Chú giải chương
Jeremiah Chương 24
서론
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日本語
bản gốc tiếng anh
In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a general prediction of the utter ruin of Jerusalem, that it should be forsaken and forgotten, which, whatever effect it had upon others, we have reason to think made the prophet himself very melancholy. Now, in this chapter, God encourages him, by showing him that, though the desolation seemed to be universal, yet all were not equally involved in it, but God knew how to distinguish, how to separate, between the precious and the vile. Some had gone into captivity already with Jeconiah; over them Jeremiah lamented, but God tells him that it should turn to their good. Others yet remained hardened in their sins, against whom Jeremiah had a just indignation; but those, God tells him, should go into captivity, and it should prove to their hurt. To inform the prophet of this, and affect him with it, here is, I. A vision of two baskets of figs, one very good and the other very bad, Jer 24:1-3. II. The explication of this vision, applying the good figs to those that were already sent into captivity for their good (Jer 24:4-7), the bad figs to those that should hereafter be sent into captivity for their hurt, Jer 24:8-10.
1-10
Vision of the Good and Bad Figs; Promises and Threatenings (599 BC)
日本語
良い悪いいちじくの幻、約束と脅し（紀元前599年）
¹ 主は私に示された。見よ、バビロンの王ネブカデレザルがユダの王エホヤキムの子エコニヤとユダのつかさたちを、大工や鍛冶と共にエルサレムから捕囚として連れ去り、バビロンに連れて行った後、主の宮の前に二つのいちじくのかごが置かれていた。
² 一つのかごには非常に良いいちじくがあり、最初に熟したいちじくのようであった。もう一つのかごには非常に悪いいちじくがあり、悪すぎて食べられなかった。
³ その時主は私に言われた。「エレミヤよ、あなたは何を見ているのか」。私は言った。「いちじくです。良いいちじくは非常に良く、悪いいちじくは非常に悪く、悪すぎて食べられないものです」。
⁴ さらに主のことばが私に臨んだ。
⁵ イスラエルの神、主はこう仰せられる。これらの良いいちじくのように、わたしはこの所からカルデヤ人の地に追放したユダの捕囚を認めよう。彼らの良きために。
⁶ わたしは目を彼らの上に置き、良きためにもたらす。彼らをこの地に再び連れ帰る。彼らを建てて、引き倒さず、彼らを植えて、引き抜かない。
⁷ わたしは彼らにわたしが主であることを知る心を与える。彼らはわたしの民となり、わたしは彼らの神となる。彼らが心を尽くしてわたしに立ち返るからである。
⁸ 悪すぎて食べられない悪いいちじくのように、主はこう仰せられる。わたしはユダの王ゼデキヤとそのつかさたち、この地に残るエルサレムの残りの者、およびエジプトの地に住む者たちをそのようにする。
⁹ わたしが彼らを追いやるすべての場所で、彼らを地のすべての王国に移され、そしり、ことわざ、嘲り、のろいとなる。彼らの害のために。
¹⁰ わたしは彼らの中に剣、ききん、疫病を送る。彼らがわたしと彼らの先祖に与えた地から絶ち滅ぼされるまで。
この短い章は、非常に多くの長い章に慰めやすい解釈を与えるのに役立つ。ある者には「死から死への香り」である同じ摂理が、神の恵みと祝福によって他の者には「いのちからいのちへの香り」とされ得ることを示す。そして、神の民が他の者たちと同じ災いにあずかるにせよ、それは他の者たちにとっても同じではなく、彼らの良きために設計され、彼らの良きために終わることを。彼らには優しい父の手にある矯正のむちであり、他の者には正しいさばきつかさの手にある復讐の剣である。観察せよ。
一、この説教の時期。エコニヤの捕囚の後、その直後であった（エレミヤ24:1）。エコニヤ自身は「軽蔑された壊れた器」であったが、彼と共に非常に価値ある人々が連れ去られた。エゼキエルもその一人（エゼキエル1:1-2）。多くの「ユダのつかさたち」がその時捕囚に行き、ダニエルとその仲間は少し前に連れ去られた。民の中では「大工と鍛冶」だけが強制的に連れ去られた。カルデヤ人がそれらの職の才能ある者を必要としたからか（彼らは占星術師や星観察者を大いに持っていたが、鍛冶と大工をひどく欠いていた）。あるいはユダヤ人が彼らの損失を激しく感じ、彼らを欠いては都市を要塞化し、戦争の武器を備えることができないからか。今、敬虔な預言者が大いに心に留めた敬虔な人々がその捕囚で連れ去られたようである。それを誇り、捕囚の運命に落ちた者たちを侮辱する者たちがいる一方で。御注意せよ。最初の、最も大きな苦しみに遭う者たちが最悪の、最も大きな罪人であると結論してはならない。おそらくここでしたように、まったく逆であることが現れるかもしれない。
