Now Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”
But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.
Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
Then Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.”
Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”
Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.
For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says Yahweh. “They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. For, behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv5–19 Here Jeremiah explains more fully what he had already…
Here Jeremiah explains more fully what he had already mentioned that he had been called from above, for otherwise he would have presumptuously obtruded himself: for no one, as the Apostle says, takes this honor to himself; but the call of God alone raises up prophets and teachers to their dignity {see Hebrews 5:4}. Hence, that Jeremiah might secure attention, he declares that he had been called to the prophetic office, and that by the clear voice of God. For this purpose, he says, that this word was given him, Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee He introduces God as the speaker, that what he declares might be more emphatical, that it might be of more weight and more forcible: for, if he had said simply in his own person, that he had been made a prophet by God’s voice, it would not have so much moved the hearers; but when he brings forward God as the speaker, there is necessarily more weight and force in what is said.
I pass by here what might be more largely said on what is necessary in one’s call, so that he may be attended to by God’s people; for no one, by his own and private right, can claim this privilege of speaking, as I have already said, inasmuch as this is what belongs to God alone. But I have elsewhere spoken at large on the prophetic call; it is therefore enough now to point at such things as these as it were by the finger: and particular discussions must be sought elsewhere; for were I to dwell at large on every subject, my work would be endless. I will, therefore, according to my usual practice, give a brief exposition of this Prophet.
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Jeremiah then says, that he had been called by God, for this end, that he might on this account gain a hearing from the people. God declares that he knew Jeremiah before he formed him in the womb. This is not said specially of the Prophet, as though other men are unknown to God, but it is to be understood of the prophetic office, as though he had said, “Before I formed thee in the womb, I destined thee for this work, even that thou mayest undertake the burden of a teacher among the people.” And the second part is a repetition, when he says, Before thou camest forth from the womb I sanctified thee Sanctification is the same as the knowledge of God: and thus we perceive that knowledge is not mere prescience, but that predestination, by which God chooses every single individual according to his own will, and at the same time appoints and also sanctifies him; for no one, as Paul declares, (2 Corinthians 2:16,) is according to his own nature fitted for the work. Since then this fitness is the gratuitous gift of God, it is nothing strange that God declares that he had sanctified Jeremiah, as though he had said, “I formed thee man in the womb, and at the same time appointed thee for this particular work; and as it was not in thy power to bring with thee a qualification for the prophetic office, I formed thee not only a man, but a prophet.” This is the import of the passage.
But they refine too much, who think that the Prophet was sanctified from the womb as John the Baptist was, for the words mean no such thing; but only that is testified of Jeremiah, which Paul also affirms respecting himself in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, that he was known by God before he was born. Jeremiah then was not actually sanctified in the womb, but set apart according to God’s predestination and hidden purpose; that is, God chose him then to be a Prophet. It may be asked, whether he was not chosen before the creation of the world? To this it may be readily answered, that he was indeed foreknown by God before the world was made; but Scripture accommodates itself to the measure of our capacities, when it speaks of the generation of any one: it is then the same as though God had said of Jeremiah, that he was formed man for this end that in due time he might come forth a Prophet.
And no doubt the following clause is added exegetically, A prophet for the nations I made thee His sanctification, then, as I have said, was not real, but intimated that he was appointed a Prophet before he was born.
It however seems strange that he was given a Prophet to the nations God designed him to be the minister of his Church; for he neither went to the Ninevites, as Jonah did, (Jonah 3:3,) nor traveled into other countries, but spent his labors only among the tribe of Judah; why then is it said that he was given as a Prophet to the nations? To this I answer, that though God appointed him especially for his Church, yet his teaching belonged to other nations, as we shall presently see, and very evidently, as we proceed; for he prophesied concerning the Babylonians, the Egyptians, and the Moabites; in short, he included all the nations who were nigh and known to the Jews. This was indeed as it were accidental: but though he was given as a Prophet especially to his own people, yet his authority extended to heathen nations. No doubt nations are mentioned, including many, in order that the power and dignity of his teaching might appear more evident. It follows-
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 The scripture useth this manner of speech, to declare…
The scripture useth this manner of speech, to declare that God hath appointed his minsters to their offices before they were born, as Isa. 49:1; Gal. 1:15.
For Jeremiah did not only prophesy against the Jews, but also against the Egyptians, Babylonians, Moabites, and other nations.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–19 Jer 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came…
Jer 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me.] The Lord is said to come to Baalam, Abimelech, Laban, &c.; but he never concredited his word to any but to his holy prophets, of whom it is said, as here, "The word of the Lord came to them."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–19 Then, i. e. when he was first called to…
Then, i. e. when he was first called to his office; or, The Lord then began to speak unto me.
Me; a change of the person, a thing very usual with the prophets.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv4, 11 Here is, I. Jeremiah's early designation to the work…
Here is, I. Jeremiah's early designation to the work and office of a prophet, which God gives him notice of as a reason for his early application to that business (Jer 1:4, Jer 1:5): The word of the Lord came to him, with a satisfying assurance to himself that it was the word of the Lord and not a delusion; and God told him, 1. That he had ordained him a prophet to the nations, or against the nations, the nation of the Jews in the first place, who are now reckoned among the nations because they had learned their works and mingled with them in their idolatries, for otherwise they would not have been numbered with them, Num 23:9. Yet he was given to be a prophet, not to the Jews only, but to the neighbouring nations, to whom he was to send yokes (Jer 27:2, Jer 27:3) and whom he must make to drink of the cup of the Lord's anger, Jer 25:17. He is still in his writings a prophet to the nations (to our nation among the rest), to tell them what the national judgments are which may be expected for national sins. It would be well for the nations would they take Jeremiah for their prophet and attend to the warnings he gives them. 2. That before he was born, even in his eternal counsel, he had designed him to be so. Let him know that he who gave him his commission is the same that gave him his being, that formed him in the belly and brought him forth out of the womb, that therefore he was his rightful owner and might employ him and make use of him as he pleased, and that this commission was given him in pursuance of the purpose God had purposed in himself concerning him, before he was born: "I knew thee, and I sanctified thee," that is, "I determined that thou shouldst be a prophet and set thee apart for the office." Thus St. Paul says of himself that God had separated him from his mother's womb to be a Christian and an apostle, Gal 1:15. Observe, (1.) The great Creator knows what use to make of every man before he makes him. He has made all for himself, and of the same lumps of clay designs a vessel of honour or dishonour, as he pleases, Rom 9:21. (2.) What God has designed men for he will call them to; for his purposes cannot be frustrated. Known unto God are all his own works beforehand, and his knowledge is infallible and his purpose unchangeable. (3.) There is a particular purpose and providence of God conversant about his prophets and ministers; they are by special counsel designed for their work, and what they are designed for they are fitted for: I that knew thee, sanctified thee. God destines them to it, and forms them for it, when he first forms the spirit of man within him. Propheta nascitur, non fit - Original endowment, not education, makes a prophet.
II. His modestly declining this honourable employment, Jer 1:6. Though God had predestinated him to it, yet it was news to him, and a mighty surprise, to hear that he should be a prophet to the nations. We know not what God intends us for, but he knows. One would have thought he would catch at it as a piece of preferment, for so it was; but he objects against it, as a work for which he is unqualified: "Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak to great men and multitudes, as prophets must; I cannot speak finely nor fluently, cannot word things well, as a message from God should be worded; I cannot speak with any authority, nor can expect to be heeded, for I am a child and my youth will be despised." Note, It becomes us, when we have any service to do for God, to be afraid lest we mismanage it, and lest it suffer through our weakness and unfitness for it; it becomes us likewise to have low thoughts of ourselves and to be diffident of our own sufficiency. Those that are young should consider that they are so, should be afraid, as Elihu was, and not venture beyond their length.
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III. The assurance God graciously gave him that he would stand by him and carry him on in his work.
1. Let him not object that he is a child; he shall be a prophet for all that (Jer 1:7): "Say no any more, I am a child. It is true thou art; but," (1.) "Thou hast God's precept, and let not thy being young hinder thee from obeying it. Go to all to whom I shall send thee and speak whatsoever I command thee." Note, Though a sense of our own weakness and insufficiency should make us go humbly about our work, yet it should not make us draw back from it when God calls us to it. God was angry with Moses even for his modest excuses, Exo 4:14. (2.) "Thou hast God's presence, and let not thy being young discourage thee from depending upon it. Though thou art a child, thou shalt be enabled to go to all to whom I shall send thee, though they are ever so great and ever so many. And whatsoever I command thee thou shalt have judgment, memory, and language, wherewith to speak it as it should be spoken." Samuel delivered a message from God to Eli, when he was a little child. Note, God can, when he pleases, make children prophets, and ordain strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.
2. Let him not object that he shall meet with many enemies and much opposition; God will be his protector (Jer 1:8): "Be not afraid of their races; though they look big, and so think to outface thee and put thee out of countenance, yet be not afraid to speak to them; no, not to speak that to them which is most unpleasing. Thou speakest in the name of the King of kings, and by authority from him, and with that thou mayest face them down. Though they look angry, be not afraid of their displeasure nor disturbed with apprehensions of the consequences of it." Those that have messages to deliver from God must not be afraid of the face of man, Eze 3:9. "And thou hast cause both to be bold and easy; for I am with thee, not only to assist thee in thy work, but to deliver thee out of the hands of the persecutors; and, if God be for thee, who can be against thee?" If God do not deliver his ministers from trouble, it is to the same effect if he support them under their trouble. Mr. Gataker well observes here, That earthly princes are not wont to go along with their ambassadors; but God goes along with those whom he sends, and is, by his powerful protection, at all times and in all places present with them; and with this they ought to animate themselves, Act 18:10.
