foretold the similar ruin and desolation of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem for their sins (xix.); and a severe judgment is denounced against Pashur for apprehending and punishing Jeremiah (xx. 1-6.), who complains of the persecutions he met with. (7-18.)

among them, though they kept not that law. (viii. 4-17.) | DISCOURSE 6. Under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, 14 Next, in his own person, Jeremiah gives vent to his lamentations at the foresight of the calamities which the Chaldæans would inflict upon the Jews (18-22. ix.); and earnestly dissuades his countrymen from idolatry (x. 1-18.), setting forth the vanity of idols in comparison with the true God. Jerusalem is then introduced, as lamenting the completion of her ruin, and humbly supplicating the divine mercy. (19-25.) In perusing this part of the prophet's discourse, the difference of speakers must be attended to; the transition from one to another being very quick and sudden, but full of animation and energy.

DISCOURSE 4. was probably delivered towards the close of Josiah's reign; when the people, having forgotten the solemn covenant-engagements which they had made in the 18th year of Josiah (2 Kings xxii. 3. xxiii. 3.) are supposed to have relapsed into their former disregard and neglect of the divine law. The prophet was, therefore, sent to recall them to their duty, by proclaiming anew the terms of the covenant, and rebuking them sharply for their hereditary disobedience. (xi. 1-8.) He denounces severe judgments against the people of Judah and Jerusalem for their idolatrous apostasy. (9-17.) Being informed, by divine revelation, of the conspiracy of the men of Anathoth against his life, he prays against them, and is authorized to foretell their utter destruction (18-23.); and, emboldened by the success of his prayers, he expostulates with God concerning the prosperity of the wicked (xii. 1—6.), who answers the prophet's expostulation (7-13.), and promises the future restoration of his people, with a retaliation in kind upon their heathen neighbours who had oppressed them: but with this reservation, that such of them as would embrace the worship of the true God, would be received and incorporated into his church, while the unbelieving part would utterly perish. (14-17.)

DISCOURSE 7. is supposed to have been delivered immediately after the preceding, and in the precincts of the temple, whence the prophet is commanded to "go down to the house of the king of Judah." It commences with an address to the king, his servants, and people, recommending an inviolable adhe rence to right and justice as the only means of establishing the throne, and preventing the ruin of both prince and people. (xxii. 1-9.) The captivity of Shallum is declared to be irreversible. (10-12.) Jehoiakim is severely reproved for his tyrannical expressions, and his miserable end is foretold. (13 -19.) His family is threatened with a continuance of simi lar calamities; the fall and captivity of his son Jeconiah are explicitly set forth, together with the perpetual exclusion of his posterity from the throne. (20-30.) The prophecy con cludes with consolatory promises of future blessings, of the return of the people from captivity, and of happier times under better governors; of the glorious establishment of Messiah's kingdom; and of the subsequent final restoration of all the dispersed Israelites to their own land. (xxiii. 1—8.) DISCOURSE 8. denounces the divine judgments against false pro phets, and mockers of true prophets. (xxiii. 9-40.) DISCOURSE 9. predicts their subjugation, together with that of the neighbouring nations, to the king of Babylon for seventy years (xxv. 1-11.), at the expiration of which Babylon was to be destroyed (12-14.); and the destruction of Judah and several other countries (including Babylon herself, here called Sheshach), is prefigured by the prophet's drinking a cup of wine. (15-38.)

PART II. contains the Prophecies delivered in the reign of Jeho- DISCOURSE 10. Jeremiah being directed to foretell the destruc

iakim.

DISCOURSE 1. comprises a single and distinct prophecy; which, under two symbols, a linen girdle left to rot, and the breaking of bottles (that is, skins) filled with wine, foretells the utter destruction that was destined to fall on the whole Jewish nation. (xiii. 1-14.) An exhortation to humiliation and repentance is subjoined (v. 15-21.); and their incorrigible wickedness and profligacy are assigned as the cause of all the evils that imminently awaited them. (22-27.) The particular mention of the downfall of the king and queen in the 18th verse, Dr. Blayney thinks, will justify the opinion which ascribes this prophecy to the commencement of the reign of Jehoiakim, whose fate, with that of his queen, is in like manner noticed together in ch. xxii. 18.