二、捕囚のこの区別が預言者の心に表現された幻。彼は「宮の前に置かれた二つのいちじくのかご」を見た。神の誉れのために初穂としてささげる準備ができてそこにあった。おそらく祭司たちはその務めにおいて怠惰で、それを受け取り、律法に従って処理する準備がなかった。それゆえエレミヤはそれらが「宮の前に」立っているのを見た。しかし幻の意義は、一つのかごのいちじくが並外れて良く、もう一つのかごのいちじくが極度に悪かったことである。人の子らは皆、いちじくの木の実のように、神と人に奉仕するように用いられ得る（士師9:11）。しかし良いいちじくのように何よりも快い者もあれば、損なわれた腐ったりいちじくのように何よりも鼻持ちならない者もある。悪い人よりも卑しい被造物はなく、敬虔な人よりも価値ある被造物はない。良いいちじくは最も受け入れられ（ミカ7:1）、季節に新しく入った時に最も尊ばれる最初に熟したもののようであった。悪いいちじくは「悪すぎて食べられない」ものであった。それらは創造の目的に答えることができず、快くも、食糧としても良くなかった。それでは何の役に立つのか。もし神が人から誉れを受けず、その世代が奉仕を受けないなら、彼らは食べられない悪いいちじくのようなものであり、いかなる良い目的にも答えない。「もし塩がその味を失えば、それ以降は肥やしの山に捨てる以外に適さない」（ルカ14:35）。主の幕屋の戸口で主に献げられる者のうち、ある者は真誠であり、非常に良い。他の者は神に偽り、非常に悪い。罪人は最悪の人々であり、偽善者は最悪の罪人である。Corruptio optimi est pessima――最も良いものは腐敗すると最も悪いものとなる。
三、この幻の解釈と適用。神はそれによって、幸いな帰還を保証することによって、捕囚に行った者の落ち込んだ霊を上げ、悲惨な捕囚を保証することによって、エルサレムにまだとどまる者の誇り高く安心した霊をへりくだらせ、目を覚まさせることを意図された。
- ここに非常に良く、最初に熟した良いいちじくの教訓がある。これらは敬虔な捕囚を表した。彼らは最初に滅亡のために熟したように見えた。彼らが最初に捕囚に行ったからである。しかし最初にあわれみのために熟すことが証され、彼らの捕囚は彼らを熟させるのに役立つであろう。これらは良いいちじくが私たちにそうであるように神に喜ばれ、用いるために注意深く保たれるであろう。ここで観察せよ。 (1) すでに捕囚に連れ行かれた者たちが、神が認められる良いいちじくであった。これは次のことを示す。[1] 私たちは「目の前のすべてのもの」によって神の愛や憎しみを決定できない。神のさばきが広がっている時、最初にそれらに捕らえられる者が常に最悪であるとは限らない。[2] 早期の苦しみは時に私たちにとって最善であることが証される。子どもが早く矯正されるほど、その矯正がより良い効果を持つ可能性がある。最初に捕囚に行った者たちは「父が愛し、早く懲らす」子のようであった。望みのある間に懲らす。そしてそれは良く働いた。しかし後に残った者たちは長く「自分自身に任された」子のようであった。後に矯正される時に頑固になり、それによって悪くなる（哀歌3:37）。 (2) 神は彼らの捕囚がご自身のわざであることを認められる。誰がその道具であれ、神がそれを命じ、導かれた（エレミヤ24:5）。「わたしは彼らをこの所からカルデヤ人の地に遣わした」。神がご自身の金を試すために炉に置く。神の手は、特に良い人々の苦難において見られなければならない。さばきつかさが犯罪者を執行人の手に渡すが、父は自分の手で子を矯正する。 (3) この恥ずかしく不快な捕囚でさえ、神は彼らの益のために意図された。そして神の意図は決して挫折しないことを私たちは確信する。「わたしは彼らを彼らの良きためにカルデヤ人の地に遣わした」。それはあらゆる点で彼らの害のように見えた。彼らの財産、誉れ、自由の滅亡としてだけでなく、親族や友人から彼らを引き離し、彼らを敵や圧迫者の力の下に置くとしてだけでなく。彼らの霊を沈ませ、その信仰を落胆させ、神の神託と規定の益を奪い、誘惑にさらすとして。しかしそれは彼らの良きために設計され、実際にそうであった。彼らの多くにとって。「食らう者から肉が出た」。苦難によって彼らは罪を確信し、神の手の下でへりくだり、世から離れ、真剣になり、祈ることを教えられ、その不義から立ち返った。特に彼らは偶像礼拝への傾きからいやされた。そしてこうして「彼らが苦しめられたことは彼らにとって良かった」（詩篇119:67,71）。 (4) 神は彼らに捕囚の中で彼らを認めることを約束される。彼らが見捨てられたように見えても、認められるであろう。後に残したそそる親族は彼らをほとんど認めないが、神は「わたしは彼らを認めよう」と言われる。御注意せよ。「主はご自身の者を知っておられ」、すべての状態で彼らを認められる。裸や剣が彼らを神の愛から引き離さない。 (5) 神は彼らの悩みの中での保護と、時が来ればその中からの栄光ある救出を保証される（エレミヤ24:6）。「彼らの良きために」捕囚に送られたので、彼らはそこで失われない。それは精錬者が炉に置く金のようである。[1] 神はそれがそこにある間、目を留められる。注意深い目であり、損傷を受けないように。「わたしは彼らの上に目を置き、良きためにもたらす」。すべてを最善のために配慮するため。苦難のすべての状況がその大いなる目的を達成するために合流するように。[2] 神は必ずそれに意図されたわざが終われば再び炉から取り出される。「わたしは彼らをこの地に再び連れ帰る」。