3. Let him not object that he cannot speak as becomes him - God will enable him to speak.
(1.) To speak intelligently, and as one that had acquaintance with God, Jer 1:9. He having now a vision of the divine glory, the Lord put forth his hand, and by a sensible sign conferred upon him so much of the gift of the tongue as was necessary for him: He touched his mouth, and with that touch opened his lips, that his mouth should show forth God's praise, with that touch sweetly conveyed his words into his mouth, to be ready to him upon all occasions, so that he could never want words who was thus furnished by him that made man's mouth. God not only put knowledge into his head, but words into his mouth; for there are words which the Holy Ghost teaches, Co1 2:13. It is fit God's message should be delivered in his own words, that it may be delivered accurately. Eze 3:4, Speak with my words. And those that faithfully do so shall not want instructions as the case requires; God will give them a mouth and wisdom in that same hour, Mat 10:19.
(2.) To speak powerfully, and as one that had authority from God, Jer 1:10. It is a strange commission that is here given him: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms. This sounds very great, and yet Jeremiah is a poor despicable priest still; he is not set over the kingdoms as a prince to rule them by the sword, but as a prophet by the power of the word of God. Those that would hence prove the pope's supremacy over kings, and his authority to depose them and dispose of their kingdoms at his pleasure, must prove that he has the same extraordinary spirit of prophecy that Jeremiah had, else how can be have the power that Jeremiah had by virtue of that spirit? And yet the power that Jeremiah had (who, notwithstanding his power, lived in meanness and contempt, and under oppression) would not content these proud men. Jeremiah was set over the nations, the Jewish nation in the first place, and other nations, some great ones besides, against whom he prophesied; he was set over them, not to demand tribute from them nor to enrich himself with their spoils, but to root out, and pull down, and destroy, and yet withal to build and plant. [1.] He must attempt to reform the nations, to root out, and pull down, and destroy idolatry and other wickednesses among them, to extirpate those vicious habits and customs which had long taken root, to throw down the kingdom of sin, that religion and virtue might be planted and built among them. And, to the introducing and establishing of that which is good, it is necessary that that which is evil be removed. [2.] He must tell them that it would be well or ill with them according as they were, or were not, reformed. He must set before them life and death, good and evil, according to God's declaration of the method he takes with kingdoms and nations, Jer 18:9-10. He must assure those who persisted in their wickedness that they should be rooted out and destroyed, and those who repented that they should be built and planted. He was authorized to read the doom of nations, and God would ratify it and fulfil it (Isa 44:26), would do it according to his word, and therefore is said to do it by his word. It is thus expressed partly to show how sure the word of prophecy is - it will as certainly be accomplished as if it were done already, and partly to put an honour upon the prophetic office and make it look truly great, that others may not despise the prophets nor they disparage themselves. And yet more honourable does the gospel ministry look, in that declarative power Christ gave his apostles to remit and retain sin (Joh 20:23), to bind and loose, Mat 18:18.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Then the word of the Lord came unto me,…
Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Not in the days of Jehoiakim, but in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, Jer 1:2. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read, "unto him".
. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read, "unto him".
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Jeremiah 1:5
jer 1:5
jer 1:5
jer 1:5Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee,.... Not merely by his omniscience, so he knows all men before their conception and birth; but with such a knowledge as had special love and affection joined with it; in which sense the Lord knows them that are his, as he does not others, and predestinates them unto eternal life; and which is not only before their formation in the womb, but before the foundation of the world, even from all eternity. The forming of the human foetus is God's act, and a curious piece of workmanship it is; see Psa 139:15.
And before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; not by infusing holiness into him, but by separating him in his eternal purposes and decrees to the office of a prophet before he was born, and even before the world began; just as the Apostle Paul was separated to the Gospel of God, Rom 1:1, for it follows,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations; not to the Israelites only, who Jarchi thinks are so called, because they now followed the usages and customs of the nations; but to the Gentiles, against whom be was sent to prophesy, Jer 46:1 as Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and Chaldeans. This ordination of him to be a prophet was not done in time, but in eternity, in the mind and thought of God; he was foreordained to this office before the foundation of the world, of which a declaration was made unto him when he was now called unto it; to which he makes answer.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 Then - When he was first called to his…
Then - When he was first called to his office.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Verse 4. The word of the Lord came unto…
Verse 4. The word of the Lord came unto me] Then I first felt the inspiring influence of the Divine Spirit, not only revealing to me the subjects which he would have me to declare to the people, but also the words which I should use in these declarations.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18 Jer 1:4-5. Then the word of the Lord came…
Jer 1:4-5. Then the word of the Lord came unto me — With a satisfying assurance to himself, that it was the word of the Lord, and not a delusion. Before I formed thee in the belly — That is, the womb. Having spoken before on the time of his call, he now speaks of the manner of it. I knew thee — That is, I had thee in my view, or approved thee as a fit minister for this work, in the same sense as it is said, Act 15:18, Known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world; he contemplated the plan of them, and approved it in his mind, before he created and brought them into being. I sanctified thee — I set thee apart in my counsel for executing the office of a prophet. We have examples of a similar designation with that mentioned here, in John the Baptist and St. Paul, as the reader will see if he consult the texts referred to in the margin. And ordained thee a prophet unto the nations — He speaks thus to Jeremiah, not to the other prophets, because he stood in need of greater encouragement than they, both in respect to the tenderness of his years, and the difficulties which he was to encounter. And ordained thee a prophet to the nations — To other nations besides the Jews.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 This history of Jeremiah’s call to his office formed…
This history of Jeremiah’s call to his office formed a part of his first address to the people. He claimed to act by an external authority, and to speak not his own words but those of Yahweh; and this even when resisting the divine call (see Jer 15:13; Jer 20:7, Jer 20:14-18).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19 Knew, with affection, and designed thee for this office…
Knew, with affection, and designed thee for this office for eternity. Many think (Calmet) that Jeremias was purified from original sin before his birth. (St. Augustine) --- He had this privilege, and was also a priest, prophet, virgin, and martyr. (Worthington) --- Yet to sanctify, often means only to set aside, Exodus xiii. 2., and Ecclesiasticus xlix. 9. --- Nations, whose overthrow he points out, chap. xxv. 27, 44, &c. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–18 Jeremiah's call to the prophetical office.
Jeremiah's call to the prophetical office.
unto me--other manuscripts read "to him"; but English Version probably represents the true Hebrew text; this inscription was doubtless made by Jeremiah himself.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 JEREMIAH’S INVESTITURE WITH THE PROPHETIC OFFICE, Jer_1:4-19.
JEREMIAH’S INVESTITURE WITH THE PROPHETIC OFFICE, Jer_1:4-19.
4. The word of the Lord came — It was an objective revelation, as is plainly intimated in most cases of prophetic inspiration. It was not, probably, by a voice that addressed the prophet’s physical senses; rather was it spiritually communicated, but was perfectly recognised as from God. It was not the elevation of the prophet’s own religious consciousness by motions from within, but a bringing into this consciousness of something from without.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–19 4. Now the word, etc.] This preface to the…
4. Now the word, etc.] This preface to the Book forms at once Jeremiah’s plea and his support, the credentials of his mission to which he might refer the people when hostile and himself in seasons of despondency. We have in this section the declaration of God’s purpose concerning him (Jer_1:5); Jeremiah’s protest (Jer_1:6); God’s reply (Jer_1:7-8); the act of divine consecration (Jer_1:9); the nature of the charge itself (Jer_1:10).
4–10. The Prophet’s call and its nature
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4–19. Jeremiah’s call
The passage will fall into four sections.
(i) Jer_1:4-10. The prophet’s call and its nature. (ii) Jer_1:11-12. The symbol of the almond tree, shewing that Jehovah is wakeful to perform his word. (iii) Jer_1:13-16. That of the caldron, indicating a threatened invasion of Judah. (iv) Jer_1:17-19. Words of encouragement.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–19 (4) The word of the Lord came unto me.—The…
(4) The word of the Lord came unto me.—The words imply obviously a revelation, the introduction of a new element into the human consciousness. In many cases such a revelation implied also the spiritual tension of an ecstatic or trance-like state, a dream, or an open vision. It almost presupposed a previous training, outward or inward, a mind vexed by hot thoughts and mourning over the sins of the people. Here there is no mention of dream or vision, and we must assume, therefore, a distinct consciousness that the voice which he heard in his inmost soul was from Jehovah. For the thought of pre-natal calling, see Isa_49:1.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Vers. 4-19. The call of Jeremiah.
Vers. 4-19. The call of Jeremiah.
Unto me. For the change of person, comp. Eze_1:4.
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Vers. 4-19. The dread commission.
