Jeremiah 23

WO be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the LORD There is the like Woe against the Pastors denounced, Ezek. 34.2. Interpreters judge that by the Pastors are to be understood the Civil Magistrates, for verse 9. he denounceth the judgements of God against their Ecclesiastical Officers, the Civil Magistrates at this time in Iudah were great Tyrants, and whereas God had committed, his people (whom he calls the Sheep of his Pasture) to them in trust, that they should protect, and govern them, and that they might live under them, godly and peaceable lives, in all prosperity, they had acted quite contrary to their trust, and worried the people like Wolves, instead of seeding them like Shepherds. God took notice of their Oppressions, and by the Prophet denounceth this Woe against them, to verifie that of Solomon, Eccles. 5.8..

Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people God calleth them his People, his Flock, the Sheep of his Pasture, with respect to the ancient Covenant which God had made with their Fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Iacob, they are said to have fed this people, because it was their duty, and the business of their office so to have done, though they had failed in it., Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them And had done the quite contrary scattering them by their acts of Violence and oppression, and driving them from their places to seek some more safe, and quiet places of abode, or by their prodigious wickednesses; having been the cause of their being carried into Captivity not visiting them, that is taking any due care of their good and welfare, seeing what they wanted, and supplying them, as good Rulers ought to have done.; Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says the LORD For which neglect God threatneth to visit upon them, the evil of their doings, the Hebrew word signifieth to visit with a visitation of care and love, and also with a visitation of justice and severity, and is often so used in Holy Writ..

And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countreys whither I have driven them God puts a difference betwixt those that were misled by the examples of others, and the Rulers who set them such an ill example, he threatned Iehojachim and Iehojakin or Ieconiah, that they should return no more, but for the people, he here promiseth them a return at least a remnant of them, when he should have punished the goats as he speaketh Zech. 10.3., and will bring them again to their folds By their Folds, he meaneth Ierusalem, and other Cities the Towns of Iudah which they had formerly inhabited:, and they shall be fruitful, and increase Where they should once more be in prosperity. He speaks here concerning the return of this people out of the Captivity of Babylon, though there be some that think this text is primarily to be understood, of the gathering together in one, the people of God scattered abroad, in and by Christ according to the prophesie of Caiaphas, Iohn 11.52..

And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them Some think this Prophesie was fulfilled in Nehemiah and Zorobabel, who were pious and good Governours, and consulted in their Government the good of the people committed to their trust. Neh. 2.10. and 5.14. Others rather understand it of Christian Princes and Governours, under the Gospel., and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed Under whom they shall live peaceably and securely., neither shall they be lacking says the LORD And none of them shall perish. The two last passages of this verse incline Interpreters to think, that this promise does not so much refer to their coming out of Babylon, as to their spiritual deliverance by Christ, for after their return out of Babylon they were not secure long, but feared Sanballat and Tobiah, the Grecians and Romans and other Enemies, besides that the last words exactly agree with, Iohn 10.28. when Christ says his Sheep should not perish, and it appears verse 6. that the Prophet is speaking of a time, when not Iudah only, but Israel also should be saved, and the next verse does manifestly refer unto Christ..

¶ Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David, a righteous branch Though some Interpreters think that Zorobabel may be here intended, who was descended from David, and ruled the people when they came out of Babylon, yet, even the Jewish Doctors themselves, as well as the Christian Interpreters, understand this as a Prophesie, and promise of the Messiah; the Prophesies and Promises of whom are usually ushered in with this par icle Behold, to stir up peoples attention, and who also was the Son of David, and who is called the branch, Isa. 4.2. and 53.2. Zech. 3.8. and 6.12. where the reason is also given, he being there called a rod out of the stem of Iesse, a branch out of his root, besides that the application to him of the name King, ordinarily applyed to Christ, never given to Zorobabel, and the term Righteous make it evident, chap. 33.15. he is called a of Righteousness, which is the same with the Righteous Branch, here mentioned, he is called the Righteous, not only because himself was Righteous, therefore called the Righteous One, Acts 3.14. and 13.35. but because he maketh his people Righteous, Isa. 53.11. and 60.21., and a king shall reign, and prosper, and shall execute justice, and judgment in the earth Jesus Christ answering the Type of Melchisedeck the King of Salem and who is the King of Kings, 1 Tim. 6.15. shall reign spiritually and shall not be like Ieconiah of whom God said he should not prosper, but he shall prosper and shall execute justice and judgment, protecting the innocent, and defending his people throughout the World, judging the Prince of the World, and by his Spirit governing his people so as the Prophet relieveth the people of God under their oppressions, by these latter Kings of Iudah, with the promise of the Kingdom of Christ, an usual argument made use of by the Prophets to comfort the people of God in those days against any evils come, or coming upon them..

