The Biblical Illustrator ? Jeremiah (Ch.0~7) - ??????

?The Biblical Illustrator - Jeremiah (Ch.0~7)?(A Compilation)

General Introduction
Over 34,000 pages in its original 56 volume printing, the Biblical
Illustrator is a massive compilation of treatments on 10,000 passages of
Scripture. It is arranged in commentary form for ease of use in personal
study and devotion, as well as sermon preparation.
Most of the content of this commentary is illustrative in nature, and
includes from hundreds of famous authors of the day such as Dwight L.
Moody, Charles Spurgeon, J. C. Ryle, Charles Hodge, Alexander MacLaren,
Adam Clark, Matthew Henry, and many more. The collection also includes
lesser known authors published in periodicles and smaller publications
popular in that ara. Unlike modern publishers, Exell was apparently not
under any pressure to consolidate the number of pages.
While this commentary is not known for its Greek or Hebrew exposition, the
New Testament includes hundreds of references to, and explanations of,
Greek words.
Joseph S. Exell edited and compiled the 56 volume Biblical Illustrator
commentary. You will recognize him as the co-editor of the famous Pulpit
Commentary (this commentary is even larger than the Pulpit Commentary).
This remarkable work is the triumph of a life devoted to Biblical research
and study. Assisted by a small army of students, the Exell draws on the
rich stores of great minds since the beginning of New Testament times.
The Biblical Illustrator brings Scripture to life in a unique, illuminating
way. While other commentaries explain a Bible passage doctrinally, this
work illustrates the Bible with a collection of:
. illustrations
. outlines
. anecodtes
. history
. poems
. expositions
. geography
. sermons
. Bible backgrounds
. homiletics
for nearly every verse in the Bible. This massive commentary was originally
intended for preachers needing help with sermon preperation (because who
else in that day had time to wade through such a lengthy commentary?). But
today, the Biblical Illustrator provides life application, illumination,
inspiriation, doctrine, devotion, and practical content for all who teach,
preach, and study the Bible.