I WHAT WAS IT? (Cf. ver. 10) It was to denounce the judgments of God against his people. At the end of the commission there is mention made of "building and planting;" but the chief charge is of an altogether opposite character. Jeremiah was set over the nations "to root out, and to pull down, to destroy, and to throw down." It was a terrible undertaking. He was to spare no class, no rank, no order. Kings, princes, priests, and people were all to be alike solemnly warned of the sure judgments that were coming upon them. And the like work has to be done now. How prone we all are to speak with bated breath of the retribution of God! how ready, to ourselves and to others, to explain away or to soften down the awful words of God against sin and the doers thereof! Preachers and teachers of God"s truth, beware lest the blood of those who perished because you warned them not be required at your hands! (Eze_33:6)
II BUT IT IS A DREAD COMMISSION. The shrinking of Jeremiah from it is manifest all through this chapter. Before the heavy burden which he was to bear was fully disclosed to him, he exclaims (ver. 6), "Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot speak: for I am a child." And the assurances, aids, and encouragements which are given him all show how much needed to be done ere his reluctance and trembling fear could be overcome. The whole chapter tells of God"s gracious preparation of his servant for the arduous work he had to do. And whosoever now undertakes like work, if he have no realization of its solemnity and burden, it is plain that God has not called him to speak in his Name. To hear a man tell of the awful doom of the impenitent in a manner that, if it be not flippant, yet seems to relish his task, and to hail it as an opportunity for rhetorical display, is horrible in the extreme, and will do more to harden men in sin than almost anything beside. The subject is so sad, so serious, so terrible, that he who believes in it at all will be sure to sympathize with the prophet"s sensitive shrinking from the work to which he was ordained. If when sentencing criminals who have broken the laws of man to their due punishment, humane judges often break down in tears, though their punishment touch not the soul, how can any contemplate the death that is eternal unmoved or without the most solemn compassion and tenderest pity? And to increase the fear and shrinking with which Jeremiah regarded the work before him, there was the seeming presumption of one so young little more than "a child" in years, experience, or knowledge undertaking such a work. The hopelessness of it also. As well might a sparrow think to fly full in the face of a hurricane, as for the young prophet to think to stay the torrent of sin which was now flooding and raging over the whole life of his people. Sin and transgression of the grossest kind had become their habit, their settled custom, their ordinary way. All that he had to tell them they had heard again and again, and had despised and forgotten it. What hope of success was there, then, for him? And the fierceness of the opposition he would arouse would also deter him from the work. It was not alone that the faces (ver. 17) of kings, princes, priests, and people would darken upon him, but they would (ver. 19) "fight against" him, as we know they did. Well, therefore, might he say, "Ah, Lord! I cannot." And today, how many are the plausible reasons which our reluctant hearts urge against that fidelity in such work as Jeremiah"s which God requires at our hands! But God will not allow them. See
III HOW HE CONSTRAINED JEREMIAH TO UNDERTAKE THIS WORK.
1. Ver. 5: he gave him certainty as to his being called to the prophetic work. To know that we are indeed called of God to any work is an unfailing source of strength therein.
2. Ver. 7: he made him feel that necessity was laid upon him; thou shalt go; thou shalt speak. (Cf. Paul s Yea, woe is me, etc.) So Jeremiah himself afterwards says (Jer_20:9) God s word was like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." What a help to the preacher of God"s truth is such a conviction as this!
3. Ver. 8: he promised his presence and delivering grace. Consciousness of security and safety in God will give a dauntless courage in the face of any and of all opposition.
4. He gave him special qualifications for his work. Words and power of speech (ver. 9). Immovable and unflinching strength of will, a determination and resolve that would not waver (ver. 18).
5. He showed him that the rooting up and the destruction were not ends in themselves, but to lead on to planting and to building afresh (ver. 10). To know that we are working on to a good and blessed end is no small encouragement to us in working through all manner of difficulty to reach that end.
6. He made him vividly realize the nature and nearness of the judgments he foretold. This was the purpose of the visions of the rod of the almond tree and the seething pot (vers. 11-15; for explanation, see exegesis). The first vision told of God"s judgment close at hand. The second, of the quarter whence these judgments come, and of the fierce; furious character of the foes who should come upon them. Jeremiah was enabled to "see well" the visions, that is, to realize very forcibly what they meant. Oh, if we could but mere vividly realize what the anger of God is against sin; if we could have a vision of the wrath of God; with how much more power and urgency should we plead with men to flee from the wrath to come!
7. Ver. 16: he reminds Jeremiah of the sins that called for these judgments. A deep sense of sin is indispensable to those who would earnestly warn of the doom of sin.
8. And (ver. 19) God again gives his servant the blessed assurance, "They shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee to deliver thee." Thus did God equip the prophet and prepare him for his work. His God supplied all his need. It was a stern warfare on which he was to go, but he went not at his own charges. If we be summoned to difficult duty, we shall be supplied with all-sufficient strength. Only let us be careful to avail ourselves of the help assured, lest (ver. 17) we be dismayed and God confound us before our enemies. Dread, therefore, no commission that God entrusts thee with, for along with it will ever be found the grace, all the grace, needed for its successful discharge. C.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 4-9. Jehovah calls Jeremiah and gives him ample encouragements.
I THE PURPOSE OF WHICH JEREMIAH WAS BROUGHT INTO EXISTENCE. This is stated in a very solemn and impressive way in ver. 5. Jehovah presents himself to Jeremiah as he who formed him in the belly, and even before then recognized him as one who was to do a special work. So with regard to Moses, Isaac, Samuel. The circumstances of their birth direct our thoughts to the special ends to be worked out by their earthly life. To each of them the same words might have been spoken as to Jeremiah. Moreover, if true of them, this word is true of all. Jehovah is the Fashioner of all mankind, and since he does nothing without some purpose, it follows that for every one of us, equally with Jeremiah, there is a recognition, a consecrating, an ordaining. In a few instances there may be a special publication of the purpose, but the purpose itself is real in every instance. Therefore our business clearly is to find out what God would have us be, our eyes open to his presence, our ears to his voice. Then if we have discovered what God would have us be, if there is a deepening impression on our minds that we are in the right way, this very thought, that God saw the proper work of our life or ever we entered upon it, will assure us that the work cannot fail. We shall feel that requisite strength in the doing of it, and full success at the end of it, are made certain. The failings of life come and it is easy to see that they must come from putting our own purposes athwart the settled purpose of God. We may rebel against the work which he calls upon us to undertake, but it is very certain that any work put in its place must end in disappointment and disaster. To Jonah as to Jeremiah, God might have said somewhat the same as is here recorded. It is an awful thought for sinners, in the collapse of their own plans, that they might have been successful and rejoicing, if only they had been from the heart obedient to the plans of God.
II THE ANSWERING PLEA OF JEREMIAH. An opposing plea it can hardly be called, but it is the not astonishing statement of a difficulty that from the human point of view looks very great. When God makes his first approaches to men, asking them to do something special, what is more natural than that they should see huge difficulties in the way of obedience? How fertile was the self-distrusting Moses in suggesting difficulties when God came to him in Horeb? (Exo_3:4) Take special notice that the difficulties of such men as Moses and Jeremiah are not meant to be mere excuses, but are felt to be real reasons. Such is emphatically the position here. Jeremiah was but a lad; it is possible that he had net yet attained to what we should call a young man. (Gen_41:12 1Ki_3:7) At such an age one is valued for listening and learning rather than for talking. That the prophet made such an initial reply to Jehovah was a good sign rather than a bad one. Deep humility and a keen consciousness of natural weakness are welcome features in the man whom God would make his servant. It is tolerably certain that among the elders of Anathoth Jeremiah would have the reputation of being a quiet, unpretending lad. If a young man of another reputation had stood forward as a prophet, there would have been fair ground to charge him with presumption. But when one stands forward who ever looks doubtfully on his own abilities, is no self-asserter, and forms by preference a member in the background of every scene, such a standing forward at once suggests that there is some superhuman motive behind it. Jeremiah"s plea is therefore a recommendation. Unconsciously he gives a valid certificate of fitness for his work. At the same time, this plea suggests all the difference which there is between the youthful Jeremiah and the youthful Jesus. Jesus in the temple seems in his natural element, not too young even at twelve years of age to show an ardent interest in all that concerned Divine worship and service.
III THE AMPLE ENCOURAGEMENT WHICH JEHOVAH GIVES TO JEREMIAH. In a few words, God puts before his servant all that is needed and all that can be supplied.
1. There will be clear commands from God, and from the prophet there must be corresponding obedience. Not with Jeremiah rests the deciding of whether he shall go here or there, or to what place first and to what last. He is always a sent man, and when he comes into the presence of his appointed audience, his message is a provided message. Thus it is ensured that he never finds himself in the wrong place or speaking at the wrong time. Well does God know how little we are able, of ourselves, to decide when to speak and when to be silent, what to say and what to leave unsaid.
2. One consequence of God"s message faithfully delivered will be hostility and menace from the hearers, and therefore there is an exhortation to courage, and an indication of the ground which makes that courage possible. When Jeremiah gets into a certain presence and speaks a certain word he will be threatened. The threatening must be expected; it shows that the arrow of God"s truth has found its home. All the powers of the human face will be called into malignant exercise against the prophet. The eye, the tongue, the muscles of the face will all be joined in strong combination to express the contempt and hatred filling the brain that lies behind. In no way can Jeremiah escape this experience; he must face the enemies, but in doing so he has the assurance that his Commander is near to deliver.
3. God makes now an actual communication to the prophet. The path is not yet taken, the audience is not yet in view, but by way of earnest inspiration the words of the Master are put into the servant"s mouth. This of course was an indescribable experience. What it is to have the words of God in one"s mouth can only be known by an actual enjoyment of the privilege. The only way in which we can discern how real and fruitful this experience was, is by observing its effect. There is no more hesitating, no turning from one answered plea to find another more cogent. Henceforth the prophet goes on steadily and faithfully in his mission, and his perfect service is best proved by this, that in due time he meets with the indicated opposition, and receives from God his promised protection. Y.
