The stability of God's covenant with his servant.

15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

:

17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.

19 And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne;

and with the Levites the priests, ministers.

my

22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;

26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

LECTURE 1238.

The universe a figure of the truth of God's word.

All written revelation of things unseen must necessarily be made by means of figures taken from the things that appear. And the more the thing to be revealed is remote from such matters as form the objects of our senses, the more thoroughly it is heavenly and not earthly, spiritual and not carnal, so much the greater is the difficulty of shadowing it forth by a language like that of man, framed to fit the world with which he is surrounded. But it would seem as if the world had itself been framed with a view to furnish apt figures of those things which God was purposing to reveal unto mankind; for there is scarcely any object in nature which does not seem to suit the service of the Scriptures, and give its ready help in illustrating divine truth. And by means of figures thus derived from objects of sense, the Scrip

tures do actually raise in our minds very distinct and adequate notions of those things unseen, which our Maker has thought it good that we should understand.

This figurative method of instruction was applied to a great extent in preparing the minds of men aforetime for the manifestation of the Saviour of the world. The first prophecy of Christ on record was highly figurative, namely this, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. See Gen. 3. 15. But those who were familiar with this method of teaching would hence very readily infer, that some One of woman born would inflict a deadly blow on that being, who had beguiled into sin both the woman and the man. So also "the Branch of righteousness" here spoken of, as about to " grow up unto David," might be easily understood by the Jews of the same Saviour, and of his being a lineal descendant of David, growing from his family as a branch from a tree, but distinguishable from all the rest of David's offspring, in being "the Branch of righteousness," the One who should fulfil the prophetic character of a righteous Ruler and Judge. And if the name here given to the Messiah is thus easy to be understood as expressive of his office, the prophecy that Jerusalem should be called by this name, "The Lord our righteousness," will mean, in like manner, that his church should glory in admitting that it is righteous through Him alone. And the everlasting reign, and everlasting priesthood of Christ, must be considered as the things meant when it is said, that "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually."

But all these figures were not of equally obvious application. The Jews had fondly reckoned on the perpetuity of the temporal kingdom and temporal priesthood. And when this was about to be abolished for a time, then there was danger of their making shipwreck of their faith, by considering God's promises as of none effect. And therefore at this juncture these promises of things spiritual are repeated in the most solemn manner, and are declared to be no less sure than the laws which God had given to the great objects of the world of sense. That the sun will rise to morrow as it rose to day, that day and night will follow in succession, these things are God's ordinances in the natural world; they are figures of the certainty of his purposes as set forth in his written word. Let then the philosophy of nature be surveyed; and if the deeper we search into its secrets, we become the more deeply convinced of the immutability of its laws, let the universe be regarded as a figure of God's truth, and let every science, from the least to the greatest, unite to testify in behalf of revelation, that God's word can never fail.

The end of Zedekiah is prophetically set forth.

1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,

2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

5 But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

8 This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORd, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; 9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.

10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

LECTURE 1239.

The case of those who when relieved from distress return to sin. Some particular circumstances relating to Zedekiah are here prophetically set down, such as might prove to the Jews a very striking test of the truth of Jeremiah's prophecies in general. Their king, though straitly besieged, was still safe within the defences of the city, when the prophet announced, not simply that the city should be taken by the forces of the king of Babylon, and should be burnt; but further that Zedekiah should not escape,

but should be delivered into the hands of his conqueror, and should be confronted with him face to face, and should be taken to Babylon, and yet should not die by the sword, but should die. in peace, and be buried with the usual solemnities of a king's funeral. Here we have a complication of events, such as no one could by any means surmise beforehand, and such as must strike the mind of Zedekiah and of his people, as they happened one by one, and must compel them to reflect, that he by whose mouth these things were spoken could be no less than a prophet of the Lord. And when we remember that the rebellion of Zedekiah was punished by the putting out of his eyes, by order of the king of Babylon, before whom he was brought as a prisoner at Riblah, see 2 Kings 25. 7, we shall readily apprehend, what deep signification Zedekiah would then attach to words seemingly so simple as these, "thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon." For though they did behold them, it was amongst the last objects that they looked upon. And so too in a dying hour does the word of God oftentimes present itself to the conscience stricken sinner with a force before unheeded, and prove to have throughout a meaning no less pregnant with terror to the wicked, than with peace, joy, and glory, to the righteous.

At that awful period, when the soul is about to part from the body, and to enter into the unseen world of spirits, there can be none whose case is more hopeless than that of those, who like Zedekiah and the Jews, in the instance before us, after seeing the error of their ways, and actually taking steps towards amendment, have wilfully turned back unto perdition. It appears to have been whilst the siege was for a time relaxed that the king and his people thus transgressed. See ver. 22. Ch. 37. 5. Their conduct in paying obedience unto the Law whilst danger pressed, and in reverting to their transgression on the first symptoms of relief, is profitable for our warning, as leading us to enquire, whether we have not ourselves thus been willing to repent when in distress, and when relieved forgetful of repentance. Let us observe in this instance, how hollow, how hateful, such momentary amendment shews itself to our own judgment. Let us be assured that it must thus appear in our own case also to the heart searching God. Let us remember how clearly it proves, that we know we are doing wrong, and also that we could repent if we would, but that we will not. And let us make haste to pray that God may blot out all such evidence of our guilt as conduct like this affords; forgiving us the past, for his dear Son's sake, and granting that for the future whatsoever convictions we are enabled to feel in a season of trouble, we may faithfully maintain and act upon the same, as long as life shall last.

The sentence of those who recalled their slaves to bondage. 12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

13 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,

14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 15 And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16 But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the

sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

19 The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and · all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;

20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you.

22 Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

LECTURE 1240.

The meanness of turning to God only when it seems gainful. The law which limited the time of bondage, in the case of an Hebrew that was slave to his brother Hebrew, was probably the utmost mitigation of slavery, which according to the customs of the age was likely to prove practicable. And whilst God allowed his peculiar people, on account of the hardness of their hearts, to use their brethren as bondservants, He provided for the slave by this ordinance the hope of freedom at no great distance of time;