hoiakim, whose fate, with that of his queen, is in like manner noticed together in ch. xxii. 18. DISCOURSE 2. was, in all probability, delivered shortly after the preceding. It predicts a severe famine, to punish the Jews for their sins, but which does not bring them to repentance (xiv. 1-22.) ; and announces God's peremptory decree to destroy Judah, unless they should speedily repent. (xv. 1-9.) The prophet, complaining that he is become an object of hatred by reason of his office, receives a promise of divine protection. (10-21.) DISCOURSE 3. foretels the utter ruin of the Jews, in the type of the prophet being forbidden to marry and to feast (xvi. 1—13.); and immediately afterwards announces their future restoration (14, 15.), as well as the conversion of the Gentiles (16-21.); accompanied with a severe reproof of the Jews for their too great reliance on human aid. (xvii. 1—18.) DISCOURSE 4. is a distinct prophecy concerning the strict observance of the sabbath-day (xvii. 19-27.), which Jeremiah was commanded to proclaim aloud in all the gates of Jerusalem, as a matter that concerned the conduct of each individual, and the general happiness of the whole nation. DISCOURSE 5. shows, under the type of a potter, God's absolute authority over nations and kingdoms, to alter and regulate their condition at his own discretion. (xviii. 1-10.) The prophet is then directed to exhort the Jews to avert their impending dangers by repentance and reformation, and, on their refusal, to predict their destruction. (11-17.) The Jews conspiring against him, Jeremiah implores judgment against them. (18-23.) DISCOURSE 6. Under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, is foretold the desolation of the Jews for their sins (xix.): and a severe judgment is denounced against Pashur for apprehending and punishing Jeremiah (xx. 1-6.), who complains of the persecutions he met with. (7-18.) DISCOURSE 7. is supposed to have been delivered immediately after the preceding, and in the precincts of the temple, whence the prophet is commanded to "go down to the house of the king of Judah." It commences with an address to the king, his servants, and people, recommending an inviolable adherence to right and justice as the only means of establishing the throne, and preventing the ruin of both prince and people. (xxii. 1-9.) The captivity of Shallum is declared to be irreversible. (10-12.) Jehoiakim is severely reproved for his tyrannical expressions. (13-19.) His family is threatened with a continuance of similar calamities; the fall and captivity of his son Jeconiah are explicitly set forth, together with the perpetual exclusion of his posterity from the throne. (20-30.) The prophecy concludes with consolatory promises of future blessings, of the return of the people from captivity, and of happier times under better governors; of the glorious establishment of Messiah's kingdom; and of the subsequent final restoration of all the dispersed Israelites to their own land. (xxiii. 1—8.) DISCOURSE 8. denounces the divine judgments against false prophets, and mockers of true prophets. (xxiii. 9-40.) DISCOURSE 9. predicts that the Babylonian captivity shall confue seventy years (xxv. 1-11.), at the expiration of which Babylon was to be destroyed (12-14.): and the destruction of Judah and several other countries (including Babylon herself, here called Sheshach) is prefigured by the prophet's drinking a cup of wine. (15-38.) DISCOURSE 10. Jeremiah being directed to foretel the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, without a speedy repentance and reformation (xxvi. 1-6.), is apprehended and accused before the council, but is acquitted, his advocate urging the precedent of Micah in the reign of Hezekiah. (7-19.) The sacred writer then observes, in his own person, that, notwithstanding the precedent of Micah, there had been a later precedent in the present reign, which might have operated very unfavourably to the cause of Jeremiah, but for the powerful influence and authority exercised in his behalf by Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. (20--24.) DISCOURSE 11. The Jews' disobedience to God is condemned by comparison with the obedience of the Rechabites to the commands of Jonadab their father, who had prescribed to them a certain rule of life. (xxxv.) DISCOURSE 12. By divine appointment Jeremiah causes Baruch to write all his former prophecies in a roll, and to read them to the people on a fast-day. (xxxvi. 1--10.) The princes being informed of it, send for Baruch, who reads the roll before them. (11-15.) Filled with consternation at its contents, they advise Jeremiah and Baruch to hide themselves (16-19.); they acquaint the king, who sends for the roll, and having heard part of its contents, he cuts it to pieces, and burns it. (20-26.) Jeremiah is commanded to write it anew, and to denounce the judgments of God against Jehoiakim. (27-31.) Baruch accordingly writes a new copy with additions (32.); but being greatly alarmed at the threatenings contained in those predictions, and being perhaps afraid of sharing in the persecutions of the prophet, God commissions Jeremiah to assure Baruch that his life should be preserved by a special providence amidst all the calamities denounced against Judah. (xlv.) DISCOURSE 13. contains a series of prophecies against several heathen nations (xlvi. 1.), which are supposed to have been placed towards the close of the book of Jeremiah, as being in some measure unconnected with the others. As, however, in point of time, they