Vers. 4-10. The call of the prophet.
As these are elements both ordinary and extraordinary in the prophetic office, so preparation, etc., for it must be of both kinds. Much that may be said of it will be applicable to all other service in God"s Church; and there will be some conditions and circumstances that must necessarily be peculiar and abnormal. The behavior, too, of one called to such a high office must ever be interesting to observers.
I THE SPIRIT IN WHICH SUCH AN OFFICE SHOULD BE ASSUMED. Like Moses and others of whom we read, Jeremiah was of a backward and retiring disposition. It required insistence and remonstrance on the part of Jehovah to persuade him to undertake the task. His low thoughts of himself as contrasted with the mighty office to which he was called, held him back. There are some things that come most gracefully when they are spontaneous. The general duty, love, and service, owing by the creature to the Creator, etc., are of this kind. But for special work and appointment, requiring great qualifications and especial help of God, modesty and hesitation are a recommendation rather than otherwise. Our question, pointed first of all homewards, should be, "Who is sufficient for these things?" A feeling like this is helpful and preparative, as leading to the perception of the true strength and fitness that come from God, and to a constant dependence upon him. Many long idly for "some great thing to do," others hesitate because the thing is too great.
II THE MANNER IN WHICH GOD PREPARES MEN FOR EXTRAORDINARY SERVICE IN HIS CHURCH. Where direction and impulse are needed revelation is made. The spirit of the prophet is not left in doubt. A hesitating, vacillating prophet were a worthless messenger to the faithless. Revelation is therefore made to him of:
1. His anticipative choice in the counsels of God. This predestinating grace of God is a frequent assertion of the Old Testament. It is a mystery we cannot fathom; but is consistent with the free choice of the subject addressed. It has its effect in the voluntary acceptance of the appointment through persuasion and appeal. A discovery of this nature can only -be for the few, who are called to especial responsibilities, etc., and has no reference to the general demands of duty, affection, zeal, which address themselves to all
2. Future Divine evidence, protection, and inspiration. God will be with him, and will fit him for all he has to do. So Christ to his disciples, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world". (Mat_28:20) This is to meet the exigencies of Divine service, and is not intended for personal aims and ends. Many a lowly worker in the Master"s service is thereby endued with irresistible power. It is a conviction for which we are encouraged to seek grounds and assurances.
3. Authority amongst the nations to destroy and to restore. This is a moral investment. Just as God enforces truth and righteousness with accompanying mysterious sanctions, so he clothes his messenger with an authority the consciences of men will recognize even when their perversity of will inclines them to disobey.
How much of this spirit of certitude and conviction is needed for the ordinary life of the Christian? Have we the measure of it we require? or are we inefficient and useless because of our lack of it? There can be no question that such a spirit is inculcated by Christianity, and that reasonable grounds are afforded us all upon which to be thoroughly persuaded in our own mind. Let us act upon our deepest convictions and most unalterable certainties. This is the only way to attain to a sound apprehension of Divine things, and an efficient condition of service. M.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITEVers. 4-10. The prophet"s call.
We see in the case of Jeremiah a striking instance of a man constrained by force of circumstance and by a Divine call to occupy a position and to do a kind of work for which he was not naturally either qualified or disposed. Of a highly sensitive and timid nature, a tender heart, a desponding spirit, he was inclined to mourn in secret over the abounding evils of the time rather than publicly to rebuke them. But as soon as the Divine summons comes to him, he confers not with flesh and blood," he forgets his fears and infirmities, and for forty long years patiently withstands the tide of iniquity and adversity a noble example of blended tenderness and strength. In this account of the prophet"s call, note
I GOD"S SOVEREIGNTY IN THE RAISING UP OF MEN TO DO HIS WORK. Jeremiah was "known" and "sanctified dedicated by God to his sacred office before his birth. His "ordination," appointment, now is but the fulfilling of an antecedent Divine purpose and choice. Most of the illustrious men of old bear some conspicuous mark of such Divine election upon them, e.g. Moses, Gideon, Samson, Cyrus. St. Paul devoutly recognized it in himself, in spite of all his blind hostility to the name of Christ in former years. (Gal_1:15) We fail too often to take sufficient note of this mystery of God"s foreknowledge and predetermination underlying the progress of the kingdom of truth and righteousness in the world. And yet we understand its history, we get at the heart and core of its meaning, only so far as we look through all surface appearances and, holding fast to the equally sure principles of human freedom and responsibility, discern the will that works out steadily, through chosen instruments, its own eternal purpose.
II THE SHRINKING OF A LOWLY SPIRIT FROM A POSITION OF EXTRAORDINARY DIFFICULTY AND DANGER. Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child." This was the honest expression of conscious personal unfitness.
1. The feeling was very honorable to him. Who that knows himself would not tremble on being summoned to such a work? To take up a solemn responsibility with a light heart and easy self-confidence is the mark of a vain spirit that courts rebuke. He who has any true sense of the greatness of his mission from God will often "Lie contemplating his own unworthiness.
2. It was a sign of his real fitness for the work. Humility is the basis of all that is great and good in human character and deed. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." The cry, "Who is sufficient for these things?" is a symptom of inherent nobleness and slumbering power. Jeremiah"s feeling that he was "but a child," prepared him the better to become the representative of the Divine majesty and the vehicle of Divine strength.
III THE SPIRITUAL CONSTRAINT OF WHICH ALL TRUE SERVANTS OF GOD ARE CONSCIOUS. The prophetic inspiration came upon him and compelled him to delay his message. "The word of the Lord was in his heart as a burning fire shut up in his bones,... and he could not stay". (Jer_20:9) A Divine commission thus asserting itself in the inward consciousness of him who received it, might well be called the "burden of the Lord." Great reformers, preachers, missionaries, martyrs, have ever been moved by some such Divine afflatus. So felt Peter and John before the Jewish Council: "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard". (Act_4:20) So felt St. Paul: "Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel". (1Co_9:16) "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak." He must "speak" who is thus commanded; he must "go" who is thus sent.
IV THE COURAGE AND STRENGTH WITH WHICH GOD ENDOWS ALL WHO THUS OBEY HIS BIDDING. The ministry of Jeremiah is a signal example of the way in which the grace of God may clothe the most timid spirit with dauntless energy and victorious power. He will never be "afraid of the faces of men," who knows that the Lord is with him. The fear of God casts out all other fear. Many a "little child " has thus become preternaturally brave; "out of weakness made strong." The history of the kingdom of God among men abounds with illustrations of the way in which he "chooses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty." And every patient, heroic Christian life bears witness to the sufficiency of his grace. You can glory even in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, and distresses, if the "power of Christ" does but rest upon you. (2Co_12:9, 2Co_12:10)
V THE MASTERY OF TRUTH OVER ALL THE HOSTILE POWERS OF THE WORLD. Jeremiah was "set over the nations and over the kingdoms," not as a prince, but as a prophet; not as wielding any form of mere brute force, but as the instrument of that silent energy of truth that casts down the strongholds of Satan in every land. His word was "like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces". (Jer_23:29) Divine truth is the mightiest of all forces alike to" root out and to pull down... to build and to plant." The sovereignty of the world is his of whom it is written, "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked". (Isa_11:4) The "many crowns" are on the head of him whose "Name is called The Word of God. W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 9, 11, 17, 18, 19 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew…
Jer_1:4-10
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.
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Seven points in Jeremiahs life and call:--
1. God knowing him. I knew thee.
2. God sanctifying him. I sanctified thee.
3. God ordaining him. I ordained thee.
4. God sending him. I shall send.
5. God commanding him. I command.
6. God encouraging him. Be not afraid.
7. God speaking through him. I have put My words in thy mouth. (C. Inglis.)
Childhood prophetic
Of Charles Kingsley it is written: His poems and sermons date from four years old. His delight was to make a little pulpit in his nursery from which, after putting on a pinafore as a surplice, he would preach to an imaginary congregation. His mother unknown to him took down his sermons at the time, and showed them to the Bishop of Peterborough, who predicted that the boy would grow up to be no ordinary man.
I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Election and mediation
The two great blessings of election and mediation are here distinctly taught. God did not speak to the nations directly, but mediatorially He created a minister who should be His mouthpiece. Observation itself teaches us that men are called and chosen of God to do special work in all departments of life. The difficult lesson for some of us to learn is that we are called to obscurity, and yet this is as clearly a Divine appointment as is the choice of an Isaiah or a Jeremiah. If you look at life, you will see that the most of men are called to quietness, to honest industry, and to what is mistakenly called common place existence. What of it? Shall the plain murmur because it is not a mountain? Shall the green fields complain that Mont Blanc is higher than they? If they have not his majesty, neither have they his barrenness. To see our calling, to accept it, to honour it, that is the truly godly and noble life! Every man is born to realise some purpose. Find that purpose out, and fulfil it if you would lovingly serve God. We find no difficulty in persuading a man that he is a Jeremiah or a Daniel, at any rate that, under certain circumstances, he might easily have turned out a Hannibal or a Wellington. The difficulty, on the contrary, is to persuade a man that the lowliest lot, as well as the highest, is the appointment of God; that door keeping is a promotion in the Divine gift; and that to light a lamp may be as surely a call of God as to found an empire or to rule a world. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The prophets call and consecration
I. The call of jehovah. Not the product of a reflective musing, nor the result of an inward impulse, but a supernatural Divine revelation, an inspiration, a voice from without.