DISCOURSE 2. was, in all probability, delivered shortly after the preceding. It predicts a severe famine, to punish the Jews for their sins, but which does not bring them to repentance (xiv. 1-22.); and announces God's peremptory decree to destroy Judah, unless they should speedily repent. (xv. 1-9.) The prophet, complaining that he is become an object of hatred by reason of his office, receives an assurance of divine protection, on condition of obedience and fidelity on his part. (10-21.) DISCOURSE 3. foretells the utter ruin of the Jews, in the type of the prophet being forbidden to marry and to feast (xvi. 1—13.); and immediately afterwards announces their future restoration (14, 15.), as well as the conversion of the Gentiles (16—21.); accompanied with a severe reproof of the Jews for their attachment to idolatry (the fatal consequences of which are announced), and also for their too great reliance on human aid. (xvii. 1-18.)

DISCOURSE 4. is taken up with a distinct prophecy relative to the strict observance of the Sabbath-day (xvii. 19-27.), which Jeremiah was commanded to proclaim aloud in all the gates of Jerusalem, as a matter that concerned the conduct of each individual, and the general happiness of the whole nation. DISCOURSE 5. shows, under the type of a potter, God's absolute authority over nations and kingdoms, to alter and regulate their condition at his own discretion. (xviii. 1-10.) The prophet is then directed to exhort the Jews to avert their impending dangers by repentance and amendment, and, on their refusal, to foretell their destruction. (11-17.) The Jews conspiring against him, Jeremiah implores judgment against them. (18-23.)

1 Mr. Reeves and other commentators refer it to the commencement of lehoiakim's reign, and consequently after the death of Josiah.

tion of the temple and city of Jerusalem, without a speedy repentance and reformation (xxvi. 1-6.), is apprehended and accused before the council of a capital offence, but is acquitted, his advocate urging the precedent of Micah in the reign of Hezekiah. (7-19.) The sacred writer then observes, in his own person, that notwithstanding the precedent of Micah, there had been a later precedent in the present reign, which might have operated very unfavourably to the cause of Jere miah, but for the powerful influence and authority exercised in his behalf by Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. (20-24.) DISCOURSE 11. The Jews' disobedience to God is condemned by comparison with the obedience of the Rechabites to the commands of Jonadab their father, who had prescribed to them a certain rule of life. A blessing is promised to the Rechabites for their dutiful behaviour. (xxxv.) DISCOURSE 12. By divine appointment Jeremiah causes Baruch to write all his former prophecies in a roll, and to read them to the people on a fast-day. (xxxvi. 1-10.) The princes being informed of it, send for Baruch, who reads the roll be fore them. (11-15.) Filled with consternation at its con tents, they advise Jeremiah and Baruch to hide themselves (16-19.); they acquaint the king, who sends for the roll. and having heard part of its contents, he cuts it to pieces, and burns it. (20-26.) Jeremiah is commanded to write it anew, and to denounce the judgments of God against Jehoiakim (27-31.) Baruch accordingly writes a new copy with addi tions (32.); but being greatly alarmed at the threatenings contained in those predictions, and being perhaps afraid of sharing in the persecutions of the prophet, God commissions Jeremiah to assure Baruch that his life should be preserved by a special providence amidst all the calamities denounced against Judah. (xlv.)

DISCOURSE 13. contains a series of prophecies against severa heathen nations (xlvi. 1.), which are supposed to have been placed towards the close of the book of Jeremiah, as being in some measure unconnected with the others. As, however, in point of time, they were evidently delivered during the reign of Jehoiakim, they may with great propriety be referred to the present section. In this discourse are comprised,

(1.) A prophecy of the defeat of the Egyptians that garrisoned Carche mish, by the Chaldæans (xlvi. 2-12), and of the entire conquest o that country by Nebuchadnezzar. (13-28.)

(2) Predictions of the subjugation of the land of the Philistines, includ ing Tyre (xlvii.), and also of the Moabites (xlviii.), by the forces a

Nebuchadnezzar.

