Jeremiah 4:30, 31 And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck you with ornaments of gold… concerning which note - I. WHAT THEY ARE. They are the friends that are kept simply by either: 1.Wealth. "Though thou clothest thyself with crimson" (ver. 30). The garb of the rich, telling how Jerusalem had won some of her professed friends. 2. Splendor. "Deckest thee with ornaments of gold." Jerusalem could make a grand show, put on much pomp by which the eyes of men were dazzled and deceived. And outward show will deceive many men. But those thus attracted know how, when the splendor pales and the outward show can no more be kept up, to fall away and show what "broken reeds" they are. 3. Eternal beauty. The "painting" spoken of was an Oriental device to increase the beauty of the countenance. But weak indeed is the hold which mere outward beauty can have on any who have been attracted by it. It fades, and they along with it. II. THEIR APPARENT TRUSTWORTHINESS. Had there never been anything at all like helpfulness in them, no reliance could have been placed upon them. But the lures which drew them had power enough to make them profess much and then to practice somewhat. Hence they seemed to be real friends. III. THEIR TRUE CHARACTER. When they can no longer gain aught by her who believed in them, they turn round upon her and "seek her life" (ver. 30). It was so with Jerusalem, it will be so with such as are like her. And yet men go on seeking after these outward things which can win for them only friends of this wretched sort, whilst those inward qualities which have no charm for such, but have all charm for the worthy and the good, are little valued and therefore little cultivated. IV. THE DREAD INCREASE OF SORROW THEY ARE THE CAUSE OF. A more appalling picture of utter agony and distress of soul cannot be imagined than that given in ver. 31. It is said that when Caesar saw Brutus amid his assassins, he covered his face with his mantle and let his murderers do their worst. No stab could be so deadly as the discovery that his trusted friend had become his murderer. "Et tu, Brute!" And part of the deep sorrow of our Lord was that Judas, "his own familiar friend," should betray him. If, then, to the stainless soul the discovery of such treachery can cause such sorrow, how must the sorrow of those who, in addition to this, have the memory of their own sin, be deeper and more dreadful still? V. THE WAY OF WISDOM, WHICH KNOWLEDGE OF THEM POINTS TO. Surely it is this - to turn from all such "broken reeds" to "the rod and the staff" which Christ furnishes for all his pilgrims. "One there is above all others, Well deserves the name of Friend," etc. = - c. Parallel Verses KJV: And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. |
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