IN this chapter of 66 verses, the same acrostic form is used as in chapters 1 and 2, only that there are three verses for each letter; verses 1, 2, and 3 begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet,— aleph; 4, 5, and (3 begin with both, the second letter, and so on to verses 64, 65, and 66 which begin with tau, the last letter.
Jeremiah, in this chapter, represents in himself the believing remnant of Judah into whose sorrows he deeply entered. In the first 18 verses we have the tale of their sufferings before hope enters. How intense is the sorrow, how deep the anguish that here is portrayed; their cup is indeed filled full! Nor are the suffering’s absent that were peculiarly Jeremiah’s. “I am become a derision to all my people; their song all the day.” Blessed servant of God! he was treading, however feebly, in the path where Christ was afterward, in sinless perfection, to go. (See Psalm 69:7-127Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. 8I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. 9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. 10When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. 11I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. 12They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. (Psalm 69:7‑12)).
Observe now that word “Thou” in verse 17; it is God that is addressed. Shall we not say it again, that it is only when the tried heart has turned to God that there is blessing ahead? Let us seek Him then and at all times, not only when in trial. In verse 19 it is rather “Remember Thou” than my remembrance, for that comes in in its proper place in verses 20 and 21. My affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall are to be before me that I may be humbled, but I long to have Him take knowledge of them. And so I tell Him about all my pain. What is the result? The tried saint who has sought this Refuge from earth’s woes well knows, and the outflow of the chastened spirit is seen in verses 22 to 27, with the precious and needed meditation that follows in verses 28 to 42.
The word “mercies” in verses 22 and 32 as in other Old Testament passages, has the sense of “loving kindness”; mercy alone would not be enough to express the heart of God toward His people. Though mercy is first, because we have failed and sinned against Him, it is clothed in love, “loving kindness”; His compassions fail not; they are new every morning. How singularly blessed is the child of God! Do we truly enter into the children’s portion, we who are His?
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” (verse 23)—we could have nothing to say about our own, it is not worthy of mention,— “He is faithful,” as His Word so often reminds us. Upon our God, who abideth faithful (2 Timothy 2;13) our eternal portion rests and can never fail.
“Jehovah is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him” (verse 25). Shame upon us, if we have ever been tempted to doubt His goodness! But mark the importance of those two words: “them that wait for Him”; “the soul that seeketh Him.” Verse 26 follows with “It is good that one should both wait, and that in silence for the salvation of Jehovah” (N. T.), and the 28th, 29th, and 30th verses give us an exhibition of this quiet, humble waiting.
The Lord again engages the mind and heart in verses 31 to 45 very preciously with some searching of the conscience, as in verses 39 to 42. “Thou hast not pardoned” (verse 42), and the three following verses belong to the particular case of the) eves under the law; these passages are not applicable to the Christian who is privileged as they have not been, and will not be, in the knowledge of forgiveness until they have passed through both the tribulation and Zechariah 12:10-13:110And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. 1In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (Zechariah 12:10‑13:1). So also verses 59 to 66 are not for believers in the present dispensation of grace, who are taught of God to love their enemies (Matthew 5:4444But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)).
ML-06/23/1935