(3.) Predictions of the conquest of the Ammonites (xlix. 1-6.) by the same monarch, and likewise of the land of Edom (7-22), of Damas cus (23-27.), and of Kedar. (28-33.)

PART III. contains the Prophecies delivered in the reign of
Zedekiah King of Judah.

DISCOURSE 1. A prediction of the conquest of Elam or Persia by
the Chaldæans, delivered in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign.
(xlix. 34-39.) On the final subversion of the Babylonish
monarchy, Elam was restored (as promised in ver. 39.) to its
former possessors, who had fought under the banners of the
Medes and Persians.

DISCOURSE 2. Under the type of good and bad figs, God represents to Jeremiah the different manner in which he should deal with the people that were already gone into captivity, and with Zedekiah and his subjects who were left behind;-showing favour and kindness to the former in their restoration and re-establishment, but pursuing the latter with unrelenting judgments to utter destruction. (xxiv.)

DISCOURSE 3. The Jews at Babylon are warned not to believe such as pretended to foretell their speedy return into their own country (xxix. 1-23.); and judgment is denounced against Shemaiah for writing against Jeremiah to the Jews at Babylon (24-32.) Dr. Blayney has remarked that, in the Septuagint version, the fifteenth verse of this chapter is read immediately after verse 20., which seems to be its original and proper place.

DISCOURSE 4. contains prophecies of the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, but chiefly from their dispersion by the Romans, on their general conversion to Christianity (xxx.); and predicts their happy state after that glorious event shall be accomplished (xxxi. 1-26.), concluding with a fuller prophecy describing the Gospel state, as also the state of the Jews after their conversion. (27-38.) "Both events," Dr. Blayney remarks, "are frequently thus connected together in the prophetic writings, and perhaps with this design, that when that which was nearest at hand should be accomplished, it might afford the strongest and most satisfactory kind of evidence, that the latter, how remote soever its period, would in like manner be brought about by the interposition of Providence in its due

season.

DISCOURSE 5. Zedekiah, in the fourth year of his reign, being solicited by ambassadors from the kings of Edom, Moab, and other neighbouring nations, to join them in a confederacy against the king of Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah is ordered, under the type of bonds and yokes, to admonish them, especially Zedekiah, quietly to submit to the king of Babylon, and warns them not to listen to the suggestions of false prophets (xxvii.); and the death of Hananiah, who was one of them, is foretold within the year (xxviii. 1-16.), who died accordingly about two months after. (17.)

DISCOURSE 6. contains a prophecy concerning the fall of Babylon, intermixed and contrasted with predictions concerning the redemption of Israel and Judah, who were not, like their predecessors, to be finally extirpated, but to survive, and, upon their repentance and conversion, they were to be pardoned and restored. (L. li, 1-58.) This prophecy against Babylon was delivered in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign, and sent to the Jews there, in order to be read to them: after which it was to be sunk in the Euphrates, as a type of the perpetual destruction of Babylon.1

DISCOURSE 7. was probably delivered in the ninth year of Zedekiah, previously to the siege of Jerusalem, which commenced in the tenth month of that year. In this prophecy Jeremiah (who had been requested to "inquire of the Lord" for his countrymen) foretells a severe siege and miserable captivity, and advises the people to yield to the Chaldæans (xxi. 1-10.); and the members of the royal house are warned to prevent the effects of God's indignation by doing justice, and not to trust to their stronghold, which would be of no avail whatever to them when God was bent upon their destruction. (11-14.) DISCOURSE 8. consists of two distinct prophecies. The first, probably delivered towards the close of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, announces to the Jewish monarch the capture and burning of Jerusalem, his own captivity, peaceful death, and honourable interment. (xxxiv. 1-7.) The second prophecy, which was announced some time after, when the Chaldeans

The fifty-first chapter of Jeremiah closes with the following sentence: Thus far are the words of Jeremiah" which, Dr. Blayney thinks, was added by the person (whoever it might be) that collected his prophecies, and digested them in the order in which we now find them in the Hebrew Bibles. This sentence does not occur in the Septuagint version, where indeed it could not be introduced at the end of this chapter, because the chapters are arranged differently in that version; and chapter li. forms only the twenty-eighth of the collection. The disposition of Jeremiah's prophecies is, apparently, so arbitrary, that it is not likely that it was made under the prophet's direction

had broken off the siege in order to encounter the Egyptian army, severely reproves and threatens the Jews for their perfidious violation of the covenant they had newly made of obe. dience to God. (8-22.)