II. His Divine consecration. He felt the hand of the Lord touch him: a palpable pledge of His support. Touching his mouth meant endowment. Equipment and qualification for Gods work must be from God.
III. Signs which unveil his mission. These he saw in spirit, God interpreted them to him as confirmatory tokens of his Divine commission.
IV. Supernatural assurances of help. God will furnish strength, will make him valiant and impregnable. (C. F. Keil.)
Calling to service
Like as a sword being committed into the hands of a soldier, by the captain general, he is not to smite before he be commanded to fight, and before the trumpet be sounded to battle: even so, though a man have excellences given him, yet he is not to execute any function, especially publicly, before he receive a particular warrant and calling from God (Rev_16:1). As the ostrich hath wings and flieth not; so some men have a calling, but they answer it not; they have knowledge, but they practise it not; they have words, but they work not. (J. Spencer.)
The ways in which men are called to service
It is very remarkable that the ancient prophets always kept steadily before them the exact way by which they were led up to their office, and were always ready to vindicate themselves by a plain statement of facts. It is remarkable, too, that they could trace their heavenly election, as clearly as their earthly parentage; so much so, that, as a rule, they put on record both pedigrees, so to speak, side by side; first, that which was natural; afterwards, that which was spiritual; and the one was as much a living and indisputable fact as the other. Thus Jeremiah said, Hilkiah was my father, and the Word of the Lord came unto me, two things separated by an infinite distance, yet both matters of positive and unquestionable certainty. Jeremiah would have treated with equal indifference or contempt the suggestion that Hilkiah was not his father and that the Lord had never spoken to him. (J. Parker, D. D.)
I formed thee
Ask what thy work in the world is. That for which thou wast born, to which thou wast appointed, on account of which thou wast conceived in the creative thought of God. That there is a Divine purpose in thy being is indubitable. Seek that thou mayest be permitted to realise it. And never doubt that thou hast been endowed with all the special aptitudes which that purpose may demand. God has formed thee for it, storing thy mind with all that He knew to be requisite for thy life work.
I. The Divine purpose. I knew thee . . . I sanctified thee . . . I have appointed thee a prophet. In that degenerate age the great Lover of souls needed a spokesman; and the Divine decree determined the conditions of Jeremiahs birth and character and life. How this could be consistent with the exercise of personal volition and choice on the part of the youthful prophet we cannot say. We can only see the two piers of the mighty arch, but not the arch itself, since the mists of time veil it, and we are dim of sight. It is wise to ascertain, if possible, while life is yet young, the direction of the Divine purpose. There are four considerations that will help us. First, the indication of our natural aptitudes; for these, when touched by the Divine Spirit, become talents or gifts. Secondly, the inward impulse or energy of the Divine Spirit, working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Thirdly, the teaching of the Word of God. Fourthly, the evidence of the circumstances and demands of life. When these concur, and focus in one point, there need be no doubt as to the Divine purpose and plan. But in cases where the Divine purpose is not so clearly disclosed, in which life is necessarily lived piecemeal, and the bits of marble for the tesselated floor are heaped together with no apparent plan, we must dare to believe that God has an intention for each of us; and that if we are true to our noblest ideals we shall certainly work out the Divine pattern, and be permitted some day to see it in its unveiled symmetry and beauty. To run errands for God! To be like the angels that excel in strength, and do His commandment, hearkening to the voice of His Word! To resemble the boy messengers in some of our large cities, that wait in readiness to discharge any commission that may be entrusted to them!
II. Formative influences. It is very interesting to study the formative influences that were brought to bear on the character of Jeremiah. There were the character and disposition of his mother, and the priestly office of his father. There was the picturesque beauty of his birthplace, the village of Anathoth, lying on the high road three miles north of Jerusalem, encircled by the famous hills of Benjamin; and looking down the ravine on the blue waters of the Dead Sea, gleaming at the foot of the purple hills of Moab. There was the near proximity of the holy city, rendering it possible for the boy to be present at all the holy festivals, and to receive such instruction as the best seminaries could provide. There was the companionship and association of godly families, like those of Shaphan and Maaseiah, who themselves had passed away, but whose children preserved the religion of their forefathers, and treasured as sacred relies the literature, psalms, and history of purer and better days. His uncle, Shallum, was the husband of the illustrious and devoted prophetess, Huldah; and their son Hanameel shared with Baruch, the grandson of Maaseiah, the close friendship of the prophet, probably from the days that they were boys together. There were also the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah, who were burning as bright constellations in that dark sky, to be soon joined by himself. His mind was evidently very sensitive to all the influences of his early life. His speech is saturated with references to natural emblems and national customs, to the life of men, and the older literature of the Bible. Take, for instance, his earliest sermon in which he refers to the story of the Exodus, and the pleadings of Deuteronomy; to the roar of the young lion, and the habits of the wild ass; to the young camel traversing her ways, and the Arabian of the wilderness; to the murmur of the brook, and the hewing of the cistern. His quick and sensitive soul eagerly incorporated the influences of the varied life around him, and reproduced them. It is thus that God is ever at work, forming and moulding us. The purpose of God gives meaning to many of its strange experiences. Be brave, strong, and trustful!
III. There was also a special preparation for his life work--The Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. In a similar manner had the seraph touched the lips of Isaiah years before. And we are reminded that the Lord Jesus promised that the Spirit of the Father should put appropriate words into the lips of His disciples when summoned before the tribunals of their foes. Words are the special gift of God. God never asks us to go on His errands (Jer_1:7) without telling us what to say. If we are living in fellowship with Him, He will impress His messages on our minds and enrich our life with the appropriate utterances by which those messages shall be conveyed to our fellows. Two other assurances were also given. First, Thou shalt go to whomsoever I shall send thee. This gave a definiteness and directness to the prophets speech. Secondly, Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
IV. God vouchsafed a two-fold vision to his child. On the one hand, the swift-blossoming almond tree assured him that God would watch over him, and see to the swift performance of his predictions; on the other, the seething cauldron, turned towards the north, indicated the breaking out of evil. So the pendulum of life swings to and fro; now to light, and then to dark. But happy is the man whose heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. There was a period in Jeremiahs life when he seems to have swerved from the pathway of complete obedience (Jer_15:19), and to have gone back from following the God-given plan. Surrounded by contention and strife; cursed as though he were a usurer; reproached and threatened with death--he lost heart, and fainted in the precipitous path. Immediately he had good reason to fear that the Divine protection had been withdrawn. We are only safe when we are on Gods plan. But as he returned again to his allegiance, these precious promises were renewed, and again sounded in his ears: I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
A call to service
It was no vision that called me to the foreign field, said a missionary at Clifton Springs, last summer. I read with intense interest All power is given unto Me, go ye, therefore. This was the foundation stone of my call to be a missionary. Later, while I was in the seminary, a letter was read from Dr. Butler, asking for five new men for India, a chance to put your life to the best use for the Master. Though I had no outward vision, the illumination of the heart is the best vision one can have, and from that day I have never been sorry, and I have never doubted that God called me to this work. (Christian Age.)
I cannot speak: for I am a child.--
Fears and comforts in prospect of labour for God:--
I. The fear of Gods servant in prospect of labour.
1. He feels his weakness.
(1) Having no influence.
(2) Having no experience.
(3) Being unstable.
2. He feels his ignorance.
3. He feels his unworthiness.
4. He dreads the enmity of man.
II. The comforts of Gods servants in prospect of labour.
1. The assurance they are called to the work.
2. The knowledge of the purpose of God.
3. The promise of the presence of God.
4. The fact that the message was from God. (R. A. Griffin.)
A young preachers oppressive sense of responsibility
When I first became a pastor in London my success appalled me; and the thought of the career which it seemed to open up, so far from elating me, cast me into the lowest depths outer which I uttered my miserere, and found no room for a gloria in excelsis. Who was I that I should continue to lead so great a multitude? I would betake me to my village obscurity, or emigrate to America and find a solitary nest in the backwoods, where I might be sufficient for the things that would be demanded of me. It was just then that the curtain was rising upon my life work, and I dreaded what it might reveal. I hope I was not faithless, but I was timorous and filled with a sense of my own unworthiness. I dreaded the work which a gracious providence had prepared for me. I felt myself a mere child, and trembled as I heard the voice which said, Arise and thresh the mountains and make them as chaff. (C. H. Spurgeons Autobiography.)
