reared its stately pile, the political and religious centre of the State, the basis and bond of the national unity. When the Temple fell, the national life was smitten, the national hope extinguished. The Jews fought with unexampled desperation, and endured incredible sufferings (ver. 3, 18-21) in defence of the holy city; and to the last clung with dogged pertinacity to the very ruins of the Temple (ver. 18). Other great cities have fallen; but their loss has not been mourned with a pathos and a grief like that which is continued by the wailing Israelites to this day. The significance of such a downfall dilates itself through the centuries, and stands out as a warning-beacon to the great cities of modern times. II. Was a Divinely-declared punishment for persistent disobedience. The decline and fall of great cities have been traced to the inevitable operation of natural and universal forces. Gibbon attributes the ruin of Rome to the injuries of time and nature, the hostile attacks of the barbarians and Christians, the use and abuse of the materials, and the domestic quarrels of the Romans; and thus be seeks to eliminate the operation of a Divine retributive Providence. But the movements of the Divine Hand cannot be eliminated from the fall of Jerusalem, though we may trace the action of similar causes to those which have wrecked the fortunes of other great cities. While Israel remained true to Jehovah, the city was invincible and impregnable; and it was only after unparalleled obstinacy in sin that Jerusalem was abandoned to its fate (Amos iii. 2; Lev. xxvi. ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-17; Jer. xxv. 8, 9). This mournful truth is admitted by the Jews with sighs and tears. III. Was a solemn and impressive proof to all ages of the Divine fidelity and justice. The promises and threatenings of the Divine Word have been faithfully fulfilled, and the Divine justice fully vindicated. "In the history of the Jewish State this great truth is clearly and powerfully impressed, that, as "righteousness exalteth a nation, so sin is the reproach of any people "(Prov. xiv. 34)—a lesson which, but for the immediate and extraordinary Providence displayed in this awful dispensation, could never have been so forcibly inculcated, or so clearly understood "—(Graves). The Jews are living witnesses to-day of the truth and faithfulness of God Amazing race! deprived of land and laws, A general language, and a public cause; With a religion none can now obey, With a reproach that none can take away; A people still, whose common ties are gone; Who, mixed with every race, are lost in none.--Crabbe. LESSONS-1. A city where piety predominates is a great power for God. 2. The most strongly-fortified city may become a tomb in which its wicked inmates are interred. 3. The holiest and most renowned city is degraded and ruined by sin. have foreseen and prevented this evil -as prevision is the best means of prevention-had he taken warning by what was foretold (Jer. xxxii. 4; xxxiv. 3; Ezek. xii. 13). The Dutchmen have a proverb: When God intends to destroy a man, He first puts out his eyes.-Trapp. Verses 8-17. Three other like events of parallel magnitude have been witnessed: the fall of Babylon, as the close of the primeval monarchies of the ancient world; the fall of Rome, as the close of the classical world; and, in a fainter degree, the fall of Constantinople, as the close of the first Christianized empire. But, in the case of Jerusalem, both its first and second destruction have the peculiar interest of involving the dissolution of a religious dispensation, combined with the agony of an expiring nation, such as no other people or city has witnessed, such as no other people have survived, and, by surviving, carried on the living recollection, first of one, then of the other, for centuries after the first shock was Stanley. over. finished, in remembrance that Jerusalem and the Temple lie desolate. At least they leave about a yard square of the house unplastered, on which they write in great letters: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, &c. ;" or else the words, "The memory of the desolation."-Trapp. Verses 13-17. The changing aspects of religious work. 1. That religious work is carried on with a great variety of instrumentalities (verses 14, 15). 2. That the value of religious work depends on the strength and symmetry of moral character (verses 13, 16, 17). 3. That there are Chaldean enemies ever ready to destroy character and depreciate religious work (verse 13). Verses 18-21. Official responsibility. 1. Demands that the post of duty should be the more tenaciously to the first and fiercest attacks of the held in time of danger. 2. Exposes enemy. 3. Involves great suffering, and even death itself (verse 21), in trying times. 