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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
worship, those things which He would give him to speak, diminishing
not a word, that they might hearken and turn from their evil ways.
Then God would repent of the punishment which He had purposed to
inflict upon them because of their wickedness.
The unwillingness of the Lord to chastise His erring people is here
vividly shown. He stays His judgments; He pleads with them to return
to their allegiance. He had brought them out of bondage that they
might faithfully serve Him, the only true and living God; but they had
wandered into idolatry, they had slighted the warnings given them by
His prophets. Yet He defers His chastisement to give them one more
opportunity to repent and avert the retribution for their sin. Through
His chosen prophet he now sends them a clear and positive warning,
and lays before them the only course by which they can escape the
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punishment which they deserve. This is a full repentance of their sin
and a turning from the evil of their ways.
The Lord commanded Jeremiah to say to the people: “Thus saith
the Lord; If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have
set before you, to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets,
whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye
have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will
make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” They understood
this reference to Shiloh and the time when the Philistines overcame
Israel and the ark of God was taken.
The sin of Eli was in passing lightly over the iniquity of his sons,
who were occupying sacred offices. The neglect of the father to reprove
and restrain his sons brought upon Israel a fearful calamity. The sons
of Eli were slain, Eli himself lost his life, the ark of God was taken
from Israel, and thirty thousand of the people were slain. All this
was because sin was lightly regarded and allowed to remain among
them. What a lesson is this to men holding responsible positions in
the church of God! It adjures them faithfully to remove the wrongs
that dishonor the cause of truth.
In the days of Samuel, Israel thought that the presence of the ark
containing the commandments of God would gain them the victory
over the Philistines, whether or not they repented of their wicked works.
Just so, in Jeremiah’s time, the Jews believed that the strict observance
of the divinely appointed services of the temple would preserve them
from the just punishment of their evil course.