A verse by verse commentary on Jeremiah 4 dealing with God pleading for His people to return and forsake their idols, and if not they will suffer His wrath.They are warned about disaster that is coming from the north.
James asks a question that has divided churches and denominations, “What does it profit if someone says they have faith but does not have works?” What is your answer? Is faith without works of any value? Can works without faith bring salvation? Should someone believe they are a Christian simply because they "accepted Christ" or were baptized?
James asks a question that has divided churches and denominations, “What does it profit if someone says they have faith but does not have works?” What is your answer? Is faith without works of any value? Can works without faith bring salvation? Should someone believe they are a Christian simply because they "accepted Christ" or were baptized?
If God is good always, then where does evil come from? Why does it seem as though God sometimes carried out evil in the Bible? By seeing what God has to say about Himself in His Word and by recognizing the real source of evil, we can be assured of God’s goodness.
Before Christ came into our lives, we were children of darkness. But even as God is light, and Christ is the light of the world, so also are we are children of light. As such, we ought to walk in the light and behave in a manner consistent with our calling. Wake up oh Christian and let your light shine.
While we cannot control life's trials, we can, by God's grace, control our response to them. We can resist temptations and be victorious over our trials, even be better because of them. This study specifically addresses trials and temptations and how you successfully pass the test of COVID-19.
Sermon Slide Deck: "The Perspective That Makes All The Difference" (Colossian...New City Church
Your job is your prayer offered up in service to the Lord Jesus.
This message was given on August 7, 2016 at New City Church in Calgary by Pastor John Ferguson. For more info, please visit: www.newcitychurch.ca
A season of revival lifts the entire church community into a new level, a new realm in God. We see revival as our journey back to becoming what God really intended the Church to be, a habitation of God among man, a dwelling place of God's glory among men. This message encourages us to pray for revival, an outpouring of God's Spirit.
For sermon audio, notes, slides, archives and other free resources like books, please visit our website - apcwo.org
#APCBangalore
Why did Jesus have to die? The Law of God is the penalty of sin is death. God can not change this without changing Who He is. Jesus comes to each person offers to take their sin in exchange for His righteousness. He then had to die our punishment for sin so that we can receive the righteousness of God.
Six cities among the Tribe of Levi were sprinkled strategically on both sides of the Jordan River. They were cities of refuge, sanctuary cities for those fleeing for safety from an avenging family when there was an unintentional homicide.
A verse by verse commentary on Psalm 110 dealing with many prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It is a short Psalm, but filled with New Testament comments.,
A verse by verse commentary on Psalm 83 dealing with the Lord being robed in majesty. The Lord is eternal and mighty, even greater that the pounding waves of the sea.
If God is good always, then where does evil come from? Why does it seem as though God sometimes carried out evil in the Bible? By seeing what God has to say about Himself in His Word and by recognizing the real source of evil, we can be assured of God’s goodness.
Before Christ came into our lives, we were children of darkness. But even as God is light, and Christ is the light of the world, so also are we are children of light. As such, we ought to walk in the light and behave in a manner consistent with our calling. Wake up oh Christian and let your light shine.
While we cannot control life's trials, we can, by God's grace, control our response to them. We can resist temptations and be victorious over our trials, even be better because of them. This study specifically addresses trials and temptations and how you successfully pass the test of COVID-19.
Sermon Slide Deck: "The Perspective That Makes All The Difference" (Colossian...New City Church
Your job is your prayer offered up in service to the Lord Jesus.
This message was given on August 7, 2016 at New City Church in Calgary by Pastor John Ferguson. For more info, please visit: www.newcitychurch.ca
A season of revival lifts the entire church community into a new level, a new realm in God. We see revival as our journey back to becoming what God really intended the Church to be, a habitation of God among man, a dwelling place of God's glory among men. This message encourages us to pray for revival, an outpouring of God's Spirit.
For sermon audio, notes, slides, archives and other free resources like books, please visit our website - apcwo.org
#APCBangalore
Why did Jesus have to die? The Law of God is the penalty of sin is death. God can not change this without changing Who He is. Jesus comes to each person offers to take their sin in exchange for His righteousness. He then had to die our punishment for sin so that we can receive the righteousness of God.
Six cities among the Tribe of Levi were sprinkled strategically on both sides of the Jordan River. They were cities of refuge, sanctuary cities for those fleeing for safety from an avenging family when there was an unintentional homicide.
A verse by verse commentary on Psalm 110 dealing with many prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It is a short Psalm, but filled with New Testament comments.,
A verse by verse commentary on Psalm 83 dealing with the Lord being robed in majesty. The Lord is eternal and mighty, even greater that the pounding waves of the sea.
A verse by verse commentary on Judges 2 dealing with the angel of the Lord at Bokim. God is angry with His people and they served the Lord as long as Joshua lived, but after he died they went away again.
A verse by verse commentary on Hosea 10 dealing with the idols of Israel that will lead to their destruction. They will be praying for the mountains to cover them.for they will be reaping the fruit of unfaithful love.
A verse by verse commentary on Exodus 13 dealing with the consecration of the firstborn, and the crossing of the sea..Moses takes the bones of Joseph with him, and God guides them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
A verse by verse commentary on Jeremiah 11 dealing with the complaint of Jeremiah that God seems to favor the wicked and they prosper and live at ease.
A verse by verse commentary on Esther 7 dealing with the king asking Esther what her wish was up to half of his kingdom. She told him of Haman's plan, and in a rage he ordered Haman to be hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai.
A verse by verse commentary on Micah 5 dealing with a promised ruler from Bethlehem, and then deliverance and destruction as God takes vengeance on the nations who do not obey Him.
A verse by verse commentary on Judges 18 dealing with the story of the Danites seeking a place to settle and Micah leading the people to worship idols.
A verse by verse commentary on Micah 7 dealing with Israel's misery because all has become corrupt, but Israel will rise again, and so this chapter ends with prayer and praise.
A verse by verse commentary on Jeremiah 21 dealing with the request of the king of ISRAEL for GOD to stop the king of Babylon, but GOD REJECTED THAT REQUEST and let the enemy defeat Israel.
RSVP Invitation
I. Invitation- “Call upon Me.”
A. Who gives this invitation?
B. Who receives the invitation?
C. How to respond to the invitation.
D. What is the dead-line to respond?
E. Benefits of response
II. Motivation- Jer 33:3 “I will answer thee”
A. Sometimes answered “before they call”
B. Sometimes He “makes as though He heard not”
C. Sometimes different from our expectations.
III. Amplification Jer 33:3 “I will show thee great and mighty things”
A. Healing, and Health (Jer 33:6)
B. Liberty from Bondage (Jer 33:7).
C. Purification and Justification (Jer 33:8).
D. Guarantee (Jer 33:14)
E. Promise of Continued Revelation, “I will show thee,”
1) There are more wonderful things to be seen
2) The Promise that builds
F. Many refuse this reasonable offer-
IV. Examination
A. No response to the request, forfeits the name of Christian.
B. Those who profess “Christianity” are duty bound to commune with Christ.
A verse by verse commentary on DEUTERONOMY 30 dealing with God restoring His people to the promised land from the nations of the world, and promising to make them prosperous. God sets before them life and riches if they turn to him with all their hearts.
This is a study of how Jesus makes it possible for all believers to have eternal rest. Rest is much more that just doing nothing. It is peace from all that makes this earth hard. Heaven will be so much better with the rest of God and Jesus.
Realizing your personal destiny and call in Christ by Prof Thio - 19/11/11zionyaf
Prof Thio will be speaking on the topic of realizing our personal destiny and call in Christ. As God's elect, we have a calling to fulfill. Paul expressed this as a prayer to the Thessalonians, "With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith." (2 Thessalonians 1:11)
Are you affirmed of your calling in Christ? Have you been seeking to know and obey wherever God calls you to? Is your spiritual walk with Him deadening?
Prof Thio will be speaking on a topic that is particularly relevant in a world where secular humanist philosophies reign dominant. That humanity, instead of God, is the measure of all things - the very motivation of pride that led to the building of the Tower of Babel.
The talk will be centered on 2 Cor 10:5, where Paul declared against such forms of philosophy, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Paul further warned in Col 2:8,
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
In recent times many have laid claim to the title of being a prophet. This claim requires a look into scripture to reveal whether this is true or not. This presentation seeks to look at several tests that should be applied to claimants of the gift of prophecy and the tests as applied to an individual who actually passed all of them.
„Men baptize men into My name in vain: in vain, if the baptized man does not serve Me after that.
Baptism is fire and water, both of them cleanse the man, and both testify. What makes the man come to baptism? The word. It is like a fire, which cleanses the evil in man, ...”
In order to rightly divide the word of truth, we must understand the context of God's word, which to at least some extent, is impacted by history and timing. This Bible study delves into the dispensations of time, revealing God's relationship with mankind in each.
NOTE: This study document contains images and graphs that are either available for common use (without sale) or copied by permission. No copyright infringement intended.
Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Jesus was urging us to pray and never give upGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus urging us to pray and never give up. He uses a widow who kept coming to a judge for help and she was so persistent he had to give her the justice she sought. God will do the same for us if we never give up but keep on praying.
This is a study of Jesus being questioned about fasting. His disciples were not doing it like John's disciples and the Pharisees. Jesus gives His answer that gets Him into the time of celebration with new wineskins that do away with the old ones. Jesus says we do not fast at a party and a celebration.
This is a study of Jesus being scoffed at by the Pharisees. Jesus told a parable about loving money more than God, and it hit them hard. They in anger just turned up their noses and made fun of His foolish teaching.
Jesus was clear you cannot serve two mastersGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus being clear on the issue, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money at the same time because you will love one and hate the other. You have to make a choice and a commitment.
Jesus was saying what the kingdom is likeGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus saying what the kingdom is like. He does so by telling the Parable of the growing seed. It just grows by itself by nature and man just harvests it when ripe. There is mystery here.
Jesus was telling a story of good fish and badGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus telling a story of good fish and bad fish. He illustrates the final separation of true believers from false believers by the way fishermen separate good and bad fish.
Jesus was comparing the kingdom of god to yeastGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus comparing the kingdom of God to yeast. A little can go a long way, and the yeast fills the whole of the large dough, and so the kingdom of God will fill all nations of the earth.
This is a study of Jesus telling a shocking parable. It has some terrible words at the end, but it is all about being faithful with what our Lord has given us. We need to make whatever has been given us to count for our Lord.
Jesus was telling the parable of the talentsGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus telling the parable of the talents, There are a variety of talents given and whatever the talent we get we are to do our best for the Master, for He requires fruit or judgment.
Jesus was explaining the parable of the sowerGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus explaining the parable of the sower. It is all about the seed and the soil and the fruitfulness of the combination. The Word is the seed and we need it in our lives to bear fruit for God.
This is a study of Jesus warning against covetousness. Greed actually will lead to spiritual poverty, so Jesus says do not live to get, but develop a spirit of giving instead,
Jesus was explaining the parable of the weedsGLENN PEASE
This is a study of Jesus explaining the parable of the weeds. The disciples did not understand the parable and so Jesus gave them a clear commentary to help them grasp what it was saying.
This is a study of Jesus being radical. He was radical in His claims, and in His teaching, and in the language He used, and in His actions. He was clearly radical.
This is a study of Jesus laughing in time and in eternity. He promised we would laugh with Him in heaven, and most agree that Jesus often laughed with His followers in His earthly ministry. Jesus was a laugher by nature being He was God, and God did laugh, and being man, who by nature does laugh. Look at the masses of little babies that laugh on the internet. It is natural to being human.
This is a study of Jesus as our protector. He will strengthen and protect from the evil one. We need His protection for we are not always aware of the snares of the evil one.
This is a study of Jesus not being a self pleaser. He looked to helping and pleasing others and was an example for all believers to look to others need and not focus on self.
This is a study of Jesus being the clothing we are to wear. To be clothed in Jesus is to be like Jesus in the way we look and how our life is to appear before the world.
