Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. "I am going to ask you something," said the king to Jeremiah. "Do not hide anything from me." Sermons
I. OF HOW EXQUISITE A SYMPATHY WERE THEY THE EXPRESSION! The whole situation of the prophet had been thoroughly entered into and grasped by his friend. He is not satisfied with merely drawing him up; he will do this in the gentlest and most considerate way. It is thinking of these little things that shows the depth of our sympathy for others. They are specially remembered and sought out, and are brought forward with as much care as the thirty men. 1. Our good deeds should not be half conceived or badly executed. "What is worth doing is worth doing well." 2. Where there is a real desire to be kind and helpful, the means will be discovered. We scarcely know whether to admire the most the kindliness or the ingenuity of Ebed-Melech. 3. A true sentiment will dispose of false scruples. Rags! Well, they were best fitted of anything at hand to effect the purpose in view. There was no time to settle the question of the niceties. Much loving and useful work is never done because of such scruples. The servants of God cannot often work in kid gloves. 4. The dignity of a thing consists in the use to which it is put. These rags served the best of purposes, and are worthy of all honour, There is nothing God has made but has some gracious use it we but seek for it. II. THROUGH WHAT HUMILIATIONS ARE GOD'S SERVANTS DELIVERED! As if the mire and helplessness were not enough! To an unspiritual perception it would appear almost an uncalled for indignity to inflict the rags upon the prophet of God. But they were necessary. And so is it with all the God sent humiliations of life. They are intended to subdue pride, exercise faith, and reveal the hidden grace and power of God. III. THERE ARE DIVINE USES FOR MEAN THINGS AND THINGS CAST ASIDE. God, who made all things, can see a thousand adaptations and utilities for that which man supposes has been used up. Are there not weapons in the King's armoury that have been allowed to rust when they might have done good service? talents that have been hid in a napkin when they should have been at usury? There need be no idle members in the King's household. He takes out of his treasury things new and old, and calls upon the blind, the halt, the maimed, the aged, the poor, the ignorant, to do him honour and service. "But I have no talents in that direction," etc. Yet God can use you if you will ask him. He will regenerate you by using you; purify you of all the moral dross and filth that adhere to you; and develop higher faculties and a diviner serviceableness, if you will but let him. There were kingly robes in Judah that day that had not a tithe of the honour of these "old rotten rags;" and there are great, wise, and noble who will have to give place in the day of judgment to the weak things, and things which have been despised (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). - M.
The words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people. Rays of hope had arisen in the clouded sky of the, nation. An Egyptian army was on its way to the city. Thus, it was believed, the Chaldeans would be compelled to raise the siege, which had been growing ever closer, so that first hunger and then starvation stared its inhabitants in the face. An escape from their horrible position seemed possible through an alliance with the Egyptian king. These hopes were dashed to the ground by the emphatic word of the prophet: This city shall assuredly be given into the hand of the army of the King of Babylon." He even went beyond this, and urged desertion to the enemy: "He that abideth in the city shall die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live." All this seemed, not only unpatriotic, but treasonable. It has been well said, "No government conducting the defence of a besieged fortress could have tolerated Jeremiah for a moment. What would have been the fate of the French politician who should have urged the Parisians to desert to the Germans during the siege of 1870?" Jeremiah seemed a veritable Cassandra, and Cassandras, even if, as in this case, their warnings are but utterances of the inevitable, can only expect to be met with resentment and persecution.(W. Garret Horder.) 