4. Often makes one long for the peace and security of the poor and obscure (verse 12). Verse 18. These likely were fired out of those secret corners of the temple where they lay hid. Our chroniclers tell us that William the Conqueror, firing the city Mayence in France, consumed a church there, in the walls whereof were enclosed an anchoret, who might but would not escape, holding it a breach of his reli Verse 9. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the wonder of all times, the paragon of nations, the glory of the earth, the favourite of heaven, how art thou now become heaps of ashes, hills of rubbish, a spectacle of desolation, a monument of ruin! If later, yet no less deep hast thou now pledged that bitter cup of God's vengeance to thy sister Samaria! Four hundred and thirty-gious vow to forsake his cell in that six years had that temple stood, and beautified the earth, and honoured heaven; now, it is turned into rude heaps. There is no prescription to be pleaded for the favour of the Almighty: only that temple not made with hands is eternal in the heavens. Thither he graciously brings us, for the sake of the glorious High Priest, that hath once for all entered into that holy of holies.-Bp. Hail. Those of the captivity bewailed the destruction of Jerusalem by an annual fast (Zech. vii.; Ps. cxxxvii.) The Jews at this day, when they build a house, leave one part of it un distress. At the last destruction of Jerusalem, certain Jews who had taken sanctuary in the Temple came the emperor Titus to give them quarter forth when it was on fire, and besought for their lives; but he refused so to do, giving this for a reason, which, indeed, was no reason-Ye deserve not to live, who will not die with the downfall of your Temple.-Trapp. Verse 21. "So Judah was carried away out of their land." The curse and the blessing of the exile. I. The curse consisted in this, that the Lord removed the people from before his face (chap. xxiii. 27; xxiv. 3, 20); that is, He removed them from the land of promise, in which he gave them his gracious blessings, and placed them in a distant country, where nothing was known of the true and living God. This curse, which had long been threatened (Levit. xxvi. 33; Deut. iv. 27; xxviii. 26; Dan. ix. 11) is a proof of the truth of the words, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, &c." (Gal. vi. 7). God still does spiritually to individuals and to nations what he did to Judah-He removes them from before His face; He removes from them His word and His means of grace, if they do not repent, and leaves them to live in darkness, without Him. II. The curse became a blessing for this people. It humiliated itself and repented. It experienced that there was no greater curse than to live far from its gracious God, and it longed for the land of promise. When it had lost its earthly kingdom and its earthly king, it learned to look for the kingdom of heaven, and for that One in whom all God's promises to man are fulfilled. The exile became a blessing for the whole world, for the Jewish nation was thereby made fit to fulfil its destiny in the redemptive plan of God. It was "a great opportunity, by which the name and glory of Jehovah were spread abroad, as a preparation for the preaching of the gospel of Christ" (Starke). We all lay under the curse of the law, but Christ has redeemed us (Gal. iii. 13, 14).-Lange. The mercy, the justice, and the wisdom of God are all equally displayed in this event. His mercy appears in bringing this judgment so gradually-from less to greater, during the space of twenty-two years-so that most ample warning was given, and abundant opportunity of repentance was afforded. That it was a most just punishment for their sins no one ever questioned, and the Jews themselves have constantly admitted it, even with tears. It was, in particular, a most righteous punishment of their idolatry, as Moses had long agɔ foretold in Lev. xxvi., where the suc cession of the Divine judgments is most remarkably traced out. But the wisdom of God is also seen here. He did not mean utterly to cast off His people, and he therefore brought them under this great affliction, because, as had too plainly appeared, nothing less would suffice to purify them, and turn their hearts from the love of idols. It is certain that after this captivity— and under occasional inducements, as strong as any to which they had ever been subjected in former times-there was never among them the least tendency to idolatry, but the most intense and vehement abhorrence of it, as the true cause of all their ancient miseries -so deep and salutary was the impression made upon them by this great affliction, and so effectual the cure.