This is a study of Jesus being our liberator. By His death He set us free from the law of sin and death. We are under no condemnation when we trust Him as our Savior and Liberator.
The PBHP DYC ~ Reflections on The Dhamma (English).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma Reflections for the PBHP DYC for the years 1993 – 2012. To motivate and inspire DYC members to keep on practicing the Dhamma and to do the meritorious deed of Dhammaduta work.
The texts are in English.
For the Video with audio narration, comments and texts in English, please check out the Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2g_43NEa0
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.
The Chakra System in our body - A Portal to Interdimensional Consciousness.pptxBharat Technology
each chakra is studied in greater detail, several steps have been included to
strengthen your personal intention to open each chakra more fully. These are designed
to draw forth the highest benefit for your spiritual growth.
The Good News, newsletter for June 2024 is hereNoHo FUMC
Our monthly newsletter is available to read online. We hope you will join us each Sunday in person for our worship service. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and social media.
What Should be the Christian View of Anime?Joe Muraguri
We will learn what Anime is and see what a Christian should consider before watching anime movies? We will also learn a little bit of Shintoism religion and hentai (the craze of internet pornography today).
In Jude 17-23 Jude shifts from piling up examples of false teachers from the Old Testament to a series of practical exhortations that flow from apostolic instruction. He preserves for us what may well have been part of the apostolic catechism for the first generation of Christ-followers. In these instructions Jude exhorts the believer to deal with 3 different groups of people: scoffers who are "devoid of the Spirit", believers who have come under the influence of scoffers and believers who are so entrenched in false teaching that they need rescue and pose some real spiritual risk for the rescuer. In all of this Jude emphasizes Jesus' call to rescue straying sheep, leaving the 99 safely behind and pursuing the 1.
Homily: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday 2024.docxJames Knipper
Countless volumes have been written trying to explain the mystery of three persons in one true God, leaving us to resort to metaphors such as the three-leaf clover to try to comprehend the Divinity. Many of us grew up with the quintessential pyramidal Trinity structure of God at the top and Son and Spirit in opposite corners. But what if we looked at this ‘mystery’ from a different perspective? What if we shifted our language of God as a being towards the concept of God as love? What if we focused more on the relationship within the Trinity versus the persons of the Trinity? What if stopped looking at God as a noun…and instead considered God as a verb? Check it out…
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way.pptxCelso Napoleon
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way
SBs – Sunday Bible School
Adult Bible Lessons 2nd quarter 2024 CPAD
MAGAZINE: THE CAREER THAT IS PROPOSED TO US: The Path of Salvation, Holiness and Perseverance to Reach Heaven
Commentator: Pastor Osiel Gomes
Presentation: Missionary Celso Napoleon
Renewed in Grace
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way.pptx
Jeremiah 4 commentary
1. JEREMIAH 4 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1 “If you, Israel, will return,
then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray,
BAR ES, "Return - The repentance of Israel described in Jer_3:21-25 was a hope,
and not a reality. The return, literally, would be their restoration to their land;
spiritually, their abandoning their sins.
Jer_4:1-2 should be translated as follows:
If thou wouldst return, O Israel, saith Yahweh.
Unto Me thou shalt return:
And if thou wouldst remove thy abominations from before Me,
And not wander to and fro,
But wouldst swear truly, uprightly; and justly
By the living Yahweh;
Then shall the pagan bless themselves ... -
In him - In Yahweh. Two great truths are taught in this verse;
(1) that the Gentiles were to be members of the Church of the Messiah;
(2) that Israel’s special office was to be God’s mediator in this great work.
Thus, Jeremiah is in exact accord with the evangelical teaching of Isaiah.
CLARKE, "Shalt thou not remove - This was spoken before the Babylonish
captivity; and here is a promise that if they will return from their idolatry, they shall not
be led into captivity. So, even that positively threatened judgment would have been
averted had they returned to the Lord.
GILL, "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord,.... To which they had been
encouraged, and as they had promised they would, and said they did, Jer_3:14,
return unto me; with thy whole heart, and not feignedly and hypocritically, as Judah
2. did, Jer_3:10. Some render the words (and the accents require they should be rendered
so) "if thou wilt return to me, O Israel, saith the Lord, thou shalt return" (l); that is, to
thine own land, being now in captivity; or, "thou shalt rest" (m); or "have rest"; so
Kimchi interprets the last word; see Jer_30:10, and these words may very well be
considered as the words of Christ, and as spoken by him, when he entered upon his
ministry, who began it with calling the people of the Jews to repentance, and promising
to give them rest; and all such who return to God by repentance, and come to Christ by
faith, find spiritual rest for their souls now, and shall have an eternal rest hereafter,
Mat_4:17,
and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; not only their
sins, but their self-righteousness, and dependence upon it; the rites and ceremonies of
the old law abolished by Christ, together with the traditions of the elders, by which they
made void the commandments of God; all which were abominations in the sight of the
Lord, Isa_1:13,
then shalt thou not remove; from thine own land again when restored, or further
off, into more distant countries, for they were now in captivity; or rather the words may
be rendered, not as a promise, but as a continuation of what is before said,
and not move to and fro (n); or be unstable and wavering, tossed to and fro with
every wind of doctrine, and precept of men; but be established in the faith of the Gospel,
and steadfast and immovable in every good work. The Targum is:
"if thou wilt return, O Israel, to my worship, saith the Lord, thy return shall be received
before thy decree is sealed; and if thou wilt take away thine abominations from before
me, thou shalt not be moved;''
or wander about.
HE RY 1-2, "When God called to backsliding Israel to return (Jer_3:22) they
immediately answered, Lord, we return; now God here takes notice of their answer, and,
by way of reply to it,
I. He directs them how to pursue their good resolutions: “Dost thou say, I will
return?” 1. “Then thou must return unto me; make a thorough work of it. Do not only
turn from thy idolatries, but return to the instituted worship of the God of Israel.” Or,
“Thou must return speedily and not delay (as Isa_21:12, If you will enquire, enquire
you); if you will return unto me, return you: do not talk of it, but do it.” 2. “Thou must
utterly abandon all sin, and not retain any of the relics of idolatry: Put away thy
abominations out of my sight,” that is, out of all places (for every place is under the eye
of God), especially out of the temple, the house which he had in a particular manner his
eye upon, to see that it was kept clean. It intimates that their idolatries were not only
obvious, but offensive, to the eye of God. They were abominations which he could not
endure the sight of; therefore they must be put away out of his sight, because they were
a provocation to the pure eyes of God's glory. Sin must be put away out of the heart, else
it is not put away out of God's sight, for the heart and all that is in it lie open before his
eye. 3. They must not return to sin again; so some understand that, Thou shalt not
remove, reading it, Thou shalt not, or must not, wander. “If thou wilt put away thy
abominations, and wilt not wander after them again, as thou hast done, all shall be
well.” 4. They must give unto God the glory due unto his name (Jer_4:2): “Thou shalt
sear, The Lord liveth. His existence shall be with thee the most sacred fact, than which
3. nothing can be more sure, and his judgment the supreme court to which thou shalt
appeal, than which nothing can be more awful.” Swearing is an act of religious worship,
in which we are to give honour to God three ways: - (1.) We must swear by the true God
only, and not by creatures, or any false gods, - by the God that liveth, not by the gods
that are deaf and dumb and dead, - by him only, and not by the Lord and by Malcham,
as Zec_1:5. (2.) We must swear that only which is true, in truth and in righteousness,
not daring to assert that which is false, or which we do not know to be true, nor to assert
that as certain which is doubtful, nor to promise that which we mean not to perform, nor
to violate the promise we have made. To say that which is untrue, or to do that which is
unrighteous, is bad, but to back either with an oath is much worse. (3.) We must do it
solemnly, swear in judgment, that is, when judicially called to it, and not in common
conversation. Rash swearing is as great a profanation of God's name as solemn swearing
is an honour to it. See Deu_10:20; Mat_5:34, Mat_5:37.
II. He encourages them to keep in this good mind and adhere to their resolutions. If
the scattered Israelites will thus return to God, 1. They shall be blessed themselves; for to
that sense the first words may be read: “If thou wilt return to me, then thou shalt return,
that is, thou shalt be brought back out of thy captivity into thy own land again, as was of
old promised,” Deu_4:29; Deu_30:2. Or, “Then thou shalt rest in me, shalt return to me
as they rest, even while thou art in the land of thy captivity.” 2. They shall be blessings to
others; for their returning to God again will be a means of others turning to him who
never new him. If thou wilt own the living Lord, thou wilt thereby influence the nations
among whom thou art to bless themselves in him, to place their happiness in his favour
and to think themselves happy in being brought to the fear of him. See Isa_65:16. They
shall bless themselves in the God of truth, and not in false gods, shall do themselves the
honour, and give themselves the satisfaction, to join themselves to him; and then in him
shall they glory; they shall make him their glory, and shall please, nay, shall pride,
themselves in the blessed change they have made. Those that part with their sins to
return to God, however they scrupled at the bargain at first, when they go away, then
they boast.
JAMISO , "Jer_4:1-31. Continuation of address to the ten tribes of Israel. (Jer_4:1,
Jer_4:2). The prophet turns again to Judah, to whom he had originally been sent (Jer_
4:3-31).
return ... return — play on words. “If thou wouldest return to thy land (thou must
first), return (by conversion and repentance) to Me.”
not remove — no longer be an unsettled wanderer in a strange land. So Cain (Gen_
4:12, Gen_4:14).
K&D 1-2, "The answer of the Lord. - Jer_4:1. "If thou returnest, Israel, saith Jahveh,
returnest to me; and if thou puttest away thine abominations from before my face, and
strayest not, Jer_4:2. and swearest, As Jahveh liveth, in truth, with right, and
uprightness; then shall the nations bless themselves in Him, and in Him make their
boast." Graf errs in taking these verses as a wish: if thou wouldst but repent...and
swear...and if they blessed themselves. His reason is, that the conversion and
reconciliation with Jahveh has not yet taken place, and are yet only hoped for; and he
cites passages for ם ִא with the force of a wish, as Gen_13:3; Gen_28:13, where, however,
4. אָנ or לוּ is joined with it. But if we take all the verbs in the same construction, we get a
very cumbrous result; and the reason alleged proceeds upon a prosaic misconception of
the dramatic nature of the prophet's mode of presentation from Jer_3:21 onwards. Just
as there the prophet hears in spirit the penitent supplication of the people, so here he
hears the Lord's answer to this supplication, by inward vision seeing the future as
already present. The early commentators have followed the example of the lxx and Vulg.
in construing the two verses differently, and take י ַל ֵא and ּאלְו נוּד ָת as apodoses: if thou
returnest, Israel, then return to me; or, if thou, Israel, returnest to me, then shalt thou
return, sc. into thy fatherland; and if thou puttest away thine abominations from before
mine eyes, then shalt thou no longer wander; and if thou swearest...then will they bless
themselves. But by reason of its position after ם ֻאְנ יהוה it is impossible to connect י ַל ֵא with
the protasis. It would be more natural to take י ַל ֵא שׁוּב ָ as apodosis, the י ַל ֵא being put first
for the sake of emphasis. But if we take it as apodosis at all, the apodosis of the second
half of the verse does not rightly correspond to that of the first half. ּאל נוּד ָת would need to
be translated, "then shalt thou no longer wander without fixed habitation," and so would
refer to the condition of the people as exiled. but for this נוּד is not a suitable expression.
