"In that day," declares the LORD, "the king and officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be astounded." Sermons
I. HOW THE CONSTERNATION AND HUMILIATION OF THESE MEN NOW IS IN CONTRAST TO THEIR PREVIOUS CONDUCT. We do not stay here to make discriminations among the four classes of prominent men here indicated. The general truth underlying the conduct of all of them is that the leading persons in the State would assuredly lose their self-confidence. Brazen and complacent as that self-confidence is, Jehovah is undermining it in secret, and it wilt come down with a crash. These men were associated in deception; each one deceived, first of all, himself; and then by a continuous mutual action and reaction, the power both of deceiving and of being deceived became very great indeed. The king, upon giving the slightest encouragement, would become a center for all sorts of flatteries and arrogant assurances; and indeed, as long as it was a matter of keeping their own people in subjection, these leaders might have comparatively little difficulty. They knew what they were dealing with, and could keep it in bounds by virtue of long practice and cleverly transmitted tricks of management. There was a certain ground of experience which they went upon in all their contemptuous refusals to listen to God's prophet. But now there comes up, all at once, a danger outside their experience, and not only defying their resources, but coming down on those resources like a deluge, and utterly sweeping them away. When the downtrodden and aggrieved in their own borders begin to mutter sedition and meditate conspiracy, they may, perhaps, stop this peril in its beginning; but when the majestic destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way, how shall he be met? The lion out of the thicket is manageable enough if the man against whom he advances happens to have a loaded rifle in his hand, and the power of using it with unerring aim; but what if he has nothing more than a cudgel? Kings and princes, priests and prophets, might successfully join in counsel to mislead and keep down their own people; but a strong and proud army, that has come forth like a mighty wild beast intent on prey, is not to be turned back by mere counsels. In the last resort strength must be opposed to strength. The sole virtue of skill lies in this, that it can make the most of strength. But where the strength is lacking, skill can do nothing. No amount of skill can wake a walking-stick do the work of a rifle, and the great peril of most human lives lies just in this, that they go on in the contented use of ordinary resources for ordinary needs. Practically speaking, extraordinary needs are not thought of till they come. There are voices to us, even as to these kings, princes, priests, and prophets of old; but we do not heed them, and meanwhile the lion out of the thicket, all unsuspected, is coming nearer and nearer to us. II. NOTE THE FORCIBLE EXPRESSION WITH REGARD TO THE KINGS AND PRINCES. Their hearts are to perish, not but what priests and prophets may have the same experience. Hebrew parallelism is to be borne in mind. The description of king and princes applies also to priest and prophet, and vice versa. They were overwhelmed in a common catastrophe. It is the heart-perishing itself we would call attention to, whoever the subject of it might he. One is reminded of the similar expression, tolerably frequent in the Old Testament, of the heart melting. With regard to the king, there would be an utter collapse of all kingly dignity and pretension. It is not the mere conquest of territory and the desolation of it that can turn the supreme master into a complete slave. Complete subjection is only achieved when body and mind are alike in bondage. Many a captive has shown himself nobler than his captor; his heart being swelled out with even an increase of vitality, courage, and resource in the very hour-when the ungodly seem to have triumphed. Discrowned kings have sometimes been more regal than on the coronation-day itself. The thing to be marked here is that these leaders being cast down outwardly were equally cast down inwardly. The whole nature crashes down in ruins. The dispossessed leader becomes as dejected in soul as he is in station. What a warning for us, then, is this melancholy prediction! It is very certain that to us the outward casting down, at all events, must come. Natural resources, limited and temporary at the best, are always showing weak points, always needing patching up, and the most that can be done is to postpone the evil day. And then what is the end to be? Are our hearts also to perish? Is there to come on us utter despair and brokenness of spirit? It need not be so. Look on the courage of genuine Christians in captivity, in martyrdom, in poverty, amid the attacks of slander, in the midst of spiritual non-success. If the heart perish, it will be for want of believing resort to the succors which come down from the heavenly places. God can so unite, inspire, instruct, and gladden the heart of every believer, as effectually to deliver At from perishing. And remember, we are every one called to be, if not kings, at all events viceroys in our own life. There must be no yielding to presumptuous and audacious dictation of men. He who leans upon the mere assertions of others, because he is himself indisposed to make the necessary effort for finding out truth, must be prepared at last to get into that state which is described as one in which the heart perishes. - Y.
Though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair. This renting of the face is, literally, enlarging of the eyes through kohl or antimony — a trick of artificial beauty. And the poor creature has taken out her best clothes, painted herself with the fairest colours, done all she could from the outside, and behold the issue is: "Thy lovers will despise but after all is over men feel that this is unreal, untrue, utterly rotten at the core; they say this is "a goodly apple rotten at the heart." Let us understand the, that whether we be discovered now or then, we shall be discovered. The hollow man shall be sounded, and shall be pronounced void. Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting; and thou, poor fool, hast covered up the hectic flush of consumption with indigo that will wash off, or with some other colour that can be cleansed away; thou hast made thyself look otherwise than as thou art: but all that is external shall be taken from thee, and thou shalt be seen in thy naked hideousness and ghastliness. This is right! The revelation will be awful; but it ought to be made, or heaven itself will be insecure. Oh, what disclosures then! The canting hypocrite without his cloak; the skilful mocker who has lost his power of jesting; the knave who always said a grace he had committed to memory before he cut the bread he had stolen; the preacher who knew the right, and yet the wrong pursued; the fair speaker, who knew the very subtlety of music as to persuasion, and yet decoyed souls down the way at the end of which is hell. Then the other revelation will also be made. There may be men of rough manners who shall prove to have been all the while animated by a gentle spirit; there may be those who have been regarded as Philistines who are God's gentlemen; there may be those who have been thought as unworthy of courtesy who shall be set high among the angels.(J. Parker, D. D.). People Dan, JeremiahPlaces Dan, Jerusalem, Mount Ephraim, ZionTopics Affirmation, Amazed, Appalled, Astonished, Astounded, Courage, Dead, Declares, Fail, Fear, Heart, Hearts, Horrified, Lose, Officials, Overcome, Pass, Perish, Priests, Princes, Prophets, Rulers, Says, WonderOutline 1. God calls Israel by his promise3. He exhorts Judah to repentance by fearful judgments 19. A grievous lamentation for Judah Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 4:9Library The Wailing of RiscaYou all know the story; it scarce needs that I should tell it to you. Last Saturday week some two hundred or more miners descended in health and strength to their usual work in the bowels of the earth. They had not been working long, their wives and their children had risen, and their little ones had gone to their schools, when suddenly there was heard a noise at the mouth of the pit;--it was an explosion,--all knew what it meant. Men's hearts failed them, for well they prophesied the horror which … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861 How those are to be Admonished who Sin from Sudden Impulse and those who Sin Deliberately. Prevailing Prayer. How to Make Use of Christ for Cleansing of us from Our Daily Spots. "For they that are after the Flesh do Mind the Things of the Flesh,", "Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the Flesh," "If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. " The Acceptable Sacrifice; Original Sin Repentance Directions to Awakened Sinners. The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6. Jesus Attends the First Passover of his Ministry. Jeremiah Links Jeremiah 4:9 NIVJeremiah 4:9 NLT Jeremiah 4:9 ESV Jeremiah 4:9 NASB Jeremiah 4:9 KJV Jeremiah 4:9 Bible Apps Jeremiah 4:9 Parallel Jeremiah 4:9 Biblia Paralela Jeremiah 4:9 Chinese Bible Jeremiah 4:9 French Bible Jeremiah 4:9 German Bible Jeremiah 4:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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