00 Overview

JEREMIAH
INTRODUCTION
The prophet's name and descent
The name Jeremiah was not uncommon (1 Chronicles 12:13; 2 Kings 23:31; cf.
Jeremiah 35:3). Our prophet is more precisely described as "son of Hilkiah"
(Jeremiah 1:1), by whom we are not to understand the high priest of this
name who held office in Josiah's days (2 Kings 22:1-20; 2 Kings 23:1-37),
since, instead of the definite statement which we should then expect, we
have only a general account: "of the priests at Anathoth in the land of
Benjamin"; the high priest without doubt had his seat at Jerusalem; on the
other hand, the priests settled at Anathoth, the old Levitical town (Joshua
21:18), the present Anata (a good hour northeast of Jerusalem; according to
Josephus, twenty stadia from Jerusalem), probably belonged, according to
1 Kings 2:26, to the line of Ithamar, not to that of Zadok. (C. Von
Orelli.)
The name of Jeremiah is significant. Some have supposed that it means that
he was exalted by the Lord. Others assert with more probability that it
means set by the Lord, as solid foundation; or sent forth by the Lord, as
lightning from the cloud, or as an arrow from a bow. Whichever etymology we
adopt, the name Jeremiah intimates that, whatever he did and suffered, all
was from the Lord. He was set by God's hand as a solitary beacon on a lofty
tower, in a dark night, in a stormy sea; lashed by waves and winds, but
never shaken from his foundations. (Bishop Chris. Wordsworth)
Political state of affairs
His call to the prophetic office came in the thirteenth year of Josiah.
Danger was once again gathering round Judah, and to Jeremiah was assigned a
more directly political position than to any other prophet. The destruction
of Sennacherib's army in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah (B.C. 693), though
it had not freed the land from predatory incursions, had nevertheless put
an end to all serious designs on the part of the Assyrians to reduce it to
the same condition as that to which Shalmaneser had reduced Samaria. The
danger of Judea really rose from Egypt on the one hand and Babylon on the
other. In Egypt, Psammetichus put an end to the subdivision of the country,
and made himself sole master in B.C. 649. As he reigned for fifty-four
years he was--during the last eighteen or nineteen years of his life--
contemporary with Josiah, but it was his successor Necho who slew Josiah at
Megiddo. Meanwhile, as Egypt grew in strength, so Nineveh declined, partly
from the effects of the Scythian invasion, but still more from the growing
power of the Medes, and from Babylon having achieved its independence. Two
years after the battle of Megiddo, Nineveh fell before a combined attack of
the Medes under Cyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopalassar. But
Nabopalassar does not seem to have been otherwise a warlike king, and Egypt
remained the dominant power till the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In that year
(B.C. 586) Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish. Having peaceably
succeeded his father, he returned to Judea, and Jehoiakim became his
vassal. After three years of servitude Jehoiakim rebelled (2 Kings 24:1),
and died. Three months after his son Jehoiachin, the queen-mother, and a
large number of nobles and artificers were carried captive to Babylon. The
growth of Egypt into a first-rate power under Psammetichus (2:18, 36)
raised the question of a close alliance with him. The youthful Jeremiah
gave his voice against it. Josiah recognised that voice as inspired, and
obeyed. His obedience cost him his life at Megiddo; but four years later
Necho was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish. On that day the fate of
the Jewish nation was decided, and the primary object of Jeremiah's mission
then ceased. The ministry of Jeremiah really belonged to the last eighteen
years of Josiah's reign. Judah's probation was then going on, her salvation
still possible; though each year Judah's guilt became heavier, her
condemnation more certain. But to the eye of man her punishment seemed more
remote than ever. Jehoiakim was the willing vassal of Egypt, the supreme
power. No wonder that, being an irreligious man, he scorned all Jeremiah's
predictions of utter and early ruin; no wonder that he destroyed Jeremiah's
roll, as the record of the outpourings of mere fanaticism. It was his last
chance, his last offer of mercy; and as he threw the torn fragments of the
roll on the fire he threw there in symbol his royal house, his doomed city,
the temple, and all the people of the land. It was in this fourth year of
Jehoiakim that Jeremiah boldly foretold the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar's
empire, and the wide limits over which it would extend. This prophecy
(chap. 25) placed his life in danger, so that "the Lord hid" him and Baruch
(Jeremiah 36:26). When Jeremiah appears again, Nebuchadnezzar was advancing
upon Jerusalem to execute the prophecy contained in Jeremiah 36:30-31. And
with the death of Jehoiakim the first period of Judah's history was brought
to a close. Though Jeremiah remained with Zedekiah, and tried to influence
him for good, yet his mission was over. He testifies himself that the
Jewish Church had gone with Jehoiachin to Babylon. Zedekiah and those who
remained in Jerusalem were but the refuse of a fruit basket from which
everything good had been culled (chap. 24), and their destruction was a
matter of course. Jeremiah held no distinctive office towards them. (Dean
Payne Smith.)
Jeremiah's personal characteristics
The personality of Jeremiah looks out on us from his book in more
individual distinctness than that of any other prophet. He reveals himself
as a soul of gentle nature, yielding, tender-hearted, affectionate, with
almost a woman's thirst for love, with which certainly the iron, unbending
firmness and immovable power of resistance belonging to him in his
prophetic sphere are in strange contrast. There were in turn two different,
widely diverging potencies,--the human flesh in its weakness, yet with all
its lawful generous impulses; and the Divine Spirit, with its boundless
strength. Thou h the former was thoroughly subject to the latter, it
suffered, sighed, bled under the heavy, almost intolerable, burden laid
upon it by God's Spirit and Word. No doubt the youth received the Divine
revelations with delighted eagerness (Jeremiah 15:16); but it went hard
with him to be obliged to renounce every joy of youth on account of the
hand of the Lord that came upon him, and to be obliged to experience and
proclaim to his people nothing but wrath, ruin, woe. How utterly all this
cut across his natural inclination (Jeremiah 15:17 f.). Moreover, the
office of this witness of Jehovah was in itself highly tragical; he had to
preach repentance to a people unfaithful to its God, while knowing that
this final call to salvation would pass away unheeded! He had to picture to
the nation and its God-forgetting leaders the terrible danger accruing to
it from its guilt, and he was not understood, because no one wished to
understand him! Thus he himself suffered most under the disobedience of the
nation which he loved, without being able to save it. And at the same time
he, the warmest, noblest friend of his country, was forced to let himself
be counted among traitors, as though in league with the enemy! And yet it
was God's inspiration that compelled him again and again to beat down
without mercy eve