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely During the Reign & Kingdom of the Messias (whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom) the people of God Typified by Iudah and Israel, the true Israel of God, those that are Jews indeed, shall be saved with a spiritual Salvation, for he was therefore called Iesus because he was to save his people from their sins, Matth. 1.21. and God will be a special protection to them.: and this is his name whereby he shall be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS The name wherewith this branch shall be called, shall be The Lord our Righteousness. Some have applied this to the people as if the people should be so called, or should say the Lord has dealt graciously with us: or in the Lord we have Righteousness. But this will appear but the new invention of some who either cannot, or will not understand, how Christ should be his peoples Righteousness, to those who consider, that it is the branch which was before spoken of, and that the word people is not to be found going before, there is indeed a mention of Judah and Israel, but surely they were not to be other mens Righteousness, and if that had been the Prophets meaning he would not have said the Lord Our, but the Lord Their Righteousness. Nor is this the only place where Christ is called Our Righteousness, 1 Cor. 1.30. This place is an eminent proof of the Godhead of Christ, he is here called Jehovah, and what is proper to God alone, viz. to justifie is here applyed to Christ. The Prophet says Christ shall be so called, that is by his people, who should believe in him and trust in him alone for that Righteousness, wherein they should at the last day stand before God, thus he was to bring in Everlasting Righteousness, Dan. 9.24. He who knew no sin was m de sin (that is a Sacrifice for sin) for us, that we might be made, the Righteousness of God in him..

Therefore behold, the days come, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt.

But the LORD liveth, which brought up, and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north-country, and from all countreys whither I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land See the Notes on chap. 16.14, 15. Where much the same words are to be found. The Prophet aggravateth the greatness of that Salvation, which should be brought by Christ to all the true Israel of God, by comparing it with the deliverance of the ancient Israel of God out of the Land of Egypt; which he says it should so far transcend and excel, that the deliverance out of Egypt should not be named, when this Salvation should appear, which should be after their return from Babylon, and when God should gather them from all Countries which was fulfilled, when by the Preaching of the Gospel, not the Gentiles only were Converted, but many of the Iews also which were scattered abroad, Iames 1.1. 1 Pet. 1.1. Possibly part of this promise or prophesie remains yet to be accomplished, for the Iews are not yet come to dwell in their own land, unless that term be to be expounded of Christians, who during the times of Persecution in the primitive Church, were scattered abroad, but upon the ceasing of those Persecutions, when Christian Emperours came to have the Government, returned to their own Countries, where they enjoyed a more still and quiet Habitation..

¶ Mine heart within me is broken, because of the prophets, all my bones shake The Prophet having denounced the Wrath of God against the wicked Rulers of Iudah under the Notion of Pastors, cometh here to discharge the like trust with reference to those orders of Persons amongst the Iews, whose office it was, or at least who took upon them to Reveal the Mind and Will of God to people, and who were upon that account called Prophets, for these he declares a great passion and trouble; either for their sake in prospect of that Vengeance of God which he saw was like to be poured out upon them, or for the Peoples sake who had been deceived by their unfaithful Revelations of the Divine Will, and led into wickedness by their vile Examples. For this he says his heart was broken, his bones shaked.: I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome; because of the LORD And he was even astonished and stupified, and like a drunken man he knew not what he did; he was so stricken at the apprehensions of the Wrath of the Lord ready to be revealed against them., and because of the words of his holiness And to consider what words the holy God had put into his mouth, to speak against them..

For the land is full of Adulterers Under that term Adulterers, all Species of uncleanness are comprehended., for because of swearing the land mourneth By false-swearing, or by idle and profane swearing, the land is brought to ruine, the word signifies also a Curse or cursing, many good Interpreters judge, that the more genuine sense and true Translation of this Text were for because of the curse (that is, the Curse of God) the Land is brought to that Misery which is coming upon it.: the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up The pastures of the Wilderness or of the plain, for so the word is rendred, Isa. 63.13. Lam. 4.19. The Wrath of God was extended to all places whether more or less inhabited., and their course is evil, and their force is not right The Prophets did not only err in single Acts, but the whole course of their actions was naught, and particularly their Power, Rule and Government was not right. If any say what were the Prophets concerned in the Peoples wickedness? Answ. They were profane as well as the people, as we shall find ver. 11. but besides this, the people were thus vile through their connivance, they did not warn the people of their sins, but soothed them up in their wicked courses, so were the cause of the peoples wickedness, who had not been so vile but for them..