were evidently delivered during the reign of Jehoiakim, they may with great propriety be referred to the present section. In this discourse are comprised, (1.) A prophecy of the defeat of the Egyptians, that garrisoned Carchemish, by the Chaldeans (xlvi. 2-12.), and of the entire conquest of that country by Nebuchadnezzar. (13-28.) (2.) Predictions of the subjugation of the land of the Philistines, including Tyre PART III. contains the prophecies delivered in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. DISCOURSE 1. A prediction of the conquest of Elam or Persia by the Chaldæans, delivered in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign. (xlix. 34-39.) The restoration promised to Elam in verse 39. we find fulfilled in Dan. viii. 2. DISCOURSE 2. Under the type of good and bad figs, God represents to Jeremiah the different manner in which he should deal with the people that were already gone into captivity, and with Zedekiah and his subjects who were left behind; — showing favour and kindness to the former in their restoration and re-establishment, but pursuing the latter with unrelenting judgments to utter destruction. (xxiv.) DISCOURSE 3. The Jews at Babylon are warned not to believe such as pretended to foretel their speedy return into their own country (xxix. 1-23.); and judgment is denounced against Shemaiah for writing against Jeremiah to the Jews at Babylon. (24-32.) Dr. Blayney has remarked that, in the Septuagint version, the fifteenth verse of this chapter is read immediately after verse 20. which seems to be its original and proper place. DISCOURSE 4. contains prophecies of the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, but chiefly from their dispersion by the Romans, on their general conversion to Christianity (xxx.); and predicts their happy state after that glorious event shall be accomplished (xxxi. 1-26.), concluding with a fuller prophecy describing the Gospel state, as also the state of the Jews after their conversion. (27-38.) DISCOURSE 5. Zedekiah, in the fourth year of his reign, being solicited by ambassadors from the kings of Edom, Moab, and other neighbouring nations, to join them in a confederacy against the king of Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah is commissioned, under the type of bonds and yokes, to admonish them, especially Zedekiah, quietly to submit to the king of Babylon, and warns them not to credit the suggestions of false prophets (xxvii.); and the death of one of them is announced within a limited time, as a proof to the people that he was not divinely commissioned (xxviii. 1-16.), which accordingly came to pass. (17.) DISCOURSE 6. contains a prophecy concerning the fall of Babylon, intermixed and contrasted with predictions concerning the redemption of Israel and Judah, who were not, like their predecessors, to be finally extirpated, but to survive, and, upon their repentance and conversion, they were to be pardoned and restored. (1. li. 1— 58.) This prophecy against Babylon was delivered in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign, and sent to the Jews there, in order to· be read to them: after which it was to be sunk in the Euphrates, as a type of the perpetual destruction of Babylon.1 DISCOURSE 7. was probably delivered in the ninth year of Zedekiah, previously to the siege of Jerusalem, which commenced in the tenth month of that year. In this prophecy Jeremiah (who had been requested to intercede with God in behalf of his people) declared that God was against them, and that their only resource for safety was to surrender themselves to the Chaldæans (xxi. 1—10.); and the members of the royal house are warned to prevent the effects of God's indignation by doing justice, and not to trust to their 1 The fifty-first chapter of Jeremiah closes with the following sentence far are the words of Jeremiah;" which Dr. Blayney thinks was added by the person (whoever it might be) that collected his prophecies, and digested them in the order in which we now find them in the Hebrew Bibles. This sentence does not occur in the Septuagint version, where indeed it could not be introduced at the end of this chapter, because the chapters are ranged differently in that version; and chapter li. forms only the twenty-eighth of the collection. The disposition of Jeremiah's prophecies is, apparently, so arbitrary, that it is not likely that it was made under the prophet's direction. "Thus strong-hold, which would be of no avail whatever to them when God was bent upon their destruction. (11-14.) DISCOURSE 8. consists of two distinct prophecies. The first, probably delivered towards the close of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, announces to the Jewish monarch the capture and burning of Jerusalem, his own captivity, peaceful death, and honourable interment. (xxxiv. 1-7.) The second prophecy, which was announced some time after, severely reproves and threatens the Jews for their perfidious violation of the covenant they had newly made of obedience to God. (8-22.) DISCOURSE 9. Jeremiah foretels the return of the Chaldæans to the siege of Jerusalem, which they had suspended to pursue the Egyptians, who retreated before them, and that the holy city should be taken by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar. (xxxvii. 1-10.) For this he was put into a dungeon (11—15.), from which he was released, but still kept a prisoner, though the rigour of his confinement was abated. (16—21.) DISCOURSE 10. confirms the promised return of the Jews from captivity, by Jeremiah being commanded to buy a field. (xxxii.) DISCOURSE 11. predicts the restoration of Israel and Judah (xxxiii. 