Besides, it is difficult to justify the introduction of ם ִא before ָ ְא ַ ְשִׁנְ,ו since an apodosis has
already preceded. For these reasons we are bound to prefer the view of Ew. and Hitz.,
that Jer_4:1 and Jer_4:2 contain nothing but protases. The removal of the
abominations from before God's face is the utter extirpation of idolatry, the negative
moment of the return to the Lord; and the swearing by the life of Jahveh is added as a
positive expression of their acknowledgment of the true God. נוּד ָת is the wandering of the
idolatrous people after this and the other false god, Jer_2:23 and Jer_3:13. "And
strayest not" serves to strengthen "puttest away thine abominations." A sincere return to
God demanded not only the destruction of images and the suppression of idol-worship,
but also the giving up of all wandering after idols, i.e., seeking or longing after other
gods. Similarly, swearing by Jahveh is strengthened by the additions: ת ֶמ ֱא ֶ , in truth, not
deceptively (ר ֶק ֶשׁ ַ,ל Jer_5:2), and with right and uprightness, i.e., in a just cause, and with
honest intentions. - The promise, "they shall bless themselves," etc., has in it an allusion
to the patriarchal promises in Gen_12:3; Gen_18:18; Gen_22:18; Gen_26:4; Gen_28:14,
but it is not, as most commentators, following Jerome, suppose, a direct citation of
these, and certainly not "a learned quotation from a book" (Ew.), in which case ּו would
be referable, as in those promises, to Israel, the seed of Abraham, and would stand for ָך ְ
. This is put out of the question by the parallel ּו וּ לוּ ָ ַה ְתִ,י which never occurs but with the
sense of glorying in God the Lord; cf. Isa_41:16, Psa_34:3; 64:11; Psa_105:3, and Jer_
9:22. Hence it follows that ּו must be referred, as Calv. refers it, to ,יהוה just as in Isa_
65:16 : the nations will bless themselves in or with Jahveh, i.e., will desire and
appropriate the blessing of Jahveh and glory in the true God. Even under this
acceptation, the only one that can be justified from an exegetical point of view, the words
stand in manifest relation to the patriarchal blessing. If the heathen peoples bless
themselves in the name of Jahveh, then are they become partakers of the salvation that
comes from Jahveh; and if this blessing comes to them as a consequence of the true
conversion of Israel to the Lord, as a fruit of this, then it has come to them through
Israel as the channel, as the patriarchal blessings declare disertis verbis. Jeremiah does
5. not lay stress upon this intermediate agency of Israel, but leaves it to be indirectly
understood from the unmistakeable allusion to the older promise. The reason for the
application thus given by Jeremiah to the divine promise made to the patriarchs is found
in the aim and scope of the present discourse. The appointment of Israel to be the
channel of salvation for the nations is an outcome of the calling grace of God, and the
fulfilment of this gracious plan on the part of God is an exercise of the same grace - a
grace which Israel by its apostasy does not reject, but helps onwards towards its
ordained issue. The return of apostate Israel to its God is indeed necessary ere the
destined end be attained; it is not, however, the ground of the blessing of the nations,
but only one means towards the consummation of the divine plan of redemption, a plan
which embraces all mankind. Israel's apostasy delayed this consummation; the
conversion of Israel will have for its issue the blessing of the nations.
CALVI , "The Prophet no doubt requires here from the people a sincere return to
God, inasmuch as they had often pretended to confess their sins, and had given
many signs of repentance, while they were acting deceitfully with him. As then they
had often dealt falsely with God and with his prophets, Jeremiah bids them to
return to God without any disguise and in good faith. With regard to what is here
substantially taught, this is the Prophet’s meaning; but there is some ambiguity in
the words.
Some read thus, “If thou returnest, Israel, to me, saith Jehovah, “connecting “to me,
,אלי “with the first clause, then they read separately “ ,תשוב teshub, thou shalt rest;”
and so they think that what follows is the repetition of the same thing, “If thou wilt
take away thine abominations from before me, thou shalt not migrate;” that is, I will
not cast thee out as I have threatened. Others take the verb ,תשוב teshub, in the
same sense, (for it is the same verb repeated,) “If thou wilt return, Israel, return to
me.” The Prophet doubtless bids the Israelites to return to God in sincerity, and
without any disguise, and not to act falsely with him, as they had often done.
I have as yet mentioned only what others have thought; but, in my judgment, the
most suitable rendering is, “If thou wilt return, Israel, rest in me, “arrete toi, as we
say in French. Rest then in me; and then a definition is given, If thou wilt take away
thine abominations (for the copulative is to be taken as expletive or explanatory)
from my sight, and wilt not wander What some of those I have referred to have
given as their rendering, “If thou wilt return to me, Israel, thou shalt rest,” I wholly
reject, as it seems forced: but I allow this reading, “If thou wilt return, Israel, thou
shalt rest in me;” or this, “If thou wilt return, Israel, return to me;” for the
difference is not great. The Prophet here evidently condemns the hypocrisy which
the Israelites had practiced; for they had often professed themselves as ready to
render obedience to God, and afterwards proved that they had made a false
profession. Since then deceit and emptiness had been so often found in them, the
Prophet demands here, in the name and by the command of God, that they should in
truth and sincerity return to him.
If this reading be approved, “Israel, return to me,” the intimation is, that they ever
6. took circuitous courses, that they might not return directly to God: for it is usual
with hypocrites to make a great show of repentance and at the same time to shun
God. If then we follow this reading, the Prophet means this, “Israel, there is no
reason for thee hereafter to think that thou gainest anything by boasting with thy
mouth of thy repentance; return to me; know that thou hast to do with God, who is
not deceived, as he never deceives any: return then faithfully to me, and let thy
conversion be sincere and in no way deceptive.”
But if the verb, ,תשוב teshub, be taken in the other sense, there would be no great
difference in the meaning; “If thou wilt return, Israel, thou shalt rest in me;” that is,
thou shalt hereafter have nothing to do with idols and with thy perverted ways.
Thus the Prophet briefly shews that the return of Israel would be nothing, except
they acquiesced in God alone, and wandered not after vain objects, as they had
often done. And with this view corresponds what follows, “Even if thou takest away
(for the copulative, as I have said, is to be taken as explanatory) thine abominations
from my sight, and wilt wander no more, תנוד ,ולא vela tanud. ” For the vice which
Jeremiah meant especially to condemn was this, — that Israel, while pretending a
great show of religion, yet vacillated and did not devote themselves with all their
heart to God, but were changeable in their purpose. This vice then is what Jeremiah
justly condemns; and hence I am disposed to embrace this view “Israel, if thou wilt
return, rest in me;” that is, continue constantly faithful to me: but how can this be
done? “Even if thou wilt take away thy abominations, and if thou wilt not wander;”
for thy levity and inconstancy hitherto has been well known. (98)
Whatever view we may take, this passage deserves to be noticed as being against
hypocrites, who dare not openly to reject prophetic warnings; but while they shew
some tokens of repentance, they still by windings shun the presence of God. They
indeed testify by their mouth that they seek God, but yet have recourse to
subterfuges: and hence I have said that this passage is remarkably useful, so that we
may know that God cannot be pacified by those fallacious trifles which hypocrites
bring forward, but that he requires a sincere heart, and that he abominates all
dissimulation. It is therefore expressly said, If thou wilt take away thy abominations
from my sight For hypocrites ever regard display and seek to be approved by men,
and are satisfied with their approbation; but God calls their attention to himself. It
must at the same time be observed, that he cannot be deceived; for he is the searcher
of hearts. It follows —
1.If thou wilt return, Israel, saith Jehovah, to me, Thou shalt be restored, (that is,
from captivity:) If thou wilt remove thy abominations from my sight, Thou shalt not
be a wanderer.
— Ed.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
JEREMIAH 4
7. THE IMPE DI G DESTRUCTIO OF JUDAH
The chapter begins with a conclusion of the prophet's address to the orthern Israel
(Jeremiah 4:1-2); then there is a call for Judah's repentance and return to duty as
the very last hope of her averting destruction (Jeremiah 4:3-4); next, the Babylonian
invasion is prophesied (Jeremiah 4:5-9); there follows the most difficult verse in the
chapter (Jeremiah 4:10); a continued description of the forthcoming invasion is
given (Jeremiah 4:11-18); personified Judah bewails her fate (Jeremiah 4:19-21);
God's answer and the cause of their misery are related (Jeremiah 4:22); a prophecy
of the awful extent of the destruction is announced (Jeremiah 4:23-26); and,
notwithstanding God's promise not to make a "full end" of Judah (Jeremiah 4:27);
there follows the magnificent prophecy of the Judgment of Judah in terminology
that suggests also the final destruction of Adam's rebellious race in the Day of
Judgment (Jeremiah 4:16-31).
Jeremiah 4:1-2
"If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, if thou wilt return unto me, and if thou
wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed;
and thou shalt swear, as Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."
What marvelous things could have happened if only Israel had repented and
returned to God. This promise came a hundred years after their going captive into
Assyria; but even then God could have achieved wonders through them IF, only IF,
they had repented. Of course, it proved a vain hope. There is no evidence whatever
of any slightest intention upon their part of returning to God.
ote especially that "the nations," that is, the Gentiles would have been converted,
and that Israel would have been the means of God's reaching them! Gentiles and
nations are alternate renditions of the same Hebrew noun.
As Cook stated it:
"Two great truths are taught in this verse: (1) that the Gentiles were to be members
of the Church of the Messiah, and (2) that Israel's peculiar office was to be God's
instrument in that great work. Thus Jeremiah is in exact accord with the evangelical
teaching of Isaiah."[1]
It should not be overlooked that, "The situation envisaged here was a prospect,
rather than a reality."[2] There could be neither a return of Israel to their homeland
nor the conversion of the nations without a genuine abandonment of their apostasy,
which never happened.
These verses appear to be God's answer to Israel's response to the invitation of
Jeremiah 3:22. "When God called Israel to repent, they immediately answered,
Lord, we return; now God takes notice of it in this reply."[3] "If you have it in mind
to return to me, return; but come all the way back to me"![4] Of course, there are
8. three things involved in such a return: (1) the immediate and total abandonment of
their idolatry, (2) a return to the sincere and wholehearted worship and service of
the true God, and (3) a radical revision and restructuring of their lives in a pattern
of obedience, justice, and faithfulness. These remain still, in all ages, the basics of
true repentance.
COKE, "Jeremiah 4:1. If thou wilt return—return unto me— If thou wilt return—
thou shalt return. [Thou shalt dwell with me. Houb.] If thou wilt remove thy idols,
thou shalt not be removed. In the former part, says Houbigant, the conversion of
their [hearts and] morals is spoken of; in the latter, the stability of their
government. These words are evidently a continuation of the discourse beginning at
the 6th verse of the preceding chapter, and of the prophet's address to the Israelitish
captives in the 20th verse of the same chapter.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto
me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou
not remove.
Ver. 1. If thou wilt return, O Israel.] As thou seemest willing to do, and for very
good reason. [Jeremiah 2:22-24] Thou art but a beaten rebel, and to stand it out
with me is to no purpose; thou must either turn or burn. either will it help thee to
return fainly, for I love truth in the inward parts, and hate hypocrisy, halting, and
tepidity. If therefore thou wilt return,
Return unto me.] Return as far as to me; not from one evil course to another,
[Jeremiah 2:36] for that is but to be tossed as a ball from one of the devil’s hands to
the other, but "to me with thy whole heart," seriously, sincerely, and zealously; for
on amat, qui non zelat. To a tyrant thou shalt not turn, but to one that will both
assist thee, [Proverbs 1:23] and accept thee. [Zechariah 1:2]
And if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,] i.e., Thine idols out
of thine house and out of thine heart. [Ezekiel 14:3-4]
Then shalt thou not remove.] But still dwell in the land and do good; feeding on
faith, as Tremellius rendereth that Psalms 37:3.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "JEREMIAH A D HIS PROPHECIES
Jereremiah 1:1 - Jeremiah 5:31
"Count me o’er earth’s chosen heroes-they were souls that stood alone, While the
men they agonized for hurled the contumelious stone; Stood serene, and down the
future saw the golden beam incline To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their
9. faith divine, By one man’s plain truth to manhood and to God’s supreme design."
- LOWELL
TRULY Jeremiah was a prophet of evil. The king might have addressed him in the
words with which Agamemnon reproaches Kalchas.
"Augur accursed! denouncing mischief still:
Prophet of plagues, forever boding ill!