彼らは厳しい訓練の下でしばらく改良のために外国に送られた。しかし試練を終えた時、父の家に連れ戻される。[3] 神は精錬した後に金を形作り、ご自身の用にふさわしい誉れの器とする。このように神が彼らを試練から連れ戻された時、神は「彼らを建て」、ご自身の住まいとする。「彼らを植え」、ご自身のぶどう園とする。彼らの捕囚は粗い石を四角に切り、神の建物にふさわしくするためであり、若い木を剪定し、神の植え付けにふさわしくするためであった。 (6) 神は霊的なあわれみを彼らに与えることによって、彼らのために意図されたこれらの一時的なあわれみに彼らを備えることを約束される（エレミヤ24:7）。これが彼らの捕囚を彼らの良きものとする。これが彼らの苦難の改善であり、救出への資格となる。私たちの悩みが私たちのために聖別される時、私たちはそれが良く終わると確信できる。約束されるものは、[1] 彼らが神をより良く知るようになること。彼らはバビロンでの神の摂理によって、エルサレムでのすべての神の神託と規定によって学んだ以上に神を学ぶであろう。神の恵みに感謝。もしそれがバビロンで彼らに力強く働かなかったなら、彼らは永遠に神を忘れたであろうから。ここに「わたしは彼らに」、頭ではなく、「わたしを知る心を与える」と約束される。神の正しい知識は概念や思弁ではなく、実践的判断の確信が意志と愛情を導き、支配することにある。「その戒めを行うすべての者は良い理解を持つ」（詩篇111:10）。神が神を知るための真誠な望みと傾きを与える所では、神はその知識を与えられる。神ご自身が神を知る心を与えられる。さもなければ私たちはその無知の中に永遠に滅びるであろう。[2] 彼らが完全に神に立ち返ること。神の御旨をその規則として、神の奉仕をその務めとして、神の栄光をその目的として。「彼らは心を尽くしてわたしに立ち返る」。神ご自身が彼らのために彼らがそうなることを引き受ける。もし神が私たちを立ち返らせられるなら、私たちは立ち返るであろう。これは前者に続く。神を正しく知る心を持つ者は神に立ち返るだけでなく、心を尽くして立ち返るからである。反逆において頑なな者、あるいは宗教において偽善的な者は、真に神を知らないと言えるからである。[3] こうして彼らがかつてのように契約において再び神に迎えられること。「彼らはわたしの民となり、わたしは彼らの神となる」。神は彼らをご自身の民として認められる。以前のように。ご自身を彼らに啓示することにおいて、彼らの奉仕を受け入れることにおいて、彼らのために恵み深く現れることにおいて。そして彼らは神を彼らの神として認める自由を持つ。神への祈りと神からの期待において。御注意せよ。神から離れ去った者も、真誠に神に立ち返るなら、永遠の契約のすべての特権と慰めに、誰と同じように自由に迎えられる。その契約はここにおいてよく整えられている。契約におけるすべての罪過が私たちを契約から投げ出すわけではなく、苦難が契約の愛と一致するだけでなく、そこから流れ出る。
- ここに悪いいちじくの教訓がある。「ゼデキヤとそのつかさたち」とその党派は「なお地に残る」、十分に誇り高く安心している（エゼキエル11:3）。多くは避難のためにエジプトに逃げた。彼らは自分たちと自分たちの安全のためにうまく立ち回ったと思い、神の命令に逆らってそうしたが、自分たちのために賢明に行動したと誇った。さて、捕囚に行った者たちをこのように軽蔑して見たこれら両方について、ここで脅かされる。(1) すでに連れ去られた者が一つの国に定住し、捕囚にあっても互いの交わりの慰めを持ったのに対し、これらは「地のすべての王国に」散らされ、移され、互いの喜びを持たないであろう。(2) 彼らは彼らの良きために捕囚に連れ行かれたのに対し、これらは「彼らの害のために」すべての国に移される。彼らの苦難は彼らをへりくだらせるどころか、彼らをかたくなにし、神に近づけるどころか、神から遠ざけるであろう。(3) 彼らは悩みの中で神に認められる誉れを持つであろうが、これらはすべての人類に見捨てられる恥を持つであろう。「わたしが彼らを追いやるすべての場所で、彼らはそしりとことわざとなる」。「あの人はユダヤ人のように偽りで誇り高い」「あの人はユダヤ人のように貧しく惨めだ」。すべての隣人たちが彼らと、彼らにもたらされた災難を冷やかしにするであろう。(4) 彼らは「自分たちの地に帰る」のに対し、これらは二度とそれを見ない。彼らの先祖に与えられた神の地であったと訴えても無駄である。彼らが神から受け、従順の条件の上で神から与えられたから。(5) 彼らはより良い時のために残されたのに対し、これらはより悪い時のために残される。どこに移されても「剣、ききん、疫病」が彼らの後を追い、まもなく追いつき、委任を受けて来るので、彼らに打ち勝つであろう。神は正義から逃げる者を追及するために多様なさばきを持つ。一つのがれた者は別のものを期待でき、悔い改めて改革するまで。
確かにこの預言はその世代の人々において成就した。それでも、エコニヤの捕囚の者とゼデキヤの捕囚の者との間にそのような著しい違いについて読まないので、これはローマ人によるユダヤ人の最後の滅亡への典型的な言及を持つことがありそうである。その中で信じた者たちは配慮されたが、不信仰において頑なであり続けた者たちは「そそりとのろい」としてすべての国に追いやられ、今日までそうである。
bản gốc tiếng anh
Vision of the Good and Bad Figs; Promises and Threatenings (599 BC)
¹ The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
² One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
³ Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
⁴ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
