(1.) If he said true, it was a sign that men's estates were sadly ruined, when even those who made the best appearance, really wanted necessaries; a common case, and a piteous one; some, who, having lived fashionably, are willing to put the best side outward, are yet, if the truth were known, in great straits, and go with heavy hearts, for want of bread and clothing. (2.) If he did not speak truth, it was a sign that men's consciences were sadly debauched, when, to avoid the expense of an office, they would load themselves with the guilt of perjury, and (which is the greatest madness in the world) would damn their souls to save their money. Matth. xvi. 26. (3.) However it was, it was a sign that the case of the nation was very bad, when nobody was willing to accept a place in the government of it, as despairing to have either credit or profit by it, which are the two things aimed at in men's common ambition of preferment.
3. The reason why God brought things to this sad pass, even among his own people; (which is given either by the prophet, or by him that refused to be a ruler;) it was not for want of good will to his country, but because he saw the case desperate, and past relief, and it would be to no purpose to attempt it; (v. 8.) Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; and they may thank themselves, they have brought their destruction upon their own heads, for their tongue and their doings are against the Lord; in word and action they brake the law of God, and therein designed an affront to him; they wilfully intended to offend him, in contempt of his authority, and defiance of his justice: their tongue was against the Lord, for they contradicted his prophets; and their doings were no better, they acted as they talked; it was an aggravation of their sin, that God's eye was upon them, and that his glory was manifested among them; but they provoked him to his face, as if the more they knew of his glory, the greater pride they took in slighting it, and turning it into shame. And this, this is it, for which Jerusalem is ruined. Note, the ruin both of persons and people is owing to their sins. If they did not provoke God, he would do them no hurt, Jer. xxv. 6.
9. The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not: Wo unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11. Wo unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 12. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13. The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 14. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.
Here God proceeds in his controversy with his people. Observe,
I. The ground of his controversy; it was for sin that God contended with them; if they vex themselves, let them look a little further, and they will see that they must thank themselves; Wo unto their souls! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Alas for their souls! (so it may be read, in a way of lamentation,) for they have procured evil to themselves, v. 9. Note, 1. The condition of sinners is woful and very deplorable. 2. It is the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin. Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and yet at the same time there may be a wo to their souls. 3. Whatever evil befalls sinners, it is of their own procuring, Jer. ii. 19.
That which is here charged upon them, is,
(1.) That the shame which should restrain them from their sins, was quite thrown off, and they were grown impudent, v. 9. This hardens men against repentance, and ripens them for ruin, as much as any thing; The show of their countenance doth witness against them, that their minds are vain, and lewd, and malicious; their eyes speak it plain, that they cannot cease from sin, 2 Pet. ii. 14. One may look them in the face, and guess at the desperate wickedness that there is in their hearts; They declare their sin as Sodom; so impetuous, so imperious, are their lusts, and so impatient of the least check; and so perfectly are all the remaining sparks of virtue extinguished in them. The Sodomites declared their sin, not only by the exceeding greatness of it, (Gen. xiii. 13.) so that it cried to heaven, (Gen. xviii. 20.). but by their shameless owning of that which was most shameful; (Gen. xix. 5.) and thus Judah and Jerusalem did: they were so far from hiding it, that they gloried in it, in the bold attempt they made upon virtue, and the victory they gained over their own convictions: they had a whore's forehead, (Jer. iii. 3.) and could not blush, (Jer. vi. 15.) Note, Those that are grown impudent in sin, are ripe for ruin; they that are past shame, (we say,) are past grace, and then past hope.
(2.) That their guides, who should direct them in the right way, put them out of the way, v. 12. "They who lead, (the princes, priests, and prophets,) mislead thee, they cause thee to err." Either they preached to them that which was false and corrupt, or if they preached that which was true and good, they contradicted it by their practices; and the people would sooner follow a bad example than a good exhortation: thus they destroyed the way of their paths, pulling down with one hand what they built up with the other. Qui te beatificant—They that call thee blessed, cause thee to err; so some read it. Their priests applauded them, as if nothing was amiss among them; cried, Peace, peace, to them, as if they were in no danger; and thus they caused them to go on in their errors.
(3.) That their judges who should have patronized and protected the oppressed, were themselves the greatest oppressors, v. 14, 15. The elders of the people, and the princes, who had learning, and could not but know better things, who had great estates, and were not under the temptation of necessity to encroach upon those about them, and who were men of honour, and should scorn to do a base thing, yet they have eaten up the vineyard. God's vineyard, which they were appointed to be the dressers and keepers of, they burnt; so the word signifies; they did as ill by it as its worst enemies could do, Ps. lxxx. 16. Or the vineyards of the poor; they wrested them out of their possession, as Jezebel did Naboth's; or devoured the fruits of them, fed their lusts with that which should have been the necessary food of indigent families; the spoil of the poor was hoarded up in their houses; when God came to search for stolen goods, there he found it, and it was a witness against them. It