DISCOURSE 9., Jeremiah foretells the retreat of the Egyptians and the return of the Chaldeans to the siege of Jerusalem, which should be taken and burnt by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar. (xxxvii. 1-10.) For this he was put into a dungeon (11-15.), from which he was released, but still kept a prisoner, though the rigour of his confinement was abated. (16-21.)

DISCOURSE 10. confirms the promised return of the Jews from captivity, by Jeremiah being commanded to buy a field (xxxii.)

DISCOURSE 11. predicts the restoration of Israel and Judah (xxxiii. 1-9.), and that the land, whose desolation the Jews deplored, should again flourish with multitudes of men and cattle (10-13.); whence the prophet takes occasion to confirm his former promise of establishing a perpetual kingdom of righteousness under the Messiah. (14-26.) This evangelical prediction is, as yet, unfulfilled. "The days, it is evident, are not yet arrived, though they will certainly come, for the performance of God's good promise concerning the restoration of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, under Christ THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

DISCOURSE 12. contains the last transaction in which Jeremiah was prophetically concerned before the taking of Jerusalem. It relates the imprisonment of Jeremiah in a deep and miry dungeon, at the instance of the princes of Judah (xxxviii. 1-6.); his deliverance thence (7-13.); and the prophet's advice to Zedekiah, who had consulted him privately, to submit himself to the Chaldeans. (14-27.) The capture of the city, the flight of Zedekiah, and the particulars of his punish. ment after he had been taken and brought before the king of Babylon, are then related (xxxix. 1-10.) together with the kind treatment of the prophet in consequence of a special charge from Nebuchadnezzar. (11-13.) In conclusion, the piety of Ebedmelech is rewarded with a promise of personal safety amidst the ensuing public calamities. (15-18.)

PART IV. contains a particular Account of what passed in the Land of Judah, from the taking of Jerusalem to the Retreat of the Jewish People into Egypt, and the Prophecies of Jeremiah concerning them while in that Country.

DISCOURSE 1. Jeremiah has his choice either to go to Babylon, or to remain in Judæa (xl. 1—6.), whither the dispersed Jews repaired to Gedaliah the governor (7-12.); who being treacherously slain (13—16. xli. 1—10.), the Jews left in Judæa intend to go down to Egypt (11-18.), from which course the prophet dissuades them. (xlii.)

DISCOURSE 2. The Jews going into Egypt contrary to the divine command (xliii. 1-7.), Jeremiah foretells to them the conquest of that kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar (8-13.); he predicts destruction to all the Jews that willingly went into Egypt (xliv. 1-13.), whose obstinate idolatry is related (14—19.), destruction is denounced against them, and the dethronement of Pharaoh Hophrah king of Egypt (by profane authors called Apries) is foretold. (20-30.)

The CONCLUSION of Jeremiah's prophecy, containing the fifty-second chapter, was added after his time, subsequently to the return from captivity, of which it gives a short account, and forms a proper argument or introduction to the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

IV. Although the greater part of Jeremiah's predictions related to his countrymen the Jews, many of whom lived to behold their literal fulfilment, and thus attested his prophetic mission, while several of his predictions concerned other nations (as will be seen from the preceding analysis); yet two or three of his prophecies so clearly announce the Messiah, that it would be a blamable omission were we to pass them unnoticed.

:

In ch. xxiii. 5, 6. is foretold the mediatorial kingdom of the Messiah, who is called the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. On this passage Dr. Hales has cited the following remark from the ancient rabbinical book of Ikkarim, which (he observes) well expresses the reason of the appellation:The Scripture calls the name of the MESSIAH, JAOH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, to intimate that he will be a MEDIATORIAL GOD, by whose hand we shall obtain justification from THE NAME: wherefore it calls him by the name of THE NAME

See p. 273. supra of this volume.

