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I. THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT UPON INANIMATE CREATION.

1. The pits were empty. Some of these were natural hollows in the hard rocks and in the caves where evaporation was less speedy. Others were dykes and cisterns, the work of man. But neither nature nor art could afford supplies when God dealt with them in His judgments.

2. The ground was chapt (ver. 4). Earth's wounds for man's sin. Mute mouths crying to heaven for pity.

3. There was no grass (ver. 5). The world is complex, man is complex, God is complex. In complex systems harmony is essential to life, — discord is ruin. The shower can do nothing good without the sun. The sun can only scorch if the rain fall not. Earth can produce no fruit unless both sun and shower combine to aid.

II. THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT UPON THE ANIMAL CREATION.

1. The hind calved in the field, and forsook it (ver. 5). The fact that the hind was in the field proves that pasture had failed on the higher lands. It was not unusual for the hind to drop her calf by reason of fright or grief (Psalm 29:9). The maternal instinct in these creatures being strong, it was very unusual for them to forsake their young, and can only be accounted for by the entire failure of the mother to obtain food or drink.

2. The wild asses were in intense agony on account of hunger (ver. 6). These creatures were capable of great endurance, and needed but little to sustain life.

III. THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT UPON THE HUMAN CREATION.

1. The husbandmen were ashamed.

2. The people generally were languishing.

3. The nobles were threatened with death through thirst.

IV. THE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT ON THE DEVOUT HEART OF JEREMIAH.

1. He regarded it as a chastisement for sin.

2. He regarded God as their only hope.

3. He earnestly prayed for mercy.Application —

1. In forsaking God, they forsook the fountain.

2. Earth's broken cisterns cannot be a substitute for the Divine.

3. Jesus says, "If any man thirst," etc.

(W. Whale.)

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KJV: The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.

WEB: The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.