1-9.), and their prosperity in consequence of that event. (10—13.) Thence the prophet makes a transition to the great promise of the Messiah, and the happiness and stability they should enjoy in his times. (14-26.) These predictions, so far as they respect the great body of the Jews, remain yet to be fulfilled. discourse 12. contains the last transaction in which Jeremiah was prophetically concerned before the taking of Jerusalem. It relates the imprisonment of Jeremiah in a deep and miry dungeon, at the instance of the princes of Judah (xxxviii. 1-6.); his deliverance thence (7-13.); and the prophet's advice to Zedekiah, who had consulted him privately, to surrender to the Chaldæans. (14—27.) The capture of the city and king is then related (xxxix. 1-10.), together with the treatment of the prophet by the order of Nebuchadnezzar (11-13.); and the discourse concludes with a prediction of personal safety to Ebedmelech (who had kindly treated the prophet) amidst the ensuing public calamities. (15—18.) PART IV. contains a particular account of what passed in the land of Judah, from the taking of Jerusalem to the retreat of the Jewish people into Egypt, and the prophecies of Jeremiah concerning them while in that country. DISCOURSE 1. Jeremiah has his choice either to go to Babylon, or to remain in Judæa (xl. 1-6.), whither the dispersed Jews repaired to Gedaliah the governor (7-12.); who being treacherously slain (13-16. xli. 1-10.), the Jews left in Judæa intend to go down to Egypt (11-18.), from which course the prophet dissuades them. (xlii.) DISCOURSE 2. The Jews going into Egypt contrary to the divine command (xliii. 1-7.), Jeremiah foretels to them the conquest of that kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar (8-13.); he predicts destruction to all the Jews that willingly went into Egypt (liv. 1-13.) whose obstinate idolatry is related (14-19.), destruction is de nounced against them, and the dethronement of Pharaoh Hophrah king of Egypt is foretold. (20-30.) The CONCLUSION of Jeremiah's prophecy, containing the fiftysecond chapter, was added after his time,1 subsequently to the return from captivity, of which it gives a short account, and forms a proper argument or introduction to the Lamentations of Jeremiah. IV. Although the greater part of Jeremiah's predictions related to his countrymen the Jews, many of whom lived to behold their literal fulfilment, and thus attested his prophetic mission, while several of his predictions concerned other nations (as will be seen from the preceding analysis); yet two or three of his prophecies so clearly announce the Messiah, that it would be a blameable omission, were we to pass them unnoticed. In ch. xxiii. 5, 6. is foretold the mediatorial kingdom of the Messiah, who is called the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. On this passage Dr. Hales has cited the following remark from the antient rabbinical book of Ikkarim, which (he observes) well expresses the reason of the appellation:-"The Scripture calls the name of the MESSIAH JAOH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, to intimate that he will be A MEDIATORIAL GO D, by whose hand we shall obtain justification from THE NAME: wherefore it calls him by the name of THE NAME (that is, the ineffable name JAOH, here put for GOD HIMSELF)." Again, in Jer. xxxi. 22. we have a distinct prediction of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ;3 and in xxxi. 31-36. and xxxiii. 8. the efficacy of Christ's atonement, the spiritual character of the new covenant, and the inward efficacy of the Gospel, are most clearly and emphatically described. Compare Saint Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. viii. 8-13. and x. 16. et seq. V. The STYLE of Jeremiah, though not deficient in elegance or sublimity, is considered by Bishop Lowth as being inferior in both respects to Isaiah. Jerome, after some Jewish writers, has objected to the prophet a certain rusticity of expression, which however it is very difficult to trace. Though the sentiments of Jeremiah are not always the most elevated, nor his periods uniformly neat and compact; yet his style is in a high degree beautiful and tender, espe 1 See p. 176. supra of this volume. 2 Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book i. p. 481. who cites Buxtorf's Lexicon, voce mm. Dr. H. thinks that Paul derived the declarations he has made concerning Jesus Christ, in 1 Cor. i. 30. and Phil. ii. 9-11. from the above-cited passage of Jeremiah. 3 The modern Jews, and a few Christian interpreters, particularly the late Dr. Blayney in his translation of Jeremiah, have denied the application of this prophecy to the Messiah; but the following remarks will show that this denial is not authorised. According to the first evangelical promise concerning the seed of the woman, followed this prediction of the prophet. The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man. That new creation of a man is therefore new, and therefore a creation, because wrought in a woman only, without a man, compassing a man. This interpretation is antient, literal, and clear. The words import a miraculous conception: the antient Jews acknowledged this sense, and applied it determinately to the Messiah. This prophecy is illustrated by that of Isaiah, vii. 14. — Bp. Pearson on the Creed, art. iii. p. 171. edit. 1715. folio. 4 Pref. ad Com. in Jerem. |