276

(that is, the ineffable name JAOH, here put for GOD HIM-| ELEGY 1. The prophet begins with lamenting the sad reversa SELF)."i

Again, in Jer. xxxi. 22. we have a distinct prediction of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ; and in xxxi. 31 -36. and xxxiii. 8. the efficacy of Christ's atonement, the spiritual character of the new covenant, and the inward efficacy of the Gospel, are most clearly and emphatically described. Compare Saint Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. viii. 8-13. and x. 16. et seq.

V. The STYLE of Jeremiah, though not deficient in elegance or sublimity, is considered by Bishop Lowth as being inferior in both respects to Isaiah. Jerome, after some Jewish writers, has objected to the prophet a certain rusticity of expression, which however it is very difficult to trace. Though the sentiments of Jeremiah are not always the most elevated, nor his periods uniformly neat and compact; yet his style is in a high degree beautiful and tender, especially when he has occasion to excite the softer passions of grief and pity, which is frequently the case in the earlier parts of his prophecies. These are chiefly poetical. The middle of his book is almost entirely historical, and is written in a plain prosaic style, suitable to historical narrative. On many occasions he is very elegant and sublime, especially in xlvi. li. 1-59. which are wholly poetical, and in which the prophet approaches very near the sublimity of Isaiah.5

§ 2. ON THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH.

I. Author, date, and argument of the book.-II. Synopsis of its contents.-III. Observations on its style and structure.

I. THAT Jeremiah was the author of the Elegies or Lamentations which bear his name is evident, not only from a very ancient and almost uninterrupted tradition, but also from the argument and style of the book, which correspond exactly with those of his prophecies.

Josephus, Jerome, Juníus, Archbishop Usher, Michaelis, Dathe, and other eminent writers, are of opinion, that the Lamentations of Jeremiah were the same which are mentioned in 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. as being composed by the prophet on the death of the pious king Josiah, and which are there said to have been perpetuated by "an ordinance in Israel." But, whatever may have become of those Lamentations, it is evident that these cannot possibly be the same; for their whole tenor plainly shows, that they were not composed till after the subversion of the kingdom of Judah. The calamities which Jeremiah had foretold in his prophecies are here deplored as having actually taken place, viz. the impositions of the false prophets who had seduced the people by their lying declarations, the destruction of the holy city and temple, the overthrow of the state, and the extermination of the people. But though it be allowed that the Lamentations were primarily intended as a pathetic description of present calamities, yet it has with great probability been conjectured that, while Jeremiah mourns the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem, he may be considered as prophetically painting the still greater miseries they were to suffer at some future time; and this seems plainly indicated by his referring to the time when the punishment of their iniquity shall be accomplished, and they shall no more be carried into captivity. (iv. 22.)7.