Still must that tongue some wounding message bring,
And still thy priestly pride provoke thy king."
ever was there a sadder man. Like Phocion, he believed in the enemies of his
country more than he believed in his own people. He saw "Too late" written upon
everything. "He saw himself all but universally execrated as a coward, as a traitor,
as one who weakened the nerves and damped the courage of those who were
fighting against fearful odds for their wives and children, the ashes of their fathers,
their altars, and their hearths. It had become his fixed conviction that any prophets-
and there were a multitude of them-who prophesied peace were false prophets, and
ipso facto proved themselves conspirators against the true well-being of the land
Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11, Ezekiel 13:10. In point of fact, Jeremiah lived to
witness the death struggle of the idea of religion in its predominantly national
character. {Jeremiah 7:8-16; Jeremiah 6:8} The continuity of the national faith
refused to be bound up with the continuance of the nation. When the nation is
dissolved into individual elements, the continuity and ultimate victory of the true
faith depends on the relations of Jehovah to individual souls out of which the nation
shall be bound up."
And now a sad misfortune happened to Jeremiah. His home was not at Jerusalem,
but at Anathoth, though he had long been driven from his native village by the
murderous plots of his own kindred, and of those who had been infuriated by his
incessant prophecies of doom. When the Chaldaeans retired from Jerusalem to
encounter Pharaoh, he left the distressed city for the land of Benjamin, "to receive
his portion from thence in the midst of the people"-apparently, for the sense is
doubtful, to claim his dues of maintenance as a priest. But at the city gate he was
arrested by Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the captain of the watch, who charged him
with the intention of deserting to the Chaldaeans. Jeremiah pronounced the charge
to be a lie; but Irijah took him before the princes, who hated him, and consigned
him to dreary and dangerous imprisonment in the house of Jonathan the scribe. In
the vaults of this house of the pit he continued many days. {Jeremiah 37:11-15} The
king sympathized with him: he would gladly have delivered him, if he could, from
the rage of the princes; but he did not dare. Meanwhile, the siege went on, and the
people never forgot the anguish of despair with which they waited the re-investiture
of the city. Ever since that day it has been kept as a fast-the fast of Tebeth.
10. Zedekiah, yearning for some advice, or comfort-if comfort were to be had-from the
only man whom he really trusted, sent for Jeremiah to the palace, and asked him in
despicable secrecy, "Is there any word from the Lord?" The answer was the old
one: "Yes! Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the King of Babylon."
Jeremiah gave it without quailing, but seized the opportunity to ask on what plea he
was imprisoned. Was he not a prophet? Had he not prophesied the return of the
Chaldaean host? Where now were all the prophets who had prophesied peace?
Would not the king at least save him from the detestable prison in which he was
dying by inches? The king heard his petition, and he was removed to a better prison
in the court of the watch where he received his daily piece of bread out of the
bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was spent. For now utter famine came
upon the wretched Jews, to add to the horrors and accidents of the siege. If we
would know what that famine was in its appalling intensity, we must turn to the
Book of Lamentations. Those elegies, so unutterably plaintive, may not be by the
prophet himself, but only by his school but they show us what was the frightful
condition of the people of Jerusalem before and during the last six months of the
siege. "The sword of the wilderness"-the roving and plundering Bedouin-made it
impossible to get out of the city in any direction. Things were as dreadfully hopeless
as they had been in Samaria when it was besieged by Benhadad. {Lamentations 5:4}
Hunger and thirst reduce human nature to its most animal conditions. They
obliterate the merest elements of morality. They make men like beasts, and reveal
the ferocity which is never quite dead in any but the purest and loftiest souls. They
arouse the least human instincts of the aboriginal animal. The day came when there
was no more bread left in Jerusalem. {Jeremiah 37:21; Jeremiah 38:9; Jeremiah
52:6} The fair and ruddy azarites, who had been purer than snow, whiter than
milk, more ruddy than corals, lovely as sapphires, became like withered boughs,
{Lamentations 4:7-8} and even their friends did not recognize them in those ghastly
and emaciated figures which crept about the streets. The daughters of Zion, more
cruel in their hunger than the very jackals, lost the instincts of pity and motherhood.
Mothers and fathers devoured their own little unweaned children. There was
parricide as well as infanticide in the horrible houses. They seemed to plead that
none could blame them, since the lives of many had become an intolerable anguish,
and no man had bread for his little ones, and their tongues cleaved to the roof of
their mouth. All that happened six centuries later, during the siege of Jerusalem by
Titus, happened now. Then Martha, the daughter of icodemus ben-Gorion, once a
lady of enormous wealth, was seen picking the grains of corn from the offal of the
streets; now the women who had fed delicately and been brought up in scarlet were
seen sitting desolate on heaps of dung. And Jehovah did not raise His hand to save
His guilty and dying people. It was too late!
And as is always the case in such extremities, there were men who stood defiant and
selfish amid the universal misery. Murder, oppression, and luxury continued to
prevail. The godless nobles did not intermit the building of their luxurious houses,
asserting to themselves and others that, after all, the final catastrophe was not near
at hand. The sudden death of one of them-Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah-while Ezekiel
was prophesying, terrified the prophet so much that he flung himself on his face and
cried with a loud voice, "Ah, Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of
11. Israel?" But on the others this death by the visitation of God seems to have
produced no effect; and the glory of God left the city, borne away upon its
cherubim-chariot. {Ezekiel 11:22}
Even under the stress of these dreadful circumstances the Jews held out with that
desperate tenacity which has often been shown by nations fighting behind strong
walls for their very existence, but by no nation more decidedly than by the Jews.
And if the rebel-party, and the lying prophets who had brought the city to this pass,
still entertained any hopes either of a diversion caused by Pharaoh Hophrah, or of
some miraculous deliverance such as that which had saved the city from
Sennacherib years earlier, it is not unnatural that they should have regarded
Jeremiah with positive fury. For he still continued to prophesy the captivity. What
specially angered them was his message to the people that all who remained in
Jerusalem should die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, but that those
who deserted to the Chaldaeans should live. It was on the ground of his having said
this that they had imprisoned him as a deserter; and when Pashur and his son
Gedaliah heard that he was still saying this, they and the other princes entreated
Zedekiah to put him to death as a pernicious traitor, who weakened the hands of the
patriot soldiers. Jeremiah was not guilty of the lack of patriotism with which they
charged him. The day of independence had passed forever, and Babylon, not Egypt,
was the appointed suzerain. The counseling of submission-as many a victorious
chieftain has been forced at last to counsel it, from the days of Hannibal to those of
Thiers-is often the true and the only possible patriotism in doomed and decadent
nations. Zedekiah timidly abandoned the prophet to the rage of his enemies; but
being afraid to murder him openly as Urijah had been murdered, they flung him
into a well in the dungeon of Mal-chiah, the king’s son. Into the mire of this pit he
sank up to the arms, and there they purposely left him to starve and rot. But if no
Israelite pitied him, his condition moved the compassion of Ebed-Melech, an
Ethiopian, one of the king’s eunuch-chamberlains. He hurried to the king in a storm
of pity and indignation. He found him sitting, as a king should do, at the post of
danger in the gate of Benjamin; for Zedekiah was not a physical, though he was a
moral, coward. Ebed-Melech told the king that Jeremiah was dying of starvation,
and Zedekiah bade him take three men with him and rescue the dying man. The
faithful Ethiopian hurried to a cellar under the treasury, took with him some old,
worn fragments of robes, and, letting them down by cords, called to Jeremiah to put
them under his arm-pits. He did so, and they drew him up into the light of day,
though he still remained in prison.
It seems to have been at this time that, in spite of his grim vaticination of immediate
retribution, Jeremiah showed his serene confidence in the ultimate future by
accepting the proposal of his cousin Hanameel to buy some of the paternal fields at
Anathoth, though at that very moment they were in the hands of the Chaldaeans.
Such an act, publicly performed, must have caused some consolation to the besieged,
just as did the courage of the Roman senator who gave a good price for the estate
outside the walls of Rome on which Hannibal was actually encamped.
Then Zedekiah once more secretly sent for him, and implored him to tell the
12. unvarnished truth. "If I do, " said the prophet, "will you not kill me? and will you
in any case hearken to me?" Zedekiah swore not to betray him to his enemies; and
Jeremiah told him that, even at that eleventh hour, if he would go out and make
submission to the Babylonians, the city should not be burnt, and he should save the
lives of himself and of his family. Zedekiah believed him, but pleaded that he was
afraid of the mockery of the deserters to whom he might be delivered. Jeremiah
assured him that he should not be so delivered, and, that, if he refused to obey,
nothing remained for the city, and for him and his wives and children, but final
ruin. The king was too weak to follow what he must now have felt to be the last
chance which God had opened out for him. He could only "attain to half-believe."
He entrusted the result to chance, with miserable vacillation of purpose; and the
door of hope was closed upon him. His one desire was to conceal the interview; and
if it came to the ears of the princes-of whom he was shamefully afraid-he begged
Jeremiah to say that he had only entreated the king not to send him back to die in
Jonathan’s prison.
As he had suspected, it became known that Jeremiah had been summoned to an
interview with the king. They questioned the prophet in prison. He told them the
story which the king had suggested to him, and the truth remained undiscovered.
For this deflection from exact truth it is tolerably certain that, in the state of men’s
consciences upon the subject of veracity in those days, the prophet’s moral sense did
not for a moment reproach him. He remained in his prison, guarded probably by
the faithful Ebed-Melech, until Jerusalem was taken.
Let us pity the dreadful plight of Zedekiah, aggravated as it was by his weak
temperament. "He stands at the head of a people determined to defend itself, but is
himself without either hope or courage."
PARKER, "The Pleadings of God
Jeremiah 4
The people had just said they would return, for they were tired of their evil ways.
They had been looking to the hills for salvation, and no salvation came; they had
turned their eyes to the multitude of mountains, and found them to be utterly
barren of hope. The Lord had told them this, and they had confirmed it by much
experience of a painful kind. The people said: "We lie down in our shame, and our
confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our
fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the
Lord our God" ( Jeremiah 3:25). Men can say that as if they could not help doing
the wickedness they complain of. This matter of confession needs analysis. We
should look into it very penetratingly, for there may be irreligion in religion, impiety
in piety. Why do men do the things that they are ashamed of, knowing that they will
have to repent of them? And yet with all this staring them in the face with appalling
vividness, they put out both hands to do evil, and they drink deeply at the streams of
wickedness. They will repent tomorrow, and repeat the evil on the third day; they
rest that they may get energy to serve the devil more faithfully; they retire to pray
13. that they may come back with a keener appetite to the devil"s banquet. This is the
mystery of human nature; this is the insoluble point in the study of the soul. Yet the
Lord allows himself (we speak reverently) to be mocked and deceived for a time.
The moment he sees a tear he says, If you will return, I will dry that tear away.
Whenever he hears a returning one crying out in the bitterness of his soul, he seems
to say, The past is now forgotten; come in, and feast upon the true bread; come and
be shielded by my omnipotence.
A strange ministry is that of Almightiness. It is almightiness—almost. Men who are
critics only have found out that God cannot be almighty, or things would be
different; and this they have held up as a revelation: whereas, it is no Revelation ,
but the veriest commonplace of the Bible. It is God who "repents" that he made
man—in some sense we cannot understand; but there is no other word which could
convey even a hint of his meaning to our obtuse minds. It is God who says, I cannot
do it: I have failed. I have planted a vineyard and looked for grapes, and behold it
has brought forth wild grapes; the vineyard has been ungrateful. I might have been
the most unskilled husbandman, nay, I might have been a niggard in the vineyard,
sparing everything that tended to nurture and develop; for here—holding up the
wild grapes—is the result of all my toil and love and care. So we come upon a
mysterious if in all the history of God"s administration. "If thou wilt return"—why
not make them return? Here man is stronger than God. We have seen in
innumerable instances how true it is that God, who can handle universes, can do
nothing with the heart he has made except with the heart"s consent. He made man
in his own image and likeness: it is dangerous to give your personality to another.