⁵ Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
⁶ For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
⁷ And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
⁸ And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
⁹ And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
This short chapter helps us to put a very comfortable construction upon a great many long ones, by showing us that the same providence which to some is a savour of death unto death may by the grace and blessing of God be made to others a savour of life unto life; and that, though God's people share with others in the same calamity, yet it is not the same to them that it is to others, but is designed for their good and shall issue in their good; to them it is a correcting rod in the hand of a tender Father, while to others it is an avenging sword in the hand of a righteous Judge. Observe,
I. The date of this sermon. It was after, a little after, Jeconiah's captivity, Jer 24:1. Jeconiah was himself a despised broken vessel, but with him were carried away some very valuable persons, Ezekiel for one (Eze 1:12); many of the princes of Judah then went into captivity, Daniel and his fellows were carried off a little before; of the people only the carpenters and the smiths were forced away, either because the Chaldeans needed some ingenious men of those trades (they had a great plenty of astrologers and stargazers, but a great scarcity of smiths and carpenters) or because the Jews would severely feel the loss of them, and would, for want of them, be unable to fortify their cities and furnish themselves with weapons of war. Now, it should seem, there were many good people carried away in that captivity, which the pious prophet laid much to heart, while there were those that triumphed in it, and insulted over those to whose lot it fell to go into captivity. Note, We must not conclude concerning the first and greatest sufferers that they were the worst and greatest sinners; for perhaps it may appear quite otherwise, as it did here.
II. The vision by which this distinction of the captives was represented to the prophet's mind. He saw two baskets of figs, set before the temple, there ready to be offered as first-fruits to the honour of God. Perhaps the priests, being remiss in their duty, were not ready to receive them and dispose of them according to the law, and therefore Jeremiah sees them standing before the temple. But that which was the significancy of the vision was that the figs in one basket were extraordinarily good, those in the other basket extremely bad. The children of men