A sense of helplessness as a preparation for ministry
How many of the greatest men have been broken under a sense of their insufficiency! That passage in the life of John Livingstone comes back to me as I write. He had spoken at the yearly communion at Kirk o Shotts on the Sabbath with marvellous power, and had been requested to preach on the following morning, which he promised to do on condition that his friends should spend the night in prayer. But, as he awoke in the morning, he was so overwhelmed with the sense of his incompetence, that he went three and a half miles out of the town, to be brought back, however, and to preach so marvellously that five hundred souls were converted. The writer, years ago, when in great anxiety to learn whether his was a true vocation to the Christian ministry, the Bible opened to this page, and he can bear witness that God has been faithful. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
God achieves His work by seemingly inadequate workmen that the glory may be His
In using such ill-adapted tools for the accomplishment of His designs, God shows His own transparent power. That famous well cover at Antwerp, just opposite the cathedral--one of the finest pieces of wrought-iron that was ever known--is said to have been made by Quintyn Matsys with nothing but a hammer and a file, his fellow workman having taken away his tools. If it be so, the more praise to him for his consummate skill. All Gods works redound to His glory; but when the tools He uses appear to be totally inadequate to the results He achieves our reverence is excited, while our reason is abashed, and we marvel at a power we cannot understand. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Reluctance overcome
Farel, alike humble and courageous, had often asked if another would not succeed better than he, and a sort of presentiment had bidden him wait in hope for such a man. Calvin was unwilling to undertake the work, he was not made, he said, for such an office Farel is urgent Calvin educes fresh reasons, and it seemed as though he wanted to deter Farel by exhibiting to him the defects of his future colleague. Once more he asked that he might be left in obscurity to busy himself in studies. Then Farel broke out, Thy studies are a pretext. I tell thee that if thou refuse to associate thyself with my works God will curse thee for having sought thyself and not Christ. Calvin was henceforth prompt and sincere in the work of the Lord. Say not, I am a child.--Jeremiahs mission:--
I. His objection not unreasonable.
1. Inexperience.
2. Insufficient knowledge.
3. Modest diffidence.
4. Yet his ago and defects time would remedy.
II. How God overrules His objection.
1. He refers to His preordination.
2. He refers to His commission.
3. He was to speak Gods words.
4. Divine presence pledged.
5. Supernatural communication.
Lessons:
1. God, not man, arranges the affairs of His moral kingdom.
2. God qualifies His instruments.
3. God often selects His agents, not as men would do.
4. God gives His own message to His messengers.
5. The ministry of Gods servants is mighty for good or evil.
(1) Listen when God speaks.
(2) Obey when He commands
(3) Trust when He promises. (Y. Burns, D. D.)
God teaching His prophet
I. What it is, in spiritual language, to be a child. This is one of the most comforting of Gospel names, when it unites us with God as our Father, and thus implies that there is the holy principle of a new birth unto righteousness within us.
1. A child in this sense, is one who has been translated out of his own unrighteous nature into the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ; and this translation takes him at once from under the dominion of the law, and brings him into the glorious liberty of the Gospel.
2. A child, in scriptural acceptation, because he feels himself to be a sinning child, will bear submissively, every trying dispensation that shall be laid upon him, and in a child-like spirit.
3. Every child of Gods adoption will study the will of God, and strive to make it his own.
II. What influences were operating upon the prophets, when he said, I cannot speak, for I am a child.
1. There was the influence of a fallen and diseased nature. It is a great blessing to be able to look into the drowning sea of our own evil hearts, and to know the things we ought to pray for, and the rocks and quicksands it is our interest to avoid. But it is perilous to linger too long in an enemys country, and to roll our meditations overmuch through the defiled places; because the very sight and knowledge of what we are, in our natural weakness and deformity, if they are steeped for too long a time in the bitterness of soul humiliation, will be apt to produce a feeling of darkness akin to despair.
2. There was a distrust of Gods providence. This is a common sin in very many, who are without a question, children of the covenant. They have a faith, but it is not equal to their emergencies; there is a light in it, but it does not warm them; it staggers and hesitates, when it ought to be going forwards and realising.
III. What it was that God intended His prophet to understand, when he replied, say not, I am a child, etc.
1. First He taught him that His simple word is the best rock for dependence: Thou shalt go and thou shalt speak. This is the way in which God most loves to teach His children, because it is the simplest, I do not say the easiest lesson, for their faith to embrace. It is a trial for their confidence to improve.
2. But Gods word to the prophet, Say not I am a child, implies more. Jeremiah was to work for God; but God was to work in Jeremiah, and to supply him with a strength fully equal to what he had to do. Here is another link that binds God in His omnipotence to a covenant child in his weakness. (F. G. Crossman.)
The Divine mission of children
If we judge by inference and analogy from these words, rather than from the circumstances and person to whom they belong, we reach a truth like this: that by a messenger, incompetent because of his weakness, some messages from God come more forcefully to the ears and heart of men. What the prophet was comparatively many are actually, and the same truth holds good throughout, and so we reach a point which may well occupy our thought: the Divine mission and office of children, what they have to say, what they have to do. Is it not wrong to think of children as incomplete growth, of youth as nothing more than incomplete maturity? Such treatment injures them, for it fosters the idea into strength that today is nothing, and tomorrow everything, that the present is valueless, and the future holds all hope. Such treatment injures us, for we only exist impatiently till this time shall have passed, and miss all the instruction we might gather from the earliest impulses of life. In the home, and in the Church which is the larger home, there is a place for them to occupy, a mission to fulfil. Take two or three points as hints.
1. First the meaning and the power of simple faith. It is a word that some of us perhaps for years have been trying to learn the meaning of. Faith, trust. Have you children of your own, or have you seen such, nestling fearless and trustful at their parents knee! Your child believes in you, in something more than the fact of your existence. It lives in your love. It trusts your care. Faith is a belief that leads to the committal of the whole being to the hands of One who is our Father, our Helper, our Saviour; and as we grow up into strength, the highest of all motive impulse, at first it may be fear or expectation of good that induces obedience, but no long time can pass, if the relation be truly sustained, before love is the impulse of every action; and because your child loves you it delights to do your will. As such is the truth which appears in the earliest years of children, can it be a mistake to suppose that God intended the truth to be learned from such illustration of His word?
2. Does there not come to us in this self-same way, too, a hint of the folly and wrong of distractive anxiety? What good could the child do by puzzling its little brain with such questions as belong necessarily to the chiefs of the family? What slight would be cast upon the parents love if the child should becloud its life and be sad because no way out of supposed difficulties presented itself! Would you not say or think, my child, I stand higher and see farther; what is an inscrutable problem to you is none to me; my strength removes the hindrance, my wisdom solves the riddle?
3. And this leads us to another thought: that those things which seem to us all-important, upon which our whole interest is often apt to centre, to which, indeed, we look as to the source of our happiness in life, may be the merest trifles after all. What a small matter changes the childs light to darkness! In what an instant, by what a trivial cause, is laughing changed to crying, or the reverse! You say the child will grow, that now it speaks, thinks, acts as a child, but when it becomes a man it will put away childish things. God expects the same thing of us, and we well may ask ourselves, Am I growing into a higher life, and is it manifest by my interest in things of superior moment? Spiritually, have we come to see what is the noblest aim that may be set before us? Having learned the principles of the Gospel of Christ, are we going on to perfection, coming closer up to our Father in likeness, reflecting proof of our sonship, ready to follow everywhere He leads, and to be quite sure that as we would give our child all that is good, and not willingly or needlessly cause one pang of pain, so in much intenser and tenderer love does our Heavenly Father deal with us?
4. The last thought is the influence of kindliness and refreshing which is shed from the life of children. Their presence in the home makes the life less artificial, more true; and such may be their influence in the Church. We hold out the hand of encouragement for them to confess the name of the Saviour whom they may love. Let first impulses toward Christ, instinctive they will be, be nurtured. See to it that none be repressed, none discouraged. (D. J. Hamer.)
Childlike, not childish
Jeremiah learnt to bear testimony without flinching before kings, ay, and, in the name of the Lord, against kings; to be willing to undergo stripes and imprisonment; and to be sawn asunder for his grand defence of the Faith of God. But it was terribly difficult to him, in the beginning of his prophetic ministry, to take even the first steps on that narrow and painful way. The Word of the Lord comes to him, and tells him that from his birth he has been divinely ordained a prophet unto the nations. Then said I (it is an autobiography), Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, etc. Then the fear of men passed away from the prophet; and he girded up his loins, and arose, and spake unto them all that God commanded him. Now, what strikes us in this is, first, its thorough naturalness; and next, its awakening, encouraging call to each of us. It was so natural in Jeremiah to shrink from the awful ordeal of facing nations and kings. It came to him as such an absolutely new call. Well might he say, I am a mere child: I cannot attempt this. Poor human nature could scarcely have said otherwise. Only the grace of God would empower for such a duty: and that the grace of God was ready for him was proved, alike by the original call and by the rebuke and the encouragement which followed, by the zeal which he was enabled to show, in the face of the greatest possible difficulties, and by the accomplishment, both for good and for evil, of the predictions which God spake by him. And the call and the reproof and the reassuring words, are applicable also, in great measure, to each of us. Each one among us is bound to speak the truth among the brethren, boldly to rebuke vice, and, if necessary, patiently to stiffer for the truths sake. And yet, when we come to real, everyday life, how constantly we fail herein! How often the strong man excuses himself for being weak! how often the soldier, bravo to the death in meeting the enemy, has not courage enough to reprove or admonish a friend! how often the minister of Christ, holds his hand, instead of standing up for his Master! Surely, this backwardness in the Lords work, this miserable fear of men, this distrust of the Divine power committed to us, is found more or less in every class among us. And what is the real name for this? It is our childishness. How different is this from the child-like temper! The greatest and bravest and wisest of men have something of the child in them--the childs simplicity, and truthfulness, and implicit obedience, and regard for authority. Wellington had all this eminently; but he was never childish, he had no false fears, he never sold the truth to serve the hour. All who are really great share this character, this holy boldness this valour for the truth upon the earth, this which is described in the picture of the Christians armour as the preparedness of the Gospel--the readiness to go at once on the blessed messages of God.
1. Realise the needs of men around you. They are very great. They demand all your energies, all your courageous charity, all possible firmness and decision.