What is there to be had without danger, without an infinite risk? It were better to be
a man with the pain of manhood as a daily portion, than to be the proudest beast
that shakes the earth with his great hoofs. It is better that the child should live to
smite you in the face, than that it should be a child made of marble which has been
carved, and which can neither speak nor pray nor sin nor laugh nor die. There is a
grim comfort even in gravedigging under the hearthstone: when it is all over the
afflicted one says: I had the child awhile, and during his sojourn with me he
doubled my life and made every day a Sabbath; even now I would not give up the
experience of the joy because of this rain of bitterest tears. It may be that God has
some comfort in this old earth yet. We are not children that cannot lie. If we could
not lie, we could not pray. It is because we can distress God that we can please him.
Displeasure is a multiple; it is a complex term; it involves much; it is full of giving
and taking and exchanging and transforming, so that heart passes into heart, life
into life, and love doubles love, and prayer ennobles life into immortality. Behold
God, then, as a pleader. "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto
me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,"—if thou wilt
swear, "The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness,"—if thou wilt
do these things, the issue will be glorious; it will also be beneficent, it will have an
evangelistic effect upon the world. The reason seems to be curious, but it allows
itself to be examined with the assurance that when it is really understood it will cast
light upon many a mystery.
How does the reasoning culminate? Thus: If thou wilt return—if thou wilt put away
14. the things of thy shame—if thou wilt wander no more—if thou wilt swear, "The
Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness," then "nations shall bless
themselves in him, and in him shall they glory." The meaning Isaiah , the heathen
nations round about shall see thy return, and they will begin to own the power of
God. That is the converting force that must be brought to bear upon the whole of
the nations. The Church must be so beautiful as to attract attention. There must be
something in prayer that there is in nothing else. Heathen nations may answer
arguments: they cannot answer character. When Christians do right, pagans will
believe; when Christians claim their uniqueness of quality and exemplify it, the men
who get up arguments against Christianity will be ashamed of their own ingenuity,
and run away from the things their hands have piled, saying, We cannot build
fortresses against such quality of character. This is true missionary work. An honest
England means a converted India. A drinking England means a sneering China.
When we take our evil customs to other shores as well as our missionaries, what
wonder if the natives should follow the customs and allow the missionaries to do
what they please, and all their work to come to an impotent issue? We do the same
thing: we copy the bad, we mimic the evil in all our mimetics, we reproduce defects;
being skilled reproducers of feature and tone. It is the defect we reproduce, and not
the sterling excellence The Lord here lays down the sublime doctrine that if his
Church would be right the world would soon be converted.
The chapter proceeds—"Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns."
There is a negative work to be done. The ground wants cutting up, exposing to the
light and the rain. "Sow not among thorns." Here is the hint of a great parable
already. When Jesus Christ borrowed he borrowed from himself. He was never
indebted to any man for a thought. He quoted no parables, he made them for the
occasion; and how exquisitely they fitted the opportunity! How upon all human life
he laid the line of his imagination, and caused that imagination to take its mould
from the immediate circumstances, and gathered from those circumstances his most
solemn expositions and appeals. "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away
the foreskins of your heart" ( Jeremiah 4:4). Already the book begins to be spiritual.
For a long time we have been with the symbols and types and hints of things, and we
could not understand them; we said, Thank God we are not Jews! we never could go
through all this dreary curriculum: surely the Lord was taunting the people and
mocking them, and loading them with grievous burdens, in all this fire-lighting, and
all this blood-shedding, and all this continual ritual, always ending where it began,
and. in its ending but creating a new beginning: we became weary of the infinite
monotony. Here and there the book has revealed the true spiritual element. The
commandments at the very first, as we have seen, put out tentacles that meant a
kingdom invisible, for the commandments ended with "Thou shalt not covet." What
a rise in the education of Israel! "Thou shalt not steal"—a vulgar exhortation: who
wants to steal? But at the end, having got through the nine well, we come to "Thou
shalt not covet." Already the kingdom of the spiritual is setting in; and now the
prophet says, speaking in the name of God, "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and
take away the foreskins of your heart:" "rend your heart, and not your garments."
This was the meaning of all the education. It was very irksome, most tedious, the
people were groaning under it; but it was all required in order that the spiritual
15. revelation might be made complete and vivid; the meaning was, It is the heart that
must be circumcised; it is the spirit that must be cleansed; it is the soul that must be
attuned to heaven"s music. Be real, not ceremonial. Do not only be in the open
church, into which every man may go, but find your reverent way into the inner
sanctuary, and have an interview with God, face to face, when no one else is present
Do not have a set of dogmas, all trimmed and dressed, and marked in plain figures,
to which you pay a moment"s court once a week; but have living principles active
doctrines, penetrating beliefs, convictions that seize the whole nature, and conduct it
through a purifying and ennobling process. The Lord will have no ritual that is not
significant of an inward ministry. He will have no cleanliness of the body, unless it
mean that the soul has undergone divine catharism, and is spiritually cleansed, as a
vessel may be chemically purified. This is a sublime issue; this explains everything.
It is so with our intellectual education. Who likes to learn alphabets? What do they
all amount to, when the five- or six-and-twenty letters are all learned, in this shape
and that, curious as if the genius of learning had determined to puzzle the intellect
of the world? What are they? They say nothing; they do not know one another; they
have to be introduced to one another, and combined, and related, and interrelated,
and run into one another; they have to undergo a process of tessellation: but when
the child first sees the living meaning of a sentence, and that sentence is full of light
and poetry and music, he says, This is worth all the toil. To have been studying a
foreign tongue, and then to be able to pass into the nation where it is spoken, and to
hold intercourse with the inhabitants—easy, confident, ample intercourse—then the
student says, It was worth all the long nights I spent upon the acquisition of this
language: it has given me a new world, it has enlarged the horizon of my outlook, I
am thankful for all the pains I underwent. So it is with Christian education. There
are rituals, observances, penances, ceremonies, and they become irksome, until they
yield up their meaning; and the moment a soul can out of its own self pray, shoot
out one living sentence, it beholds new heavens and a new earth, and says, This is
the meaning of all the discipline; blessed be God, I am a free man of the heavens; I
can in my own name for my very self pray through Christ and receive blessings
direct from God. If we have not circumcised our hearts, if we have not taken away
the foreskins of our hearts and souls, we know nothing about the Christian religion
and ought not to profess it.
In the twenty-second verse we have a remarkable charge:—
"For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and
they have none understanding." ( Jeremiah 4:22)
Here is inverted genius; here is abused faculty. Here is a man who is in the high pay
of the devil. For the devil could hardly do without him, so inventive is he in all evil;
he has coined a new language, minted a new currency of evil; he has achieved the
right to share the throne of blackness with Beelzebub. The Lord has determined
that all falsehood shall come to an unholy end.
"And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with
crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy
16. face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee,
they will seek thy life" ( Jeremiah 4:30).
This renting of the face Isaiah , literally, enlarging of the eyes, through kohl or
antimony—a trick of artificial beauty. And the poor creature has taken out her best
clothes, painted herself with the fairest colours, done all she could from the outside,
and behold the issue is: "Thy lovers will despise thee"—they will see through thee.
The knave shall know that he is more seen through than he supposes. He is very
skilful up to a given point. The accusation relates both to men and women; charges
can easily be made; but it is the whole human nature that is involved in this
impeachment. There is clothing, and there is painting, and there is decoration with
gold, and there is renting of the face; but after all is over men feel that this is unreal,
untrue, utterly rotten at the core; they say this is "a goodly apple rotten at the
heart." Let us understand this, that whether we be discovered now or then, we shall
be discovered. The hollow man shall be sounded, and shall be pronounced void.
Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting; and thou, poor fool, hast
covered up the hectic flush of consumption with indigo that will wash off, or with
some other colour that can be cleansed away; thou hast made thyself look otherwise
than as thou art: but all that is external shall be taken from thee, and thou shalt be
seen in thy naked hideousness and ghastliness. This is right! The revelation will be
awful; but it ought to be made, or heaven itself will be insecure. Oh what disclosures
then! The canting hypocrite without his cloak; the skilful mocker who has lost his
power of jesting; the knave who always said a grace he had committed to memory
before he cut the bread he had stolen; the preacher who knew the right, and yet the
wrong pursued; the fair speaker, who knew the very subtlety of music as to
persuasion, and yet decoyed souls down the way at the end of which is hell. Then the
other revelation will also be made. There may be men of rough manners who shall
prove to have been all the while animated by a gentle spirit; there may be those who
have been regarded as Philistines who are God"s gentlemen; there may be those
who have been thought as unworthy of courtesy who shall be set high among the
angels. "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye Judges , ye
shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
To be seen through,—that is an awful thought. To have it made plain that the smile
was only on the lips and not in the soul,—who could bear the disclosure? To have
the royal purple taken away and the lurch of the cripple revealed,—who could bear
it? Who can stand before the judgment of God? When the day burneth like an oven,
who can bear the ardour? Unless we face these solemn and fundamental questions
we never can understand what is meant by God"s great offer, by Christ"s
redeeming Cross, by the ministry of the Holy Ghost. If we tell lies to ourselves, we
disqualify ourselves for hearing the music of the gospel. If we live a frivolous
surface-life, eating, drinking, talking, sleeping, buying, selling, getting gain, moving
to and fro like a weaver"s shuttle, then we shall know nothing about the agony of
Golgotha, and the meaning of the shed blood of the Son of God: it will be mockery
to us; the Sabbath will be a burden, the church will be a nuisance, the grand appeal
will be wasted eloquence. But let a man come to feel that he is really a soul, in very
deed, made in the image and likeness of God; let him feel one sting of conscience; let
him know that he can do nothing towards obliterating the past, even if he could live
17. a beautiful life from this day forth evermore; then he will begin to ask, Is there no
balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Has no provision been made in this
great medical universe for the healing of wounds such as gape in my soul? Does the
world grow herbs for the healing of the body, and is there no garden where things
are grown for the healing of the soul? It is in that hour that the Christian evangelist
has his glorious opportunity; it is then he can say, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved; the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost; thy shame is thy introduction to the Father; thy penitence shall open the door
of the sanctuary in which he dwells; he needs no introduction to a broken heart, a
contrite spirit, a soul that afflicts itself because of its self-helplessness. Thus from the
Old Testament, as from the ew, there comes up a gospel—in the one case, the
necessity for deliverance; in the other, the living Deliverer—the tender, sympathetic,
all-understanding, mighty, infinite Son of God.
PULPIT 1-2K, "The form and structure of the translation require a change.
Render, If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, wilt return unto me; and if thou
wilt put away, etc; and not wander; and wilt swear, As Jehovah liveth, with good
faith, with justice, and with righteousness; then shall the nations bless themselves by
him, and in him shall they glory. The clause, "and not wander," seems too short; the
Septuagint had a choicer reading, "and put away, etc; from his [thy] mouth, and not
wander from before me." It is the close of the prophecy which we have here. The
prophet subjoins a promise which he has heard from Jehovah. True, it does not
appeal to Israel's self-love (as Isaiah 48:18, Isaiah 48:19; Psalms 81:13-16), but to a
nobler feeling of responsibility for the world's welfare. Israel has been entrusted
with a mission, and on the due performance of this mission hangs the weal or woe of
humanity. Hence Jehovah's longing for Israel's repentance. If Israel will but
"return," and obey God's commandments, all nations will be attracted to the true
religion. The form of expression used for the latter statement is borrowed probably
from Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4 (it is less closely parallel with Genesis 12:3;
Genesis 18:18). To "bless by" any one is to use his name in the benediction formula.
Seeing Israel so blessed through his allegiance to Jehovah, all nations shall wish
themselves a similar blessing (the reverse of the process in Jeremiah 29:22; comp.
Isaiah 65:16). To "swear, As Jehovah liveth," means to call Jehovah to witness to
the truth of a statement. This is to be done "with good faith," etc; i.e. the object of
the oath must be consistent with honesty and probity. Abominations; i.e. idols, as
often (see 2 Kings 23:24).
BI 1-4, "If thou wilt return,. . .and if thou wilt put away thine abominations . . . then
shalt thou not remove.