-Kitto. While the work of destruction was carried on by the Chaldean army, it was viewed with malignant exultation by the nations which had so long chafed beneath the yoke of their kinsman Israel. The Ammonites cried "Aha!" against the sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity. Moab and Seir said, "Behold the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen." The more active enmity, which was but natural in the Philistines, who "took vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred," was emulated by Edom, the nearest kinsman and bitterest rival of his brother Israel. All these nations soon fell victims to the like fate, which the prophets again and again denounce upon them.-Dr. Smith's Student's Scrip. History. Ver. 22-26. The last vestige of government in Judah. 1. Might have been an important rallying point for the scattered remnant. 2. Was destroyed by the blind infatuation of envy. 3. When destroyed, completed the desolation of the country. Verse 25. We see by the example of Israel, how envy and jealousy, pride in high descent, and destiny, and love of power, lead to the most utter ruin. Passion makes men fools. Ishmael could not hope with his small company to resist the Chaldean power. -Lange. Self-love and envy teach men to turn the glass to see themselves bigger and others lesser than they are. An envious spirit. 1. Cannot brook a superior. 2. Is disquieted with ambitious and wicked designs. 3. Does not hesitate to commit the worst crimes to attain its ends. 4. Loses the prize at which it clutches. (Jer. xli. 15). Verse 26. When the godless attempt to flee from a calamity they plunge themselves into it (Isa. xxiv. 17).Starke. Jeremiah lived on in the land to see the misery and anarchy which followed the murder of Gedaliah; to tell the Jews who were flying to Egypt that if they stayed in the land they would be safe, that in Egypt they would meet with destruction-for that Egypt had been given up to the king of Babylon-finally to sing the future ruin of Babylon itself; the confusion and breaking in pieces of her idols, the deliverance of those in whose destruction and desolation she had rejoiced.-Maurice. Ver. 27-30. The release and preferment of Jehoiachin suggestive of the future restoration of his exiled people. 1. Their captivity, like his, might be painful and prolonged. 2. As in his case, a prince might arise who would have compassion on their sufferings. 3. As in his experience, they might be restored to freedom and comparative prosperity. 4. The darkest distress is not without some ray of hope. The new king, Evil Merodach, having no such personal feeling against Jehoiachin as had swayed his father, strove to atone for the long sufferings of the unfortunate exile by setting him free, and entertaining him thenceforward at the royal table in suitable splendour. Legend has brightened the story of his last days, describing him as living on the Euphrates, in a sumptuous house, surrounded by a spacious paradise, and married to the fairest woman of his day, the chaste Susannah, the companion of the king of Babylon, and the chief personage of and high judge among the captives. It is added, moreover, that amidst all, he was still mindful of his native land, listening, with his brethren, to Baruch as he read the prophecies before them, and amidst weeping, fasting, and prayer, sending off help to the remnant of his people in Jerusalem. But this touching picture is only a creation of national pride, to adorn with a fictitious prosperity the closing years of the last direct heir to the Jewish crown.- Geikie. Verse 29. The like whereto befel hour Joseph, whose fetters one changed into a chain of gold, his rags into robes, his stocks into a chariot, his goal into a palace. So God turned again the captivity of Job, as the streams in the South.-Trapp. Verse 30. So is, or might be, every true believer's portion; who should therefore "eat his bread with and drink his wine with joy, cheerfulness all the days of his life," which are not to be numbered by the hours, but measured by spiritual mirth; as monies are not by tale, but by value.-Ibid. Great principles illustrated in the books of Kings. I. That the Divine purpose in raising up the Jewish nation as a means of conveying greater blessing to the world is steadily kept in view. II. That the natim is prospered and strengthened in proportion to its fidelity to the Divine purpose. III. That the ambition to form foreign alliances was contrary to the fundamental law of the theocracy, and led to the introduction of the idolatry which ultimately wrought the nation's ruin. IV. That a nation, as an individual, cannot be purged of great evils without great suffering. V. That God is slow to punish, and delays the final blow till all possible means of reclamation are exhausted. VI. That great emergencies bring to the front the noblest and most highly gifted talent of the nation. VII. That the unfaithfulness and vice of the Jewish people did not prevent the carrying out of the Divine purpose. to VIII. That true religion can alone give greatness and permanence national life. |