1. Mischief in the social and political world; 2. Mischief in the realm of literature, and all that leads to the higher development of man; 3. Mischief to religion.These principles work mischief in the social and political world. At the end of last century and the beginning of this, how deplorable was the condition of the workers of this land. Why? Because of our incessant and unnecessary wars with France. These principles of false patriotism work much evil in the realm of literature, and all that leads to the higher development of man. The "patriotism" which means lust for other people's land, and hatred of other nations, may produce a "Soldiers' Chorus," but it will produce no Tennyson, no Shakespeare. Since the German Empire became cursed with militarism it has produced no great writers. The essence of the highest literature is to be cosmopolitan for all the world. The Republic of Athens was a commercial, a scientific, an artistic city. The kingdom of Sparta was military to the highest degree. Military Sparta has left us no literature. Civic Athens has left us a literature which even to-day is a wonder of the world. That is natural. The habitual practice of blind obedience, necessary for the soldier, is the greatest foe to thought, and prevents men from learning how to form judgments and pass opinions. Militarism must be for the masses of the soldiery unintellectual. Our literature during the last few years has in some respects deteriorated sadly. One of the aspects of its decadence is its excessive glorifying of the military spirit. Swarms of books for boys have been published the last twenty years, and they are very largely glorifications of physical force. That is a reversion to the savage. The principles of this false patriotism work deadly mischief to religion. This spurious patriotism is not love of one's country so much as love of more country. It is hatred of other men's patriotism. It cannot understand that foreigners may and ought to love their fatherland even as we do ours. Such teachings lead to bitter hatred instead of love. Racial hatred is as ungodly as it is idiotic. Nelson used to say to his sailors, "Fear God, honour the king, and hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil." How could they fear God if they hated God's children? Every Frenchman was as much loved by God as every Englishman was loved. The business of the Christian Church is to spread love and not hate, to tone down animosities, not to stimulate them. Though the student of history sees how insane and utterly unnecessary most wars have been, war may sometimes be a stern necessity. But the glorification of war is earthly and unchristian. The only argument for militarism worth anything is that it develops pluck. Well, so did gladiator fights. Shall we reintroduce them? Pluck may be learned on the football-field as well as on the field of slaughter, where the animal passions of savageism are let loose. If we are Christians we will turn away from this bastard patriotism which ends in hate of other lands. We will love our country dearly. If occasion comes, we must make great sacrifices for her. But we will ever preach the gospel of love against the badspel of hate. We will preach the superiority of intellectual pursuits to the pursuit of war. We will preach the blessedness of elevating mankind to the spiritual rather than drag humanity down to the animal. (F. W. Aveling, M. A.) People Babylonians, Benjamin, Ebedmelech, Gedaliah, Hammelech, Jehucal, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Jucal, Malchiah, Malchijah, Mattan, Pashur, Shelemiah, Shephatiah, ZedekiahPlaces Babylon, Benjamin Gate, JerusalemTopics Anything, Asking, Doorway, Entrance, Entry, Hide, Jeremiah, Nothing, Prophet, Question, Received, Rulers, Taketh, Temple, Third, Zedekiah, Zedeki'ahOutline 1. Jeremiah, by a false suggestion, is put into the dungeon of Malchiah.7. Ebed-Melech, by suit, gets him some enlargement. 14. Upon secret conference, he counsels the king by yielding to save his life. 24. By the king's instructions he conceals the conference from the princes. Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 38:13 5460 prison Library The Life of Mr. James Mitchel. Mr. James Mitchel[152] was educated at the university of Edinburgh, and was, with some other of his fellow-students, made master of arts anno 1656. Mr. Robert Leighton (afterwards bishop Leighton), being then principal of that college, before the degree was conferred upon them, tendered to them the national and solemn league and covenant; which covenants, upon mature deliberation, he took, finding nothing in them but a short compend of the moral law, binding to our duty towards God and towards … John Howie—Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) Jeremiah Links Jeremiah 38:14 NIVJeremiah 38:14 NLT Jeremiah 38:14 ESV Jeremiah 38:14 NASB Jeremiah 38:14 KJV Jeremiah 38:14 Bible Apps Jeremiah 38:14 Parallel Jeremiah 38:14 Biblia Paralela Jeremiah 38:14 Chinese Bible Jeremiah 38:14 French Bible Jeremiah 38:14 German Bible Jeremiah 38:14 Commentaries Bible Hub |