The pleadings of God
A strange ministry is that of Almightiness. It is almightiness—almost. So we come upon
a mysterious “if” in all the history of God’s administration. “If thou wilt return”—why not
make them return? Here man is stronger than God. We have seen in innumerable
instances how true it is that God, who can handle universes, can do nothing with the
heart He has made except with the heart’s consent. Behold God, then, as a pleader. “If
thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto Me: and if thou wilt put away thine
abominations out of My sight,”—if thou wilt swear, “The Lord liveth, in truth, in
18. judgment, and in righteousness,”—if thou wilt do these things, the issue will be glorious;
it will also be beneficent, it will have an evangelistic effect upon the world. The meaning
is, the heathen nations round about shall see thy return, and they will begin to own the
power of God. That is the converting force that must be brought to bear upon the whole
of the nations. The Church must be so beautiful as to attract attention. When Christians
do right, pagans will believe; when Christians claim their uniqueness of quality and
exemplify it, the men who get up arguments against Christianity will be ashamed of their
own ingenuity, and run away from the things their hands have piled, saying, We cannot
build fortresses against such quality of character. This is true missionary work. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Putting away of sin
A great warrior was once persuaded by his enemies to put on a beautiful robe which they
presented him. Not suspecting their design, he wrapped himself tightly in it, but in a few
moments found that it was coated on the inside with a deadly poison. It stuck to his flesh
as if it had been glued. The poison entered into his flesh, so that in trying to throw off the
cloak, he was left torn and bleeding. But did he for that reason hesitate about taking it
off? Did he stop to think whether it was painful or not? Did he say, Let me wait and think
about it awhile? No! he tore it off at once, and threw it from him, and hastened away
from it to the physician. This is the way you must treat your sins if you would be saved.
They have gone into your soul. If you let them alone you perish. You must not fear the
pain of repentance. You must east them from you as poison, and hasten away to Jesus
Christ. Do this, or your sins will consume you like fire. (T. Meade.)
And thou shalt swear.
On swearing
I. The command. Did Christ countermand this? (Mat_5:34.) The Son forbid in the
Gospel what the Father bids in the law? God bids thee swear, so thy oath be truthful and
needful; Christ forbids swearing which is truthless and needless.
II. The form. God bade us swear; now He tells us how. “The Lord liveth.” It is, then,
impiety to swear by creatures. God prevents all evasion by the name He here gives—“the
Lord”; not any god the swearer would substitute, as some swear by angels, called in
Scripture “Elohim,” and superstition worships them as gods.
III. Three particulars.
1. “In truth.” Perjury is impious—makes that which is the sign and seal of truth, the
cloak of falsehood.
2. “In judgment.” Swear not upon guess only.
3. “In righteousness.” To any act against right or religion bind not thyself, let not any
bind thee. (R. Clerke, D. D.)
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.—
Soul agriculture
19. I. Proper attention to the soil.
1. Variety of condition.
2. Capability of improvement.
II. Proper attention to the seed.
1. Care in selection of true spiritual seed. The Gospel—
(1) Perfect in itself.
(2) Fitted to grow in all climates.
(3) It does not sow itself.
(4) It is the support of life.
2. Attention must also be paid to its growth.
III. Proper attention to the season.
1. Youth.
2. The season of moral seriousness, when the heart has been softened. (Homilist.)
The life of the sinner a foolish agriculture
The people referred to as sowing among thorns are those, perhaps, who are
endeavouring by religious study and effort to get the seeds of Divine good into them
when their hearts remain full of worldly things.
I. A grand evil. Sowing precious seed in bad soil involves three things.
1. Loss of seed. The precious grain has been thrown away.
2. Loss of labour. All the efforts employed go for nothing.
3. Loss of hope. All the bright anticipations of a glorious future frustrated.
II. An urgent duty. “Break up your fallow ground.” This means in one word evangelical
repentance for sin.
1. This in moral, as well as material, agriculture is hard work. A skilful ploughman, a
strong plough and a vigorous team are necessary. It is hard work to repent.
2. This in moral, as well as in material, agriculture is indispensable work. (Homilist.)
The fallow ground broken
I. The necessity of fallowing the ground is obvious to all who are practically acquainted
with tillage: and such as are experimentally informed on the subject of the evil and
barrenness of their own hearts, will admit the absolute requirement of a similar mental
process. All your carnal hopes, and criminal opposition to the Divine will, must be
completely eradicated.
II. The nature of this part of a farmer’s business will well Illustrate the correspondent
toil of a believer. No attempt to cleanse the heart, however disagreeable, is intentionally
neglected by the sincere believer—no effort is relied upon; all is subservient to the
20. expected influences of heaven.
III. The advantages of this procedure. Those who make thorough work with their own
hearts, will find that their religious joys and better hopes, though delayed, shall be most
vigorous; their subsequent sufferings from the grieving thorn and pricking brier shall be
fewer; and a richer harvest shall at length crown their toil.
1. If you desire permanent prosperity and joy in the Holy Ghost, break up the fallow
ground—sow not among thorns.
2. Be personal in this labour. Turn your eyes from others to yourself.
3. Remember your own unworthiness, and the poverty of your unassisted
endeavours. (W. Clayton.)
Ploughing and sowing
This season of spring, with its ploughing, and sowing, and opening of life, typifies the
time which God has given for forming in us enlightened principles and virtuous habits,
holy motives and pure desires, and for becoming possessed of the grace and goodness
which Jesus has to impart, in order that we may grow up into the Divine life of God,
which shall abide with us through old age as the source of true enjoyment, and as the
first beginnings of eternal glory. The ploughshare of the Divine Word must pierce into
us, and break up our hardness and indifference, and make us impressible and movable,
to fit us for bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. For example, the seedtime of life,
like that of spring, regulates and determines the moral results which the future shall
unfold, whether in time or in eternity. Our life on earth is the scene of moral causes and
operations—the sowing time of our spirit—the period for the earnest cultivation of our
moral nature; and it is to us all the more important, because it is far-reaching in its
effects, stretching beyond the present earthly existence into eternity, bearing the flowers
and blossoms of spiritual beauty and grace, a manifestation of Deity in humanity. And if
these moral causes do not operate—if the seed time of life be wasted—if the cultivation of
the moral nature be neglected, equally true the effects of such a life are eternal,
stretching beyond the present earthly existence, and bearing into eternity the fruits of
moral depravity and corruption. Now, this cultivation of our moral nature is no easy
task. Even in matters connected with this life, if we neglect any duty from time to time,
or if we delay entering upon any employment necessary to our material or social well-
being, indolence increases, disinclination to perform the duty strengthens, dislike to the
employment springs up, until habit entirely unfits us for action. In the same way, to
ignore religious truth in its relation to our heart, and to neglect religious duties, is to
deepen false impressions, strengthen ignorant prejudices, and confirm evil habits. This
also is certain, that if good seed is not germinating in our hearts, thorns of evil are, do
what we will. If, for instance, our mind is not exercised with religious truth, and no effort
made on our part to understand intelligently the revelation which God has made of
human salvation; or if the heart be unopened to the power of the Divine Spirit and the
moral impressions of Divine truth; and if we continue to refuse accepting Christ as the
Saviour of our soul; then our mental and moral nature will become as hard-baked fallow
ground, almost impenetrable to the ploughshare of heaven. The indifference of the mind
to religious truth keeps the heart spiritually cold, and the coldness of the heart induces
in the mind a distaste for spiritual things. On the other hand, any powerful awakening in
connection with religion or religious truth, whether it affect the mind alone, or the heart
alone, or both together, is in the highest sense beneficial to our soul. Whatever acts on
21. the mind so as to turn it in upon itself, whatever makes the soul depend upon God, and
believe in an invisible spiritual world as a reality, though accompanied with strong
excitement or inward conflict, is good, and leads to spiritual power. Besides, the precise
form of treatment that does good to one spiritual nature, is not always successful with
every other, even in like circumstances, any more than the same culture would be
successful with different soils in the same climate. We cannot, therefore, project our own
feelings and experience into the mind and soul of others, as if we were examples of the
only way in which Divine grace and power plough all human souls for the seed of
salvation. This breaking up of our moral nature is nothing else than the softening of our
hearts under the influence of Divine truth—a humble, penitent spirit, a constant sense of
the evil of sin, a willingness to be reconciled to God, whom our transgressions have
offended, and an earnest desire after a holier life in God. It is only in such a heart as this
that Divine truth will take root, and grow up and bring forth fruit. As the ground must be
broken before the tiny fibrils of the root can descend into the earth, which they do, as by
a sensitive instinct, in search of vegetable nourishment and life; so the spiritual nature
must be humbled and made penitent—broken under a sense of sin, and under the
operation of Divine law—in order that the seed of the Divine Word may hide itself deep
down into the subsoil of the soul, until it establishes itself firmly there. While the tangled
threads of the root are shooting themselves downwards, and gathering strength and
nourishment from the soil, the blade in spiral form shoots itself upwards to the light,
and the leaf opens, then comes the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, ripe for the
sickle of harvest. In the same way Divine truth and heavenly principles, spiritual
thought, emotion, and life descend and ascend, as by an unchangeable law. In every truly
spiritual life there is this two-fold operation—a movement upwards and downwards, a
working within and without, a meditative disposition expressing itself in active habits,
believing prayer, conjoined with earnest effort in doing good. (W. Simpson.)
The duty of moral cultivation
Our nature at its largest is but a small farm, and we had need to get a harvest out of
every acre of it, for our needs are great. Have we left any part of our small allotment
uncultivated? If so, it is time to look into the matter and see if we cannot improve this
wasteful state of things. What part of our small allotment have we left fallow? We should
think very poorly of a farmer who for many years allowed the best and richest part of his
farm to lie altogether neglected and untilled. An occasional fallow has its benefits in the
world of nature; but, if the proprietor of rich and fruitful land allowed the soil to
continue fallow, year after year, we should judge him to be out of his wits. The wasted
acres ought to be taken from him and given to another husbandman who would worthily
cherish the generous fields, and encourage them to yield their harvests. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
A fallow field
Do you know what happens to a fallow field? how it becomes caked and baked hard as
though it were a brick? All the friable qualities seem to depart, and it hardens as it lies
caked and unbroken; I mean, of course, if year succeed year, and the fallow remains
untouched. And then the weeds! If a man will not sow wheat, he shall have a crop for all
that, for the weeds will spring up, and they will sow themselves, and in due time the
multiplication table will be worked out to a very wonderful extent; for these seeds,
22. multiplying a hundredfold, as evil usually does, will increase and increase again, till the
fallow field shall become a wilderness of thorns and briars and a thicket of dock nettle
and thistle. If you do not cultivate your heart, Satan will cultivate it for you. If you bring
no crop to God, the devil will be sure to reap a harvest. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
then the nations will invoke blessings by him
and in him they will boast.”
CLARKE, "Thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth - Thou shalt not bind thyself by
any false god; thou shalt acknowledge Me as the Supreme. Bind thyself By me, and To
me; and do this in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.
The nations shall bless themselves in him - They shall be so fully convinced of
the power and goodness of Jehovah in seeing the change wrought on thee, and the
mercies heaped upon thee, that their usual mode of benediction shall be, May the God of
Israel bless thee!
GILL, "And thou shalt swear, the Lord liveth,.... Or by the living Lord, by him
and him only; not by the creatures, but by the God of truth. This is sometimes put for the
whole worship and service of God, Deu_6:13 and for a confession of Christ, and
profession of faith in him, Isa_45:23, compared with Rom_14:11 and which ought to be
done,
in truth, in righteousness, and in judgment; in sincerity, integrity, and
uprightness of soul; in spirit and in, truth; in righteousness and true holiness:
and the nations shall bless themselves in him, not in Israel, as the Targum,
Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it; but in the Lord, even in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed with all spiritual
blessings; with which being blessed, they call and count themselves happy, being
pardoned through the blood of Christ, justified by his righteousness, and having peace,
life, and salvation by him, Gen_22:18,
and in him shall they glory; not in themselves, nor in any creature, or creature
23. enjoyment; but in the Lord, and in what he is to them, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption; in whom all the seed of Israel, being justified, glory; see
1Co_1:30. The sense of the words seems to be, that upon the Gospel being preached by
Christ and his apostles to the Israelites, and some of them being converted, and their
abominations put away, and they cleaving to the Lord, and to his worship; the Gentiles
should have the Gospel sent to them, and receive it, and place all their blessedness in
Christ, and glory in him.