II. This book, which in our Bible is divided into five chapters, consists of five distinct elegies; viz.

of fortune which his country had experienced, confessing at the same time that all her miseries were the just consequences of the national wickedness and rebellion against God. In the midst of his discourse he withdraws himself from view, and introduces Jerusalem, to continue the complaint, and humbly to solicit the divine compassion. Jahn is of opinion, that, in this elegy, Jeremiah deplores the deportation of king Jehoia. chin, and ten thousand of the principal Jews, to Babylon. Compare 2 Kings xxiv. 8-17. and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, 10. ELEGY 2. Jeremiah gives a melancholy detail of the dire effects of the divine anger in the subversion of the civil and religious constitution of the Jews, and in that extreme misery to which every class of individuals was reduced. He represents the wretchedness of his country as unparalleled; and charges the false prophets with having betrayed her into ruin by their false and flattering suggestions. In this forlorn and desolate condition, the astonishment and by-word of all who see her, Jerusalem is directed earnestly to implore the removal of those heavy judgments which God, in the height of his displeasure, had inflicted upon her.-Jahn thinks that this elegy was composed on the storming of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army. ELEGY 3. The prophet, by describing his own most severe and trying afflictions, and setting forth the inexhaustible mercies of God, as the never-failing source of his consolation, exhorts his countrymen to be patient and resigned under the divine chastisements. He asserts the divine supremacy in the dis pensations of good and evil, and argues that no man has a right to complain, when he is punished according to his de serts. He recommends it to his fellow-sufferers to examine themselves, and to turn to God with contrite hearts; and concludes by expressing his hope, that the same Providence that had formerly delivered him, would frustrate the malice of his present enemies, and would turn the scornful reproach, which they had cast upon him, to their own confusion. ELEGY 4. exhibits a striking contrast, in various affecting stances, between the present deplorable and wretched condi tion of the Jewish nation and their former flourishing affairs; and ascribes the unhappy change chiefly to the profligacy of its priests and prophets. The people proceed with lamenting their hopeless condition, especially the captivity of their sove reign Zedekiah. This elegy concludes with predicting the judgments that were impending over the Edomites, together with a final cessation of Sion's calamities.

ELEGY 5. is an epilogue or conclusion to the preceding chapters or elegies. In the Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate versions, this chapter is entitled THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAH; but no such title appears in the Hebrew copies, or in the Septuagint ver sion. It is rather, as Dr. Blayney has remarked, a memorial representing, in the name of the whole body of Jewish exiles, the numerous calamities under which they groaned; and humbly supplicating God to commiserate their wretchedness, and to restore them once more to his favour, and to their an cient prosperity.

III. The Lamentations are evidently written in metre, and contain a number of plaintive effusions composed after the manner of funeral dirges. Bishop Lowth is of opinion that they were originally written by the prophet, as they arose in his mind, in a long course of separate stanzas, and that they were subsequently collected into one poem. Each elegy consists of twenty-two periods, according to the number of 1 Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book i. p. 481. who cites letters in the Hebrew alphabet; although it is in the four Buxtorf's Lexicon, voce nn. Dr. H. thinks that Paul derived the decla first chapters only that the several periods begin (after the "ation he has made concerning Jesus Christ, in 1 Cor. i. 30. and Phil. ii. 9-manner of an acrostic) with the different letters following

1., from the above cited passage of Jeremiah.

* Professor Dahler considers this simply as a proverbial expression; and he modern Jews, and a few Christian interpreters, particularly the late Dr. Blayney in his translation of Jeremiah, have denied the application of this prophecy to the Messiah: but the following remarks will show that this denial is not authorized. According to the first evangelical promise concerning the seed of the woman, followed this prediction of the prophet: The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man. (Jer. xxxi. 22.) That new creation of a man is therefore new, and compassing a man. This interpretation is ancient, literal, and clear. The words import a miraculous conception: the ancient Jews acknowledged this sense, and applied it determinately to the Messiah. This prophecy is illustrated by that of Isaiah vii. 14.-Bp. Pearson on the Creed, art. ii. p.

therefore a creation, because wrought in a woman only, without a man,

171. edit. 1715, folio.

■ Pref. ad Com. in Jerem.

each other in alphabetical order. By this contrivance, the metre is more precisely marked and ascertained, particularly in the third chapter, where each period contains three verses, all having the same initial letter. The two first chapters, in like manner, consist of triplets, excepting only the seventh period of the first and the nineteenth of the second, each of which has a supernumerary line. The fourth chapter resett bles the three former in metre, but the periods are only couplets; and in the fifth chapter the periods are couplets, though of a considerably shorter measure.

Although there is no artificial or methodical arrangement of the subject in these incomparable elegies, yet they are totally free from wild incoherency or abrupt transition. tender, and pathetic images, all expressive of the deepest Never, perhaps, was there a greater variety of beautiful, distress and sorrow, more happily chosen and applied than in the lamentations of this prophet; nor can we too much

I. Author and date.-II. Analysis of his prophecy.—III. Ob- credit with the Babylonian monarchs; and his uncommon

The Longobardi in Hungary, 536; who were seated in the northern parts of Germany about 483.