2. Think of the danger of delay, the immense value of present opportunities. Have you never noticed, that the occasion for speaking to a soul to which we feel peculiarly impelled is at times the very last? How bitter must be our regret, if we let such an occasion slip, and allow one for whom Christ died actually to perish!
3. If you hesitate, if the childishness of your nature still wrestles with the mighty angel of Gods grace, remember that which should constrain us the most to the fearless deeds of Christian faith--the contemplation of Christ crucified, and of the exceeding great love wherewith He loved us, enduring the contradiction of sinners and the shame and agony of death. Take the first step, the first brave, loving step along that way, and He will hold you by the hand, and go with you into the very midst of the battle, into the heat of the day; and you shall thank Him, ere the sun goes down, for enabling you, though you seemed to yourself but a child, to speak and to fight for Him. (G. E. Jeli, M. A.)
Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee.--
A portrait of the true servant of God
I. He is called to a great work. He is a Divine messenger.
1. To go forth on an errand from God.
2. To go only where God sends him.
3. To speak only what God communicates. Not to speak his own speculations, on the theology of others, but the Word of God.
II. He is conscious of self-insufficiency.
1. The characteristic of all true servants. Moses, Isaiah, Paul.
2. A qualification of all true servants. When I am weak, then am I strong.
III. He is strengthened by the Divine (verse 8). A man who has God within need never be afraid. (Homilist.)
Jeremiah a servant
I. Divine commission.
II. Divine authority.
III. Divine presence.
IV. Divine deliverance.
V. Divine power.
VI. Divine message.
VII. Divine result. (G. Inglis.)
The Gospel minister encouraged and instructed
1. An objection overruled.
2. Work and duty prescribed. To bear Gods message to men.
(1) To whom? To all to whom the Lord should send him. He was not to choose for himself. Must obey the call of God, and do his duty, though neglected, hated, and persecuted for his faithfulness.
(2) The matter of the message. Not to speak at random whatever came uppermost, or what might be most easy to himself or agreeable to his hearers but only what the Lord commanded.
3. How, or in what manner, Gods word was to be delivered.
(1) Faithfully and fully.
(2) Plainly and boldly.
I. The office of the ministry.
1. It is an ordinance of Divine appointment to be continued in all ages to the end of time. Accordingly, they who slight and undervalue it, or despise those who are employed in it, reject their message, and disregard their salutary admonitions, reproofs, and instructions, greatly dishonour God, and pour contempt upon His authority.
2. It hath pleased God to employ weak and sinful men to dispense His word, and bear His message to sinners and saints.
3. None must intrude themselves into the office of the ministry, or presume to exercise it without a lawful call. Those who run unsent, who take upon them the office of the ministry when they are not called to that sacred function, in such a manner as God hath prescribed in His word, have no reason to expect assistance and success in their work.
4. Those whom God calls to the exercise of the ministerial office, He doth in some measure qualify for discharging the several parts of it.
5. The work of the ministry is very important and difficult work. The honour of God, and the salvation of souls, are nearly concerned in it.
6. Those whom God calls to exercise the office of the ministry have ordinarily a humbling sense of their own weakness, and insufficiency for the work they are called to.
7. Ministers of the Gospel, in performing the duties of their function, do not act in their own name, but in the name, and by the authority of their Divine master the Lord Jesus Christ.
8. Whatever opposition, or difficulties, the servants of Christ may meet with in the exercise of their ministry, they have sufficient encouragement to persevere in it.
II. Some of the difficulties and discouragements which they who are called to exercise that sacred function may have to struggle with.
1. Their fears and discouragements are sometimes occasioned by a serious consideration of the nature of the work they are called to engage in.
2. By a sense of their own weakness and insufficiency for discharging the duties of the sacred function.
3. When they consider the opposition they are likely to meet with in the exercise of their office.
(1) From the world.
(2) From lukewarm professors.
4. The cold reception that is usually given to the messages which the servants of the Lord deliver in His name, is sometimes a cause of discouragement.
5. The low and afflicted state of the Church is apt to discourage those who are about to enter upon public work in her.
III. Their duty and the work they are called to.
1. They must not choose their own let. Have they a call in providence to deliver Gods message to those who are more likely to persecute them, than to submit to their instructions or pay any due regard to what they declare in the name of the Lord, they must not dispute, but readily obey the orders given them. Nor have they reason to fear any dangers they may be exposed to, through the power and malice of their enemies; for He in whose service they are employed is able to defend them, and frustrate all the designs of their enemies against them. His promise is their protection.
2. They must deliver nothing in His name but what He commands, or what is agreeable to His revealed will. In order to this, the teaching and renewed illumination of the Holy Spirit is necessary; but they need no additional, objective revelation.
3. The instructions given to the prophet, and every other minister of the Word, in the text imply, that those who are called to preach the Gospel should, as there may be opportunity, teach all truths revealed in the Word of God, and urge the performance of all duties required in it.
4. They should urge the diligent observance of all Divine ordinances, as a necessary duty. They must not think it is enough, if persons have the low of God in their hearts, and some experience of a work of grace in their souls, though they neglect the administration of the word and sacraments, or other outward ordinances, and treat with contempt any endeavours to maintain their purity; because, as some are pleased to speak, they are only outward things, and the observance of them hath not a necessary connection with vital piety, and the exercise of grace in the heart.
5. They must urge obedience to all the precepts of the moral law.
6. They should endeavour to accommodate their doctrine to the various conditions of their hearers.
Conclusion:
1. When those who are about to enter upon public work in the Church have a humbling sense of their own insufficiency, it is a presage of future usefulness.
2. The work of the ministry is not to be engaged in rashly. Count the cost.
3. Such as bear the character of office bearers in the Church, who take upon them to make laws for the members of the Church, contrary to those which the glorious Head of the Church hath enacted, or different from them; or who enjoin the observation of religious rites, devised by men without any warrant from the Word of God, not only transgress the limits of their commission, but are chargeable with great presumption. They teach what God never commanded, and exercise a power which no creature can claim, without invading the prerogative of the supreme Lawgiver.
4. Those who are called to bear Gods message to the children of men ought to be well acquainted with His written word contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
5. Ministers of the word must have no partial respect to the persons of men.
6. In order to a suitable discharge of ministerial duties, much fortitude and resolution is necessary.
7. Those ministers of the Gospel who, sensible of their own weakness, are enabled humbly to depend upon the power and grace of God for protection, and support in their work, are most likely to discharge the duties of their office with acceptance and success.
8. They must take care that they do not run unsent, or thrust themselves into the office of the ministry without a lawful call, the call of God and the call of the Church.
9. They are to deliver their message authoritatively, as not acting in their own name, but in the name of God. If ministers, in preaching the Word, act as the messengers of the Lord of hosts, the people to whom they preach ought to receive their message with reverence and submission. If they reject it, or slight it, they put an affront upon Him who sent them. They despise not man but God. (D. Wilson.)
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.--
A reason for bravery
Whenever fear comes in and makes us falter, we are in danger of falling into sin. Conceit is to be dreaded, but so is cowardice. Our great Captain should be served by brave soldiers. What a reason for bravery is here. God is with those who are with Him. God will never be away when the hour of struggle comes. Do they threaten you? Who are you that you should be afraid of a man that shall die? Can you not trust Him? Do they pour ridicule upon you? Will this break your bones or your heart? Bear it for Christs sake, and even rejoice because of it. God is with the true, the just, the holy, to deliver them; and He will deliver you. Remember how Daniel came out of the lions den, and the three holy children out of the furnace. Yours is not so desperate a case as theirs; but if it were, the Lord would bear you through, and make you more than a conqueror. Fear to fear. Be afraid to be afraid. Your worst enemy is within your own bosom. Get to your knees and cry for help, and then rise up saying, I will trust, and not be afraid. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Valiant manhood
Just as much as a man drives out fear, marches boldly on, says his say, does his act, by so much is he a valiant man. In the old Norse ballads it was indispensable to be brave. Odin cast out of his heaven, the Valhalla, all who were tainted with cowardice; and over a battlefield the priests taught, went the Valkyries, or choosers of the slain, heavenly messengers who took care only to admit the valiant. The kings when about to die, lay down in a ship with its sails set, drifted out into the ocean, charged with fire too in the hold, so that the king might blaze in his tomb and be delivered to the sky. The valiant is the really valuable man.
Courage is ministers
The truest way not to be afraid of the worst part of a man is to value and try to serve his better part. The patriot who really appreciates the valuable principles of his nations life is he who most intrepidly rebukes the nations faults. And Christ was all the more independent of mens whims because of His profound love for them and complete consecration to their needs. There come three stages in this matter: the first, a flippant superiority which despises the people and thinks of them as only made to take what the preacher chooses to give to them, and to minister to his support; the second, a servile sycophancy which watches all their fancies, and tries to blow whichever way their vane points; and the third, a deep respect which cares too earnestly for what the people are capable of being to let them anywhere fall short of it without a strong remonstrance. You have seen all three in the way in which parents treat their children. I could show you each of the three today in the relation of different preachers to their parishes. Believe me, the last is the only true independence, the only one that it is worth while to seek, or indeed that a man has any right to seek. An actor may encourage himself by despising or forgetting his audience, but a preacher must go elsewhere for courage. The more you prize the spiritual nature of your people, the more able you will be to oppose their whims. These must be the fountain of your independence. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)
Danger regarded from the high ground of faith
Fire broke out on a prairie not far from the dwelling of a settler. His son, seeing flames advancing, cried out they would all be burned, but the father took his boy to some high ground, and showed him that all round their dwelling was a wide clearing, too broad for the flames to overleap, and so they were safe. How frequently we worry ourselves because of some threatening danger, whereas, if we took higher ground and looked with the eye of faith, we should see that God has arranged a defence, that it may not hurt us. (The Signal.)