JAMISO , "And thou — rather, “And if (carried on from Jer_4:1) thou shalt swear,
‘Jehovah liveth,’ in truth, etc.“, that is, if thou shalt worship Him (for we swear by the
God whom we worship; compare Deu_6:13; Deu_10:20; Isa_19:18; Amo_8:14) in
sincerity, etc.
and the nations — Rather, this is apodosis to the “if”; then shall the nations bless
themselves in (by) Him” (Isa_65:16). The conversion of the nations will be the
consequence of Israel’s conversion (Psa_102:13, Psa_102:15; Rom_11:12, Rom_11:15).
CALVI , "Here the Prophet goes on with the same subject; for he denudes these
flatteries, by which they thought that God could be pacified: for when they had his
name in their mouth, they thought it sufficient for their defense, — “What! do we
not call upon God? do we not ascribe to him his due honor, when we swear by his
name?” There is in the Prophet’s words a part given for the whole; for swearing is
to be taken for the whole of God’s worship. When therefore the Israelites made a
profession of God’s name, they thought themselves absolved from all guilt.
Hence the Prophet says, Thou shalt swear truly in the name of God; that is, “Ye are
indeed self — confident, because an external profession of religion seems to you to
be a sort of expiation, whenever ye seek to contend with God: ye boast that you are
Abraham’s seed, and swear by the name of God; but ye are sacrilegious, when ye
thus falsely profess God’s name.” Swear then, he says, in truth
We hence see how the words of the Prophet harmonize together: he had said, that
Israel had hitherto dealt falsely with God, because they had not performed what in
words they had promised, for they went astray; and now he adds, that it availed the
Israelites nothing, that they openly called on God and shewed themselves to be his
people by an external worship: this, he says, is nothing, except ye worship God in
truth and in judgment and in righteousness
Truth is no doubt to be taken here for integrity, as we shall see in the fifth chapter:
it is the same as though he had said, that God is not rightly worshipped, except
when the heart is free from all guile and deceit; in short, he means that there is no
worship of God without sincerity of heart. But the truth, of which the Prophet
speaks, is especially known by judgment and righteousness; that is, when men deal
faithfully with one another, and render to all their right, and seek not their own
gain at the expense of others. When therefore equity and uprightness are thus
observed by men, then is fulfilled what is required here by the Prophet: for then
they worship not God fallaciously, nor with vain words, but really shew that they
do, without disguise, fear and reverence God.
24. What follows is variously explained by interpreters; but the Prophet, I have no
doubt, does here indirectly reprove the Israelites, because God’s name had been
exposed to many reproaches and mockeries, when the heathens said, that there was
no power in God to help the Israelites, and when the people themselves expostulated
with God, as though they had a just cause for contending with him, — “What! God
has promised that we should be models of his blessing; but we are exposed to the
reproaches of the heathens: how can this be?” Since then the Israelites thus
deplored their lot, and cast the blame on God, the Prophet gives this answer, Bless
themselves shall the nations and glory in him Some refer this to the Israelites, but
not correctly. It had indeed been said to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all nations be
blessed,” or, shall bless themselves. But this blessing had its beginning, as it is here
noticed by the Prophet. For we must look for the cause or the fountain of this
blessing: how could the nations bless themselves through the seed or the children of
Abraham, except God, the author of the blessing, manifested his favor towards the
children of Abraham? Very aptly then does the Prophet say here, Then bless
themselves in God shall all the nations, and in him shall they glory; that is, “Ye are
to be blamed, that God’s curse is upon you and renders you objects of reproach to
all people, and also, that heathens disdain and despise the name of God: for your
impiety has constrained God to deal more severely with you than he wished; for he
is ever ready to shew his paternal clemency. What then is the hindrance, that the
nations bless not themselves in God and glory in him? that is, that pure religion does
not flourish through the whole world, and that all nations do not come to you and
unite in the worship of the only true God? The hindrance is your impiety and
wickedness; this is the reason why God is not glorified, and why your felicity is not
everywhere celebrated among the nations.” We now perceive the meaning of the
Prophet, — that the Jews groundlessly imputed blame to God, because they were
oppressed by so many evils; for they had procured for themselves all their
calamities, and at the same time gave occasion to heathens to profane God’s name
by their reproaches. (99) It follows —
2.When thou shalt swear, “Live does Jehovah,” In truth, in judgment, and in
righteousness; Then call him blessed shall nations, And in him shall they glory.
To swear is to avow Jehovah as our God. The verbs “bless” and “glory” are both in
Hithpael, which has commonly a reciprocal sense, but not always. See Psalms 72:17;
Psalms 105:3. This and the preceding verse belong to the last chapter. — Ed.
COKE, "Jeremiah 4:2. And the nations shall bless, &c.— This is a prediction of the
Gospel-times, when the heathens should join with the Israelites in paying all solemn
acts of worship and devotion to the true God only, and in ascribing all honour and
glory to him, and to his only Son, the Messiah, in whom all the nations were to be
blessed. Literally, it is, "The nations shall wish the same blessings for themselves, as
the God of Israel hath bestowed upon his people; nor shall withhold their praise
from him, who hath given so great peace and prosperity to those who worship him."
See Houb.
25. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 4:2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in
judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and
in him shall they glory.
Ver. 2. And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth.] ot by Baal shalt thou swear, or
other idols, but by the living God, or by the life of God. The Egyptians once sware
by the life of Pharaoh, as the proud Spaniards now do by the life of their king. But,
to speak properly, none liveth but the Lord, and none should be sworn by but he
alone, an oath being a proof of the divine power, which one worshippeth. The
Pythagoreans used to swear by πεπρακτην, Quaternity, which they called παγαν
αενναου φυσεως, the fountain of eternal being; and this doubtless was the same with
τετραγραµµατον, Jehovah.
In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness.] Vere, rite, et iuste: (a) (1.) In truth,
[Romans 9:1] that is, to that which is true, lest we fall into perjury. [Leviticus 19:12]
And (2.) Truly, agreeable both to the intentions of our mind, not deceitfully, [Psalms
24:2] and agreeable also to the intentions of him that ministereth the oath, and not
with mental reservations, as Romish priests oft swear.
In judgment.] Or, Considerately, duly weighing the conditions and circumstances,
not rashly and unadvisedly, [Leviticus 5:4 1 Samuel 14:39] as those that swear in
heat and choler, swear when they should fear. [Deuteronomy 10:20; Deuteronomy
28:58] The Romans used that most considerate word arbitror, when the jurors said
those things which they knew most certainly. (b) The Grecians, when they would
swear by their Jupiter, out of the mere dread and reverence of his name, forbore to
mention him. And the Egyptians bore such respect to Mercurius Trismegistus, that
they held it not lawful to pronounce his name lightly and rashly. This is check to
many swearing pseudo-Christians. Such also as swear in jest, will, without
repentance, go to hell in earnest. The ancient form of taking and imposing an oath
was, Give glory to God. [Joshua 7:19 John 9:24]
And in righteousness.] (1.) Promising by oath lawful and possible things only, not
making an oath a bond of iniquity. [1 Samuel 25:21-22; 1 Samuel 28:10] (2.) Careful
to perform what we have sworn, though to our own hindrance. [Psalms 15:4]
And the nations shall bless themselves in him.] Or, Shall be blessed in him - that is,
in that God to whom thou returnest, and by whom thou thus swearest. They shall
turn to God by thine example, and hold themselves happy in such a good turn.
26. 3 This is what the Lord says to the people of
Judah and to Jerusalem:
“Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
BAR ES, "To the men - To each man “of Judah.” They are summoned individually
to repentance.
Break up - literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i. e., do not sow the seeds of
repentance in unfit soil, but just as the farmer prepares the ground, by clearing it of
weeds, and exposing it to the sun and air, before entrusting to it the seed, so must you
regard repentance as a serious matter, requiring forethought, and anxious labor. To sow
in unfallowed ground was practically to sow on land full of thorns.
CLARKE, "Break up your fallow ground - Fallow ground is either that which,
having been once tilled, has lain long uncultivated; or, ground slightly ploughed, in order
to be ploughed again previously to its being sown. Ye have been long uncultivated in
righteousness; let true repentance break up your fruitless and hardened hearts; and
when the seed of the word of life is sown in them, take heed that worldly cares and
concerns do not arise, and, like thorns, choke the good seed.
GILL, "For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,.... The
two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were at the time of this prophecy in their own
land; and so are distinguished from Israel the ten tribes, who were in captivity; unless
the same persons should be meant, who were called by these several names, the people
of the Jews; and it was in Judea that our Lord appeared in the flesh, and to the
inhabitants thereof he ministered, he was the minister of the circumcision; and so to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, whom he called to repentance, and would have gathered, Mat_
23:37,
break up your fallow ground; this is ground that lies untilled, not ploughed, nor
sown, on which nothing grows but the produce of nature, as weeds, thorns, briers, &c. is
common to men and beasts, and is trodden upon, and, so is hard and unsusceptible of
seed; which, if it accidentally falls upon it, makes no impression on it, and is not received
by it; and the breaking of it up is by the plough. The "fallow ground" fitly represents the
hearts of unregenerate men, which are unopened to the word, and unbroken by it; nor
have they the seed of divine grace sown in them; but are destitute of faith, hope, love,
fear, and the like; there is nothing grows there but the weeds of sin and corruption; and
27. are like a common beaten road; are the common track of sin, where lusts pass to and fro,
and dwell; and so are hardened and obdurate, as hard as a stone, yea, harder than the
nether millstone; and who, though they may occasionally be under the word, it makes no
impression on them; it has no place in them, but is like the seed that falls by the wayside,
Mat_13:4, unless divine power attends it; for the Gospel is the plough, and ministers are
the ploughmen; but it is the Lord alone that makes it effectual to the breaking up the
fallow ground of men's hearts, Luk_9:62, but when the Lord puts his hand to the plough
it enters within, and opens the heart; it is quick, powerful, and sharp; it cuts deep, and
makes long and large furrows, even strong convictions of sin; it throws a man's inside
outward, as the plough does the earth; and lays all the wicked of his heart open to him;
and roots up the pride, the vanity, and boasting of the creature, and other lusts; and so
makes way for the seed of divine grace to be sown there:
and sow not among thorns; or, "that ye may not sow among thorns" (o); for, unless
the fallow ground is broken up, it will be no other than sowing among thorns; and unless
the hearts of men are opened by the power and grace of God, they will not attend to the
things that are spoken; preaching and eating the word will be like sowing among thorns;
cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the pleasures of life, and the lusts thereof,
which are comparable to thorns, because pricking, perplexing, and distressing, and
because vain and unprofitable, choke the word, and make it unfruitful; see Mat_13:7,
now this exhortation in the text does not suppose power in man to break up and open his
heart; but to show his want of renewing grace; the necessity of it; and the danger he is in
without it; and to awaken in him a concern for it; see Eze_18:31. The words may be
applied to backsliding professors, since backsliding Israel and Judah are the persons
addressed; and this may be done with great propriety and pertinence to the simile; for
fallow ground is that which has been broke up and sown, and laid fallow. It is usual to till
and sow two years, and lay fallow a third: and backsliding Christians look very much like
fallow ground; so faithless, so lukewarm, and indifferent; so inattentive to the word, and
unconcerned under it; so barren and unfruitful, as if they had never had any faith, or
love, or good work in them; so that they need to be renewed in the spirit of their minds;
to have a new face of things put upon them: and to have a clean heart, and a right spirit,
created in them. The Targum is,
"make to yourselves good works, and seek not salvation in sins.''
