Jeremiah Reproves Israel
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His heavenly messengers. He will not uphold and guard a people who
disregard His counsel and despise His reproofs.
The Warnings of God Rejected
Jeremiah was already deprived of his liberty because he would obey
God and give to the king and others occupying responsible positions
in Israel the words of warning which he had received from the mouth
of God. The Israelites would not accept these reproofs nor allow
their course to be questioned. They had manifested great anger and
contempt at the words of rebuke and at the judgments which were
predicted to come upon them if they continued in rebellion against the
Lord. Although Israel would not hear the word of divine counsel, it
did not make that word of less effect, neither did God cease to reprove
and to threaten with His displeasure and His judgments those who
refused to obey His requirements.
The Lord directed Jeremiah, saying: “Take thee a roll of a book,
and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against
Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I
spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may
be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do
unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way, that I
may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
Here is shown the Lord’s reluctance to give up His sinning people.
And lest Israel had so far neglected His reproofs and warnings as to let
them pass from their memory, He delays His judgments upon them and
gives them a full rehearsal of their disobedience and aggravating sins
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from the days of Josiah down to their own time, and of the judgments
He had pronounced in consequence of their transgressions. Thus they
had another opportunity to see their iniquity and repent. In this we see
that God does not delight in afflicting His people; but with a care that
surpasses that of a pitying father for a wayward child, He entreats His
wandering people to return to their allegiance.
The prophet Jeremiah, in obedience to the commands of God,
dictated the words that the Lord gave him to Baruch, his scribe, who
wrote them upon a roll. See
Jeremiah 36:4
. This message was a
reproof of the many sins of Israel and a warning of the consequences
that would follow a continuance of their evil course. It was an earnest