Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Jeremiah
Book: Jeremiah
Chapter: 9
Overview:
The people are corrected,
Jerusalem is destroyed.
(1-11) The
captives suffer in a foreign land.
(12-22) God's
loving-kindness, He threatens the enemies of his people.
(23-26)
1-11 Jeremiah wept much, yet wished he could weep more, that he
might rouse the people to a due sense of the
Hand of
God. But
even the
Desert, without
Communion with
God, through
Christ
Jesus, and the influences of the Holy
Spirit, must be a place
for
Temptation and evil; while, with these blessings, we may
live in
Holiness in crowded cities. The people accustomed their
Tongues to lies.
So false were they, that a
Brother could not be
trusted. In trading and bargaining they said any thing for their
own advantage, though they knew it to be false. But
God marked
their
Sin. Where
No knowledge of
God is, what good can be
expected? He has many ways of turning a fruitful land into
barrenness for the wickedness of those that
Dwell therein.
12-22 In Zion the voice of joy and praise used to be heard,
while the people kept close to
God; but
Sin has altered the
sound, it is now the voice of
Lamentation. Unhumbled hearts
lament their calamity, but not their
Sin, which is the cause of
it. Let the
Doors be shut ever
So Fast,
Death steals upon us. It
enters the palaces of princes and great men, though stately,
strongly built, and guarded. Nor are those more safe that are
abroad;
Death cuts off even the children from without, and the
young men from the streets. Hearken to the
Word of the
Lord, and
Mourn with godly sorrow. This alone can bring true comfort; and
it can turn the heaviest
Afflictions into precious mercies.
23-26 In this world of
Sin and sorrow, ending soon in
Death and
judgement, how foolish for men to
Glory in their knowledge,
health, strength, riches, or in any thing which leaves them
under the dominion of
Sin and the wrath of
God! and of which an
account must hereafter be rendered; it will but increase their
misery. Those are the true
Israel who
Worship God in the
Spirit,
rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have
No confidence in the
Flesh.
Let us prize the distinction which comes from
God, and will last
for ever. Let us seek it diligently.