are all as the fruits of the fig-tree, capable of being made serviceable to God and man (Jdg 9:11); but some are as good figs, than which nothing is more pleasant, others as damaged rotten figs, than which nothing is more nauseous. What creature viler than a wicked man, and what more valuable than a godly man! The good figs were like those that are first ripe, which are most acceptable (Mic 7:1) and most prized when newly come into season. The bad figs are such as could not be eaten, they were so evil; they could not answer the end of their creation, were neither pleasant nor good for food; and what then were they good for? If God has no honour from men, nor their generation any service, they are even like the bad figs, that cannot be eaten, that will not answer any good purpose. If the salt have lost its savour, it is thenceforth fit for nothing but the dunghill. Of the persons that are presented to the Lord at the door of his tabernacle, some are sincere, and they are very good; others dissemble with God, and they are very bad. Sinners are the worst of men, hypocrites the worst of sinners. Corruptio optimi est pessima—That which is best becomes, when corrupted, the worst.
III. The exposition and application of this vision. God intended by it to raise the dejected spirit of those that had gone into captivity, by assuring them of a happy return, and to humble and awaken the proud and secure spirits of those who continued yet in Jerusalem, by assuring them of a miserable captivity.
1. Here is the moral of the good figs, that were very good, the first ripe. These represented the pious captives, that seemed first ripe for ruin, for they went first into captivity, but should prove first ripe for mercy, and their captivity should help to ripen them; these are pleasing to God, as good figs are to us, and shall be carefully preserved for use. Now observe here,
(1.) Those that were already carried into captivity were the good figs that God would own. This shows, [1.] That we cannot determine of God's love or hatred by all that is before us. When God's judgments are abroad those are not always the worst that are first seized by them. [2.] That early suffering sometimes proves for the best to us. The sooner the child is corrected the better effect the correction is likely to have. Those that went first into captivity were as the son whom the father loves, and chastens betimes, chastens while there is hope; and it did well. But those that staid behind were like a child long left to himself, who, when afterwards corrected, is stubborn, and made worse by it, La 3:37.