HE RY 3-4, "The prophet here turns his speech, in God's name, to the men of the
place where he lived. We have heard what words he proclaimed towards the north (Jer_
3:12), for the comfort of those that were now in captivity and were humbled under the
hand of God; let us now see what he says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, who were
now in prosperity, for their conviction and awakening. In these two verses he exhorts
them to repentance and reformation, as the only way left them to prevent the desolating
judgments that were ready to break in upon them. Observe,
I. The duties required of them, which they are concerned to do.
1. They must do by their hearts as they do by their ground that they expect any good
of; they must plough it up (Jer_4:3): “Break up your fallow-ground. Plough to
yourselves a ploughing (or plough up your plough land), that you sow not among
thorns, that you may not labour in vain, for your own safety and welfare, as those do that
sow good seed among thorns and as you have been doing a great while. Put yourselves
into a frame fit to receive mercy from God, and put away all that which keeps it from
you, and then you may expect to receive mercy and to prosper in your endeavours to
28. help yourselves.” Note, (1.) An unconvinced unhumbled heart is like fallow-ground,
ground untilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improvement; it is our ground, let
out to us, and we must be accountable for it; but it is fallow; it is unfenced and lies
common; it is unfruitful and of no advantage to the owner, and (which is principally
intended) it is overgrown with thorns and weeds, which are the natural product of the
corrupt heart; and, if it be not renewed with grace, rain and sunshine are lost upon it,
Heb_6:7, Heb_6:8. (2.) We are concerned to get this fallow-ground ploughed up. We
must search into our own hearts, let the word of God divide (as the plough does)
between the joints and the marrow, Heb_4:12. We must rend our hearts, Joe_2:13. We
must pluck up by the roots those corruptions which, as thorns, choke both our
endeavours and our expectations, Hos_10:12.
2. They must do that to their souls which was done to their bodies when they were
taken into covenant with God (Jer_4:4): “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take
away the foreskin of your heart. Mortify the flesh and the lusts of it. Pare off that
superfluity of naughtiness which hinders your receiving with meekness the engrafted
word, Jam_1:21. Boast not of, and rest not in, the circumcision of the body, for that is
but a sign, and will not serve without the thing signified. It is a dedicating sign. Do that
in sincerity which was done in profession by your circumcision; devote and consecrate
yourselves unto the Lord, to be to him a peculiar people. Circumcision is an obligation to
keep the law; lay yourselves afresh under that obligation. It is a seal of the righteousness
of faith; lay hold then of that righteousness, and so circumcise yourselves to the Lord.”
II. The danger they are threatened with, which they are concerned to avoid. Repent
and reform, lest my fury come forth like fire, which it is now ready to do, as that fire
which came forth from the Lord and consumed the sacrifices, and which was always kept
burning upon the altar and none might quench it; such is God's wrath against
impenitent sinners, because of the evil of their doings. Note, 1. That which is to be
dreaded by us more than any thing else is the wrath of God; for that is the spring and
bitterness of all present miseries and will be the quintessence and perfection of
everlasting misery. 2. It is the evil of our doings that kindles the fire of God's wrath
against us. 3. The consideration of the imminent danger we are in of falling and
perishing under this wrath should awaken us with all possible care to sanctify ourselves
to God's glory and to see to it that we be sanctified by his grace.
JAMISO , "Transition to Judah. Supply mentally. All which (the foregoing
declaration as to Israel) applies to Judah.
and Jerusalem — that is, and especially the men of Jerusalem, as being the most
prominent in Judea.
Break ... fallow ground — that is, Repent of your idolatry, and so be prepared to
serve the Lord in truth (Hos_10:12; Mat_13:7). The unhumbled heart is like ground
which may be improved, being let out to us for that purpose, but which is as yet fallow,
overgrown with weeds, its natural product.
K&D 3-4, ""For thus hath Jahveh spoken to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
Break up for yourselves new ground, and sow not among thorns. Jer_4:4. Circumcise
yourselves to Jahveh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and
inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury break forth like fire and burn unquenchably,
because of the evil of your doings." The exhortation to a reformation of life is attached
29. by י ִⅴ, as being the ground of it, to the preceding exhortation to return. The ם ִא שׁוּב ָ , Jer_
4:1, contained the indirect call to repent. In Jer_4:1 this was addressed to Israel. In Jer_
4:3 the call comes to Judah, which the prophet had already in his eye in Jer 3; cf. Jer_
3:7-8, Jer_3:10-11. The transition from Israel to Judah in the phrase: for thus saith
Jahveh, is explained by the introduction of a connecting thought, which can without
difficulty be supplied from the last clause of Jer_4:2; the promise that the nations bless
themselves in Jahveh will come to be fulfilled. The thought to be supplied is: this
conversion is indispensable for Judah also, for Judah too must begin a new life. Without
conversion there is no salvation. The evil of their doings brings nought but heavy
judgments with it. ישׁ ִ,א as often, in collective sense, since the plural of this word was little
in use, see in Jos_9:6. ירִנ ּול ירִ,נ as in Hos_10:12, plough up new land, to bring new
untilled soil under cultivation - a figure for the reformation of life; as much as to say, to
prepare new ground for living on, to begin a new life. Sow not among thorns. The seed-
corns are the good resolutions which, when they have sunk into the soil of the mind,
should spring up into deeds (Hitz.). The thorns which choke the good seed as it grows
(Mat_13:7) are not mala vestra studia (Ros.), but the evil inclinations of the unrenewed
heart, which thrive luxuriantly like thorns. "Circumcise you to the Lord" is explained by
the next clause: remove the foreskins of your heart. The stress lies in ;ליהוה in this is
implied that the circumcision should not be in the flesh merely. In the flesh all Jews
were circumcised. If they then are called to circumcise themselves to the Lord, this must
be meant spiritually, of the putting away of the spiritual impurity of the heart, i.e., of all
that hinders the sanctifying of the heart; see in Deu_10:16. The plur. ּותל ְר ָע is explained
by the figurative use of the word, and the reading ת ַל ְר ָ,ע presented by some codd., is a
correction from Deu_10:16. The foreskins are the evil lusts and longings of the heart.
Lest my fury break forth like fire; cf. Jer_7:20; Amo_5:6; Psa_89:47. 'יֵנ ְ ִמ ַּער מ as in
Deu_28:20. This judgment of wrath the prophet already in spirit sees breaking on
Judah.
CALVI , "The Prophet still pursues the same subject; for he reproves the
hypocrisy of the Israelites, because they sought to discharge their duty towards God
only by external ceremonies, while their hearts were full of deceits and of every kind
of impiety and wickedness. Hence he says, that God required this from the Jews, —
to plough again the fallow, and not to sow among thorns.
It is a most suitable comparison; for Scripture often compares us to a field, when it
represents us as God’s heritage; and we have been chosen by God as a peculiar
people for this end — that he may gather fruit from us, as a husbandman gathers
produce from his fields. We can indeed add nothing to what God is; but there is a
fruit which he demands; so that our whole life is to be devoted to his glory. God then
would not have us to be idle and fruitless, but to bring forth some fruit. But what is
done by hypocrites? They sow; that is, they shew some concern, yea, they pretend
great ardor, when God exhorts them to repent, or when he invites them. They then
make a great bustle; yet they mar everything by their own mixtures, the same as
though one scattered his seed among thorns: but it will be of no avail thus to cast
seed among thorns; for the ground ought to be well cleared and prepared. Hence
God laughs to scorn this preposterous care and diligence, in which hypocrites pride
30. themselves, and says, that they busy themselves without any advantage; for it is the
same, as though an husbandman had wholly lost his seed; for when the ground is
full of briers and thorns, the seed, though it may grow for a time, cannot yet bring
forth fruit. For this reason God bids the Israelites to plough the fallows; (100) as
though he had said, that they were like a rough ground, which is full of thorns, and
that therefore there was need of unusual and by no means a common cultivation; for
when thorns and briers grow in a field, of what benefit will it be to cast seed there?
ay, a field cannot be well prepared by the plough alone, so that it may produce
fruit; but much labor is also necessary, as is the case with fallow ground, which is
called essarter in our language.
The Prophet then intimates that the people had become hardened in their vices, and
that they were not only full of vices, like a field left uncultivated for two years; but
that their vices were so deep, that they could not be well cleared away by ploughing
alone, except they were drawn up by the roots, as they were like thorns and
brambles, which have been growing in a field for many years. We hence see, that not
only impiety and contempt of God, and other sins of the people of Israel, are
referred to by the Prophet, but also their perverseness; for they had so hardened
themselves for many years in their vices, that there was need not only of the plough,
but also of other instruments to tear up the thorns, to eradicate those vices which
had formed deep roots. As then, he had before warned them, that they would labor
in vain except they returned to God with sincerity of heart and acquiesced in him;
so here he bids them to examine their life, that they might not cast away their seed,
like hypocrites, who formally acknowledge their sins. Hence he bids them wholly to
shake off their vices, which were hid within, according to what they do, who tear up
thorns and briers in a field, which has been long neglected, and left without being
cultivated. It now follows —
COFFMA , ""For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break
up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to
Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and
inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can
quench it, because of the evil of your doings."
Here God's Word is directed to Judah, the Southern Israel, with a call for their true
repentance and conversion, coupled with a threat of drastic punishment.
"Break up your fallow ground ..." (Jeremiah 4:3). `Fallow ground' refers to land
that had not been recently cultivated, indicating that conditions in Judah were not
at all favorable for the planting of God's Word; and the practical import of the
admonition is that they should get rid of all their idols, no longer visit the shrines of
the fertility gods, and produce the kind of environment that would encourage godly
living. It appears to this writer that McGee's comment about our own country's
needing this same kind of advice is appropriate:
The fallow ground needs to be broken up. We are a nation in danger. We say we are
31. one of the greatest nations in the world, but we could fall overnight. Babylon the
great fell in one night. Rome fell from within ... Our nation is decaying from within.
Morality is deteriorating. Someone needs to say something about it. We are still
preaching, but we are sowing the seed among the thorns.[5]
"Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah ... take away the foreskins of your heart ..."
(Jeremiah 4:4). The second clause here explains the first. Circumcision was
observed for all Jewish males; but the kind of circumcision they needed was not
physical but spiritual. Cutting off the foreskins of their hearts meant removing from
their thoughts and affections all of the sinful indulgences to which they were so
addicted. As Harrison commented, "Inner cleansing of the heart is the only
alternative to destruction by fire, a theme prominent also in the ew Testament
(Matthew 25:41, etc.)"[6]
Some have difficulty understanding the part that man must play in his own
conversion, repentance, and regeneration. The passage before us declares that the
men of Judah and Jerusalem were to "circumcise their hearts"; but Deuteronomy
30:6 declares that, "The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart!" Is this a
contradiction? Certainly not.
The simple fact is that man is both active and passive in regeneration. The text here
(Jeremiah 4:4) stresses his activity, and the passage in Deuteronomy stresses his
passivity.[7]
This is the way it is in the ew Birth. The sinner must "Arise and be baptized and
wash away his sins" (Acts 22:16); but the actual cleansing and the convert's
reception of the Holy Spirit are from above, the convert being passive in their
reception. It is for this truth that Paul could say, "Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). Yes indeed, there are things for the
sinner to do if he is ever going to be saved.
TRAPP,"Jeremiah 4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and
Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Ver. 3. Break up your fallow ground.] ovellate vobis novale. Tertullian rendereth
it, Renovate vobis novamen novuum, put off the old man, and put on the new. See
Hosea 10:11. {See Trapp on "Hosea 10:11"} By the practice of repentance, runcate,
extirpate, root up and rid your hearts and lives of all vile lusts and vicious practices.
The breaking up of sinful hearts may prevent the breaking down of a sinful nation.
Sow not among thorns,] i.e., Cares and lusts of life, fitly called thorns, because (1.)
They prick and gore the soul; (2.) Harbour the old serpent; (3.) Choke the word.
There is no looking for a harvest in a hedge: stock them, and stub them up
therefore; [1 Peter 2:1 James 1:21] do not plough here, and make a trench there, &c.