See, I have this day set thee over the nations.--
Prophets commission
1. He is made a (paqid), a prefect or superintendent of the nations of the world. A Hebrew term corresponding to bishop of the Christian Church.
2. He has widest scope for the exercise of his powers: he is invested with authority over the destinies of all peoples. If it be asked in what sense it could be truly said that the ruin and renascence of nations was subject to the supervision of the prophets, the answer is obvious. The Word they were authorised to declare was the Word of God, that fulfils itself with all the necessity of a law of nature (Isa_55:10-11).
3. What strength, what staying power may the Christian preacher find in dwelling upon this fact, that Gods Word is fulfilling itself, though that Word may be disowned, and the efforts of the preacher may be thwarted. (C. J. Ball, M. A.)
Charge to pastors: their work defined
I. Inquire what are the evils against which you must contend and the methods you are to adopt in this opposition.
1. By your public ministry root out errors in doctrine.
2. By leading the Church, in the exercise of faithful discipline, root out evil-doers.
3. By rendering your pastoral visits subservient to the purposes of conviction and correction.
II. What is that good you are to encourage?
1. As a builder--
(1) Be sure you lay a right foundation.
(2) See that your materials be fitly framed together. Implying that--
(a) They be hewed and squared.
(b) They be formed by the same rule.
(c) Every one be put in the situation for which he is formed.
(3) So frame the whole as that it may be a fit habitation for God.
2. As a planter.
(1) Sow wholly a right seed.
(2) Give attention to the plants as you see them grow.
(3) Cultivate them by every means.
(4) Pray that they may be watered by the Holy Spirit. (Andrew Fuller.)
The work of Jeremiah, and that of St. Paul
I. Contrast. Jeremiah, the prophet of disaster and despondency, could look back to a holy and happy past--the son of the faithful priest Hilkiah, the friend of the godly king Josiah; he fell upon evil and apostate times. Saul had to turn his back upon his old life--count all things but loss that had been gain to him--thus he was ever looking forward, reaching onward--the apostle of faith and hope.
II. Parallel.
1. Each is elected by God, and therefore trained by his circumstances for his work. The call of Jeremiah, the conversion of Saul, was to each a revelation of a God that had formed him from the womb for his work (cp. Gal_1:15-16 with Jer_1:5).
2. The two-fold nature of that work--destructive and constructive. To root out, pull down, destroy; yet to plant and to build. We may almost say this is the work of all whom God has called to labour for Him. This was the type of Christs work. His coming laid an axe to the root of the tree (Mat_3:10, see also 15:13). Yet was He the Sower. It may be the teacher, like Jeremiah, does not live to see his work grow--yet who can doubt the effect of Jeremiah upon those who returned purified and repentant from Babylon? The two must go together. Root up error and plant truth. Pull down the strongholds of sin, and build up the temple of Christian holiness. (John Ellerton, M. A.)
To throw down, to build, and plant.--
Destruction and construction conjoined
To root up, and to pull down. What a mercy of God to the Church was it that the same day that Pelagius, that arch-heretic, was born in Britain, Augustine the Great, confuter of that heretic, should be born in Africa--providence so disposing that the poison and the antidote should come into the world together. (John Trapp.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 (See Scofield "Num 17:8")
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(See Scofield "Num 17:8")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v4 The Call and Commission of the Prophet
The Call and Commission of the Prophet
v. 4. Then, namely, at the time designated in the introduction, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
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v. 5. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, before ever his conception had taken place, the Lord had destined him to be His prophet; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, separating and consecrating him, setting him apart for the sacred office, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations, not only to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, but to other nations as well. Jeremiah’s choice of his calling was not the result of meditation and reflection, of a false enthusiasm and ecstasy, but of a supernatural revelation, of a selection on the part of God, which was in no way influenced by any ability or disposition on the prophet’s part.
v. 6. Then said I, with some realization of the difficulty and danger of the divine commission. Ah! Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child, a young man below the age at which the Israelites took an active part in public work. The sensitive nature of Jeremiah shrank back from a position which would expose him to public criticism. The work of the ministry is a good work, 1Ti 3:1, but it is attended by difficulties which the average person appreciates only in rare instances. Well may a timid person shrink back from its ordeal.
v. 7. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, in an effort to make his youth and inexperience an excuse for refusing to follow the Lord’s call; for thou shall go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. It was not a matter to be argued, but the Lord, by a categorical declaration of His will, commissioned Jeremiah. No matter to which nations and princes the Lord would bid him go, he was cheerfully to declare God’s counsel and will, regardless of any show of hostility.
v. 8. Be not afraid of their faces, in an excess of awe which would interfere with the effectiveness of his message; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. He thus imparted the necessary courage to His servant to enable him to stand before the mighty of the world. Cf Mat 10:16-22.
v. 9. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, this, of course, being a symbolical act experienced by Jeremiah in a vision, its meaning being that God Himself would give His servant the right utterance, would inspire him to proclaim His message in its full truth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. The Lord made the individuality of Jeremiah the instrument of His eternal wisdom in making His will known to men.
v. 10. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, the naturally timid and fearful prophet being appointed to their oversight, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, to extirpate, exterminate, and eliminate, and to throw down, to pronounce the divine judgment upon His enemies, to build and to plant, by announcing God’s mercy and grace to all who heeded His call. The conditions in Judah were such at that time as to provoke threatenings and rebukes on the part of the Lord rather than promises of grace and mercy.
v. 11. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? Jehovah wanted to give His prophet some signs confirming his call. And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree, a shoot or branch of the tree which was the first to awaken to life after the winter’s sleep and was therefore a symbol of wakefulness.
v. 12. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen; for I will hasten My word to perform it, literally, "wakeful (or intent) shall I, on My part, be with regard to My words to do them," the allusion to the wakeful tree thus being justified.
v. 13. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? a second vision being vouchsafed the prophet. And I said, I see a seething pot, one of the large kettles used to prepare vegetables for many guests; and the face thereof is toward the north, so that its contents threaten to be emptied from that side.
v. 14. Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth, out of a great and wide opening, upon all the inhabitants of the land. A boiling kettle is an Oriental symbol of a raging war, and since Babylon was regarded by the people of Judah as situated toward the north, it was clear that the Lord prophesied the Babylonian invasion.
v. 15. For, lo, I will call all the families, the tribes or clans, of the kingdoms of the North, saith the Lord, all the great chieftains of the Chaldeans uniting in an effort to overthrow Judah; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, the conquering princes establishing their tribunals of justice in the place set aside for this purpose of old, thereby taking over the administration of the land, and against all the walls thereof round about and against all the cities of Judah, thereby laying siege to all the fortified cities of the land in a successful campaign.
v. 16. And I will utter My judgments against them, the wicked inhabitants of the land, touching all their wickedness, pronouncing their condemnation and doom, who have forsaken Me and have burned incense unto other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. Thus the Lord, by His stern judgments and punishments, would visit His wrath upon the apostate Jews for their idolatry, the sin which, like the unbelief of today, is the essence and summary of disobedience. The symbols having been explained, the Lord now adds an admonition to Jeremiah to fulfill the duties of his office with fearless zeal.
v. 17. Thou, therefore, gird up thy loins, like a soldier or a man on a journey, to remove every hindrance in traveling, and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee, the fact of his being the Lord’s messenger and representative once more being stressed; be not dismayed at their faces, shrinking back before them, lest I confound thee before them, so that he would be rejected, crushed, and overcome before them.
v. 18. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defensed city, one fortified most strongly, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, enduing him with strength which no power of the enemies would be able to overcome, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land, all of whom would unite to oppose his message and warning.
v. 19. And they shall fight against thee, a fact of which Jeremiah was to be aware from the outset, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee, this assurance serving as the source of the prophet’s strength in the coming trials. It has happened more than once in the history of the Church that practically a single man was obliged to stand against the enmity of the mighty ones of the earth and of the masses of people as well, but that he maintained his righteous cause in the power of the Lord.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying
This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. AT: "Yahweh gave me a message. He said" or "Yahweh spoke this message to me" (See: Idiom)
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formed you
"shaped you"
before you came out from the womb
This can also be expressed without referring to the womb. AT: "before you were born"
Ah, Lord Yahweh
Here "Ah" shows Jeremiah's fear of doing what God has said.
I do not know how to speak
Jeremiah may have been exaggerating to show his fear of speaking in public. AT: "I do not know how to speak in public" or "I do not know how to make announcements to people" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
translationWords
womb
set apart
prophet
nation
Lord Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 18, 19 1:4-5 In his first message from the Lord, Jeremiah…
1:4-5 In his first message from the Lord, Jeremiah learned three important truths about God: his knowledge of all things, including individuals; his ability to choose individuals for specific tasks even before they come into existence; and his willingness to extend his authority to the people he calls. • God set Jeremiah apart to perform a special task and granted him the official status of a prophet when he appointed Jeremiah to that task. • Jeremiah’s ministry extended to the nations. Although he traveled away from the kingdom of Judah only three times (see 13:4-7; 43:7-8), his written materials have been read worldwide.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.