lord; and upon every high mountain and under every green tree she had loved and worshipped her strange gods.