(2.) God owns their captivity to be his doing. Whoever were the instruments of it, he ordered and directed it (Jer 24:5): I have sent them out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. It is God that puts his gold into the furnace, to be tried; his hand is, in a special manner, to be eyed in the afflictions of good people. The judge orders the malefactor into the hand of an executioner, but the father corrects the child with his own hand.
(3.) Even this disgraceful uncomfortable captivity God intended for their benefit; and we are sure that his intentions are never frustrated: I have sent them into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. It seemed to be every way for their hurt, not only as it was the ruin of their estates, honours, and liberties, separated them from their relations and friends, and put them under the power of their enemies and oppressors, but as it sunk their spirits, discouraged their faith, deprived them of the benefit of God's oracles and ordinances, and exposed them to temptations; and yet it was designed for their good, and proved so, in the issue, as to many of them. Out of the eater came forth meat. By their afflictions they were convinced of sin, humbled under the hand of God, weaned from the world, made serious, taught to pray, and turned from their iniquity; particularly they were cured of their inclination to idolatry; and thus it was good for them that they were afflicted, Ps 119:67,71.
(4.) God promises them that he will own them in their captivity. Though they seem abandoned, they shall be acknowledged; the scornful relations they left behind will scarcely own them, or their kindred to them, but God says, I will acknowledge them. Note, The Lord knows those that are his, and will own them in all conditions; nakedness and sword shall not separate them from his love.
(5.) God assures them of his protection in their trouble, and a glorious deliverance out of it in due time, Jer 24:6. Being sent into captivity for their good, they shall not be lost there; but it shall be with them as it is with gold which the refiner puts into the furnace. [1.] He has his eye upon it while it is there, and it is a careful eye, to see that it sustain no damage: "I will set my eyes upon them for good, to order every thing for the best, that all the circumstances of the affliction may concur to the answering of the great intention of it." [2.] He will be sure to take it out of the furnace again as soon as the work designed upon it is done: I will bring them again to this land. They were sent abroad for improvement awhile, under a severe discipline; but they shall be fetched back, when they have gone through their trial there, to their Father's house. [3.] He will fashion his gold when he has refined it, will make it a vessel of honour fit for his use; so, when God has brought them back from their trial, he will build them and make them a habitation for himself, will plant them and make them a vineyard for himself. Their captivity was to square the rough stones and make them fit for his building, to prune up the young trees and make them fit for his planting.
(6.) He engages to prepare them for these temporal mercies which he designed for them by bestowing spiritual mercies upon them, Jer 24:7. It is this that will make their captivity be for their good; this shall be both the improvement of their affliction and their qualification for deliverance. When our troubles are sanctified to us, then we may be sure that they will end well. Now that which is promised is, [1.] That they should be better acquainted with God; they should learn more of God by his providences in Babylon than they had learned by all his oracles and ordinances in Jerusalem, thanks to divine grace, for, if that had not wrought mightily upon them in Babylon, they would for ever have forgotten God. It is here promised, I will give them, not so much a head to know me, but a heart to know me, for the right knowledge of God consists not in notion and speculation, but in the convictions of the practical judgment directing and governing the will and affections. A good understanding have all those that do his commandments, Ps 111:10. Where God gives a sincere desire and inclination to know him he will give that knowledge. It is God himself that gives a heart to know him, else we should perish for ever in our ignorance. [2.] That they should be entirely converted to God, to his will as their rule, his service as their business, and his glory as their end: They shall return to me with their whole heart. God himself undertakes for them that they shall; and, if he turn us, we shall be turned. This follows upon the former; for those that have a heart to know God aright will not only turn to him, but turn with their whole heart; for those that are either obstinate in their rebellion, or hypocritical in their religion, may truly be said to be ignorant of God. [3.] That thus they should be again taken into covenant with God, as much to their comfort as ever: They shall be my people, and I will be their God. God will own them, as formerly, for his people, in the discoveries of himself to them, in his acceptance of their services, and in his gracious appearances on their behalf; and they shall have liberty to own him for their God in their prayers to him and their expectations from him. Note, Those that have backslidden from God, if they do in sincerity return to him, are admitted as freely as any to all the privileges and comforts of the everlasting covenant, which is herein well-ordered, that every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant, and that afflictions are not only consistent with, but flowing from, covenant-love.