For both prophet Those, whose work was to reveal the mind of God to the people, and who pretended to that office. and priest are profane And those that were employed in offering Sacrifices, and other works which belonged to the Priestly Office, according to the Law. The whole Ecclesiastical Order, all their Ministry were profane, not merely hypocritical, but leud, immoral and debauched., yea, in my house have I found their wickedness Yea, they were grown to that impudence that they made the Temple, which was the Lords house, a Den of Theeves; a place where they committed wickedness; thus it was in the time of Ely, 1 Sam. 2.22. and more generally afterward, 2 Chron. 36.14. See chap. 7.10, 11. & ver. 14. of this chap. There is no more certain sign of a ruining Nation, than when God suffereth in it a leud and corrupt Ministry., says the LORD.

Wherefore their way shall be unto them, as slippery wayes in the darkness: they shall be driven on and fall therein As their ordinary course is wicked and sinful, so they shall find that it will in the event be to them pernicious, perillous and full of danger, as a slippery path is to them that walk in a dark night, they shall be driven on till they fall therein. Courses of Sin may look smooth, but they always prove slippery.: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says the LORD For I am resolved to punish their wicked courses; and to visit them with my judgments..

And I have seen folly in theprophets of Samaria There was a time, when I saw folly in the Prophets that belonged to the ten Tribes, whose chief City was Samaria, the word translated folly signifies unsavoury, or an absurd thing. Our Saviour compareth wicked Ministers to unsavoury Salt, Matth. 5.13. Salt that is turned foolish (as the Gr. word signifies.) The Ministers of Gods word are, or ought to be, the Salt of the Earth, to season people with sound Doctrine, and by the good Example of an Holy Life, if they be corrupt in Doctrine or Manners, they become unsavoury, and the very worst of men. Such God sayes the Prophets of the ten Tribes were, before they were carried away Captive.; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err They prophesied, pretending they had their Instructions and Revelations from Baal, and so caused the ten Tribes to erre, which after the division of the Kingdom in Ieroboams time were called Israel in contra-distinction to the two Tribes and an half cleaving to the House of David, which were called Iudah after the name of their principal Tribe..

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing The word signifies filthiness, stench, or an abominable thing, things every whit as bad, in some kind worse than what I saw in the Prophets of the 10 Tribes.: they commit adultery They commit not Spiritual Adultery only, but Carnal Adultery, they are Whoremongers., and walk in lies And they make it their business to instill falshoods into people, and entitle me to them, and this is their trade; not a single act, but their ordinary practice.: they strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none does return from his wickedness This is the great aggravation of the sin of those that occupy the place of Spiritual Guides, that they encourage profane men, either by their false Doctrine extenuating sin, and putting a fair gloss upon them, or at least by their mealy Mouths fearing or forbearing to tell Sinners of their wicked Courses; or by their wicked Examples the most of people thinking they may do what their Teachers do, by which means Sinners instead of being brought to a sense of their sins and a repentance for them, are hardened in their wicked Courses., they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha By this means all of them, either of their Prophets and Priests, or all of the People, (the first seemeth chiefly here intended) are become to me as contemptible, and abominable as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, though they were the Sons of Aaron, and of the Priestly Order, yet living leud lives, and acting quite contrary to the end of their Holy Calling, God declares himself to value them no more than as the vilest of men, such were the Sodomites. Or by those words God threatens that he would destroy them with as notorious a destruction, as he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha. Thus the comparison is used Isa. 1.9. and consonant to this are the words in the next verse..

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets Under the term Prophets he comprehendeth all the Ecclesiastical Guides of Ierusalem at this time, whether Priests or Prophets., Behold, I will feed them with wormwood He threatens to feed them with wormwood, some think the word is better translated Poyson, by Wormwood, or poyson and the water of gall, he threatens great and fatal Judgments that he would bring upon them., and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

Thus says the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesie unto you People are under no Religious Obligation to hear any thing but the Revealed Will of God, and are not to obey those that call to them for what that does not call to them., they make you vain Nor to listen to them, the Scope of whose teaching is but to make them vain, sinfully vain; or to deceive their Souls, no Man is under an O ligation to deceive himself., they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD They pretend to Visions, that God has revealed his Mind to them, in the same way as he useth to reveal himself to true Prophets; but there is no such thing; it is but a fiction of their own; Our Lord, Mat. 7.15. gives us the same way to know false Prophets, ver. 20. By their fruits you shall know them. Let their external Mission be what, and which way it will, if what they teach agree not with the revea ed Will of God, they are false Prophets. Many of these Priests were regularly enough descended, and the Prophets regularly enough educated and constituted, yet by this showed themselves false Prophets, that what they published was not from God, nor agreed with his revealed Will; therefore the people were under no Religious Obligation to hearken to them..