2. Here is the moral of the bad figs. Zedekiah and his princes and partizans yet remain in the land, proud and secure enough, Eze 11:3. Many had fled into Egypt for shelter, and they thought they had shifted well for themselves and their own safety, and boasted that though therein they had gone contrary to the command of God yet they had acted prudently for themselves. Now as to both these, that looked so scornfully upon those that had gone into captivity, it is here threatened, (1.) That, whereas those who were already carried away were settled in one country, where they had the comfort of one another's society, though in captivity, these should be dispersed and removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, where they should have no joy one of another. (2.) That, whereas those were carried captives for their good, these should be removed into all countries for their hurt. Their afflictions should be so far from humbling them that they should harden them, not bring them nearer to God, but set them at a greater distance from him. (3.) That, whereas those should have the honour of being owned of God in their troubles, these should have the shame of being abandoned by all mankind: In all places whither I shall drive them they shall be a reproach and a proverb. "Such a one is as false and proud as a Jew"—"Such a one is as poor and miserable as a Jew." All their neighbours shall make a jest of them, and of the calamities brought upon them. (4.) That, whereas those should return to their own land, never to see it more, and it shall be of no avail to them to plead that it was the land God gave to their fathers, for they had it from God, and he gave it to them upon condition of their obedience. (5.) That, whereas those were reserved for better times, these were reserved for worse; wherever they are removed the sword, and famine, and pestilence, shall be sent after them, shall soon overtake them, and, coming with commission so to do, shall overcome them. God has variety of judgments wherewith to prosecute those that fly from justice; and those that have escaped one may expect another, till they are brought to repent and reform.
Doubtless this prophecy had its accomplishment in the men of that generation yet, because we read not of any such remarkable difference between those of Jeconiah's captivity and those of Zedekiah's, it is probable that this has a typical reference to the last destruction of the Jews by the Romans, in which those of them that believed were taken care of, but those that continued obstinate in unbelief were driven into all countries for a taunt and a curse, and so they remain to this day.
前の章の終わりで、私たちはエルサレムの完全な滅び、すなわち見捨てられ、忘れられるであろうという一般的な預言を見た。これが他の人々にどのような影響を与えたにせよ、預言者自身を非常に陰うつにしたと考えるべき理由がある。本章において、神は彼を励まされる。荒廃が普遍的なもののように見えても、すべての者が同じようにそれに関与しているわけではなく、神は尊いものと卑しいものとをどのように区別し、分離されるかを知っておられるからである。ある者たちはすでにエコヌヤと共に捕囚とされた。エレミヤは彼らのために嘆いたが、神はそれが彼らの益となると告げられる。他の者たちはなおその罪の中で頑なであり、エレミヤは彼らに対して正しい憤りを感じていたが、神は彼らも捕囚とされ、それは彼らの害となると告げられる。預言者にこれを知らせ、彼に感銘を与えるために、ここに次の内容がある。一、一方は非常に良く、他方は非常に悪い、二つのいちじくの籠の幻（エレミヤ書24:1-3）。二、この幻の説明。良いいちじくは、彼らの益のためにすでに捕囚に送られた者たちに当てはめられ（エレミヤ書24:4-7）、悪いいちじくは、後になって彼らの害のために捕囚に送られる者たちに当てはめられる（エレミヤ書24:8-10）。