They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD has said, Ye shall have peace Leud and corrupt Ministers, are an hatred and abomination in the house of the Lord, to all serious good People, and are therefore obliged to make themselves a Party of those that are like themselves, whose favour they cannot have without indulging them in their Lusts. Hence they prophesie Peace to the vilest and worst of Men, who have no Patience of being daily alarum'd with hearing of the wrath of God due, and like to come upon them for their sins.; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart Hence they promise evil to those that walk according to the Counsels of their own heart, that is sinfully, for Gen. 6.5. Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart, is only evil, and that continually: Hence a sinful course is very often expressed in Scripture, under this Notion of walking after the Imaginations of our own heart; as Deut. 29.19. but it is most in prophesie; Vid. chap. 3.17. & 7.24. & 9.14. & 13.10. & 16.12. & 18.12. Hence a Religious walking is called a Self-denying. None have a worse guide of their actions in their lapsed state, before Regeneration, than their own hearts., No evil shall come upon you.

For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard his word? who has marked his word, and heard it Who besides us has known the counsel of the Lord? arrogating to themselves a fellowship, and acquaintance with the Mind and Will of God. Or (which I should rather judge the ense) which of those Prophets, that Prophesie such terrible things against this City is a Privy Counsellor to God? The words seem rather to be the words of the false Prophets, either arrogating to themselves a peculiar acquaintance with God and Fellowship with him, from whence they knew his Mind, or mocking at Ieremy, and other true Prophets, as arrogating to themselves such a knowledge of the Mind and Counsels of God as indeed they had not, then (as some think) the words of Ieremiah denying them to have stood in Gods Counsels, or to have known his Mind and Will. This is all Ages has been the practice of corrupt Prophets and Ministers to charge those Servants of God, who have faithfully published the Will of God against Sinners, as making too bold with Gods secret Counsels, though they publish nothing but Gods revealed Will.?

Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury A severe judgment of God that should resemble a Whirlwind, for the sudden and utter destruction, that it shall bring. See chap. 30.23, 24. The same word is elsewhere translated a storm, Psal. 83.15. Amos 1.14. Ionah 1.4. It is called a whirlwind of the Lord; either to denote the greatness of it, as Psal. 36.6. or to let us know that the Judgment came forth from God and was of his sending., even a grievous whirlwind, it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked And whatever these flattering Teachers said, it should fall upon wicked men, so as they should have no peace, but evil should most certainly come upon them..

The Anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart It is therefore called a continuing whirlwind, chap. 30.23. The Prophet speaks of the judgment as of a Messenger, which coming from God, should not return till it had done its Errand and Executed what it came for, even whatever God had resolved should effect. Men are ready to flatter themselves, that they shall either out-ride or out-live the stormes of Divine Vengeance, no (says the Prophet) the Anger of the Lord shall bring to pass whatsoever the just Will of God is.: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly And though you will not now believe it, but flatter your selves with idle, vain hopes, yet hereafter when it shall be too late (which is the usual folly of Sinners) then you shall consider it perfectly..

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken unto them, yet they prophesied.

But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words These false Prophets did not Prophesie without the Approbation of the Rule of the Ecclesiastical state amongst the Iews in their corrupt estate, but so they might, and yet not be sent of God. The Judgment of a Divine Mission for the Revelation of Gods Mind unto people, must not be merely from their External Mission (which yet they ought to have in a Church that is in order) but from the faithful discharge of their Ministry. Those whom God sends, and who are truly acquainted with his Counsels, will cause his people to hear, not their own conceits, and inventions, but the Word of the Lord. God sendeth none upon any other errand, but to reveal his Will, and tell his Mind unto people., then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings Then, says the Prophet, they should have turned them from their evil way, that is, they would have made this their scope, business and end, to turn Sinners from their sinful wayes, and though possibly their labour would not have had so good an effect upon all, yet they would have had an effect upon some to turn them from their evil doings..

Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off Atheisme is generally the foundation of ill Life, men say, God sees them not, the Almighty does not regard them. By a God at hand many understand Heaven, do you think that my eyes are limited like yours, that I cannot see their practices though far off from me? that is from the place of my glorious Residence. Others interpret the particle with respect to time; Am I a God of Yesterday, like the Idols, am not I the ancient of days? the Eternal God whose Majesty and Omniscience, you ought to have taken notice of??

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD: do not I fill heaven and earth? says the LORD What do these Atheistical Priests, and Prophets, and People think? do they think that I who am a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, see and take notice of what Doctrine they Preach, and what lives they live: if they did, surely they would not dare to do as they do. Do they think that I do not see, or take notice of them? Can any hide themselves out of my sight, I fill heaven and earth, not only with my influence, but with my Essence; with the immensity of my Being; which as it cannot be circumscribed by the Air, so it is shut out of no place..

I have heard what the prophets said that prophesie lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed Visions and Dreames, were two usual wayes by which under the Law God made himself known of old to his Prophets, making them sometimes, being awake, to hear a voice; sometimes attended with, and proceeding upon, some visible appearance, sometimes not: at other times causing them, being asleep, to dream; and in their sleep revealing to them, as in a dream, what his will was they should declare and publish to his people. These false Prophets speaking what came into their own heads, and suted their own Lusts, or the Lusts of a debauched people to whom they spake; would pretend that God had revealed to them what they so published, in a dream; not in the mean time considering God took notice of these their little Arts, by which they cheated the people. But says God, I am a God that know afar off, as well as at hand, and I have heard what they say, Prophesying lies as from me, and pretending that I had in dreams revealed them to them..

How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesies lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceits of their own heart Will these Prophets never have done? Have they not deceived people long enough with their lyes, and the deceit of their own hearts? and that not unwarily, and by involuntary mistake, but of set purpose it being in their heart, their purpose and design to do it. Some join it to the following Verse, and make the sense this; Do these Prophets that publish lies, and the deceits of their hearts, for my revealed Will, think to cheat my people always, and to cause my people to forget my name? as it followeth in the next verse..

Which think to cause my people to forget my name That is to forget me, and those things by which I have made my self known unto them, my Word, and my Works. by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour By their Dreams which they tell abroad every one to his Neighbour, as if they were Revelations which I had in their sleep made unto them, but they are indeed lies, and nothing but the deceits of their own hearts., as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal So that in effect they are Baals Priests; for as Baals Prophets, by publishing their pretended Revelations from Baal, seduced the people from the service and obedience of the true God; so these by telling their pretended dreames, seduced men from their obedience to God in what he revealed to them by the true Prophets, they agreed in the end, the seducing of the people from God, though they differed in the mean, the one pretending Revelations from Baal, the other from the true God by their Dreams..

The prophet that has a dream w, let him tell a dream; and he that has my word let him speak my word faithfully And let him to whom I have revealed my Will, publish and declare that in all Truth and Faithfulness, not adding his own fancies or dreams to it, 2 Cor. 2.17. Pet. 2.2. not corrupting my word.: what is the chaffe to the wheat? says the LORD There is as much difference between my Will, and their Dreams, as there is betwixt the chaffe and the wheat; the one is of value to make food for the Soul, as wheat does for the Body; the other is of no value: the one (viz. my Word) is of a solid, abiding substance, the other is light and airy, and easily scattered by every Wind.. Not a Divine Dream; a Revelation which I have made to him in his sleep: as appeareth by the following opposition, betwixt a dream, and the word of the Lord, but if any man has dreamed an ordinary dream, let him tell it as a dream; let him not entitle God to it.

Is not my word like a fire Full of life and efficacy, Ioh. 6.63. Heb. 4.12. like a fire, that warmeth, and healeth, and melteth, and consumeth the dross.? says the LORD, and like an hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces And like an hammer that breaketh the flints, so my Word breaketh hard hearts. Others think, that the Word is here compared to fire, and to an hammer, because of the certain effect that it should have upon those that would not obey it, to burn them up like fire, and break them in pieces like an hammer, and so think this Text well expounded by the Apostle, 2 Cor. 2.16. Certain it is, that Gods word is like fire in both senses, no words of men have an effect and efficacy like Gods Words, nothing but that taketh hold upon the Conscience, and has such an effect upon the hearts of men. No words shall so certainly and infallibly be justified and made good.?

Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, that steal my words, every one from his neighbour There are various opinions, as to what the Prophet meaneth here by those Prophets that stole the Lords words from their Neighbours; Some, by their Neighbour, understanding the true Prophets, from whom they stole those forms of Speech, Thus says the Lord, or, The word of the Lord, or, The burden of the Lord. Or some of the matter which they prophesied, though they mixed it with their own lies and deceits. Others by Neighbours understanding their associates, think that these false Prophets conspired together what to say to deceive the people, and so stole what they said one from another. Or, the generality of the People from whom they are said to steal the Lords Word, because they withheld it from them injuriously. Or by their Arts and Flatteries brought men out of love with, or fear of the Words of the Lord, which had by the true Prophets been delivered to them..

Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, that use their tongues Some think the Heb. word were more properly translated smooth their tongues: Vid. The English Annotations., and say, He says But the next words seem to assure us that the crime for which God here by the Prophet, reflecteth upon the false Prophets, was not so much their flattering People, and speaking to them such smooth things as pleased them, as their entitling of God to their lies, saying, He, that is, The Lord says. So it may be, though the word might be translated smooth, yet it is here better translated use..

Behold, I am against them that prophesie false dreams, That is, false things under the notion of things which I have revealed unto them in their sleep., says the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to erre by their lies, and by their lightness By lightness, here some understand volubility, and smoothness of tongue and speech: Others, lasciviousness: Others levity and inconstancy, the last seemeth most probably the sense., yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, says the LORD I sent them not (says God) therefore they shall not profit, none can expect Gods blessing upon their Ministry, that are not called, and sent of God into the Ministry..

¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD The true Prophets to let the People know how l ttle pleasing it was to them to be the Messengers of Gods threatnings, to denounce his judgments, usually began their prophesies of that nature calling them, The burden of the Lord, as may be seen, Isa. 13.1. & 15.1. & 22.1. Hab. 1.1. Zech. 9.1. Mal. 1.1. The profane People and false Prophets, and corrupt Priests, not loving to hear their doom, would ordinarily mock at the true Prophets; and in derision ask them, what was the burden of the Lord? what ill news they had for them next?? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, says the LORD God bids the Prophet tell them, That God would forsake them, either as to the Spirit of prophesie, they should have no more Prophets or (which is more probable) as to his special Providence, by which he had watched over, protected, and hitherto defended them; a Burden heavy enough, Hos. 9.12..

And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall say, The burden of the LORD That is, That shall in derision say thus, mocking at my threatnings and Judgments., I will even punish that man and his house I will not only punish him but his whole Family..

Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What has the LORD answered? and, What has the LORD spoken I will have you speak more reverently of me and my Word to my Prophets.?

And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more Not in scorn and derision, as not believing there were any such judgments, as they threaten, nor hardly as if I sent you no other messages but burdens.: for every mans word shall be his burden These false and irreverent speeches which are in every mans mouth, shall be burdensom to them, being such, as shall bring down divine Vengeance upon them.: for ye have perverted the words of the living God Because you have derided, or misinterpreted the words of God, the living God., of the LORD of hosts our God The sin of which is the more aggravated against you, because he is the living, mighty God, and because he has been our God..

Thus shalt thou say to the prophet To my true Prophet. You shall speak to them reverently, and as becometh you., What has the LORD answered thee? and what has the LORD spoken.

But sith ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus says the LORD, Because you say this word, The burden of the LORD Because you go on in your scoffing, and deriding my Word and my Prophets., and I have sent unto you, saying, ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD And that when I have expresly forbidden you those profane speeches, or that deriding form of speech; adding further contempt to your former profaneness..

Therefore behold, I, even I will utterly forget you I will forget you as to my Affection, and that is more than if all your friends forgat you. There is a great Emphasis in the doubling of the Pronoun, I even I., and I will forsake you I will forsake you as to the presence of my special gracious Providence., and the city that I gave you and your fathers And do not flatter your selves that I will not do it, because of your fathers, or because I gave this City to your fathers, for that very City I will withdraw my special Providence from, and that land, which heretofore was called, The land which the Lord thy God careth for upon which the eyes of the Lord are always from the beginning of the year, even to the end of the year, Deut. 11.12., and cast you out of my presence And I will cast both City, and people out of my gracious Presence. So as I will no longer do them good as I have done..

And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you And you shall be a reproach, and that not for a few days but for ever., and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten And a penal shame, which neither you nor those that see or hear of it shall forget. See such expressions, chap. 20.11..