Scriptures Opened and Cases of Conscience Resolved, Jeremiah · Passage 50:4 3
Jer. 50. 4.
Weeping they ſhall go, and ſeek the Lord their God?
Qu. Wherefore ſhould they go out of Captivity, and when they went to meet with God, weeping, when partings cauſe weepings and meetings joy, Joh. 16. 6, 22. with Matth. 28. 8. Pſal. 126. 6?
A. Men (and ſo the Church) may weep, albeit there be cauſe of rejoycing before them, for divers reaſons, namely, out of joy, or, becauſe of Afflictions accompanying their comforts, or for their ſins.
Firſt, men may weep for joy] and becauſe of the Workings of Natural Affections upon ſtrange and un-expected comfortable changes and alterations; ſo it was with Joſeph's brethren; the revealing of himſelf to them (after a ſad condition before) was accompanied with weeping, Gen. 45. 13, 14. & 46. 29. Thus, when Archedamus ſent word of a great victory with much Loſs to the enemy, but of none on their part, the Spartans hearing of it, fell all a weeping; Ʋſq adeo Lacrumae, tum laetitiae tum dolori ſunt communes, Xenoph. Lib 7. Sect. 620.
Secondly, becauſe of manifold afflictions accompanying their comforts: As here in their return.
1. Becauſe they had been ſo long abſent from God, as Friends, met at laſt, weep becauſe they have wanted one another ſo long: When they ken'd a returning God, it might well grieve them that they had wanted his ſight Seventy years.
2. Becauſe divers of their brethren were ſcattered here and there, and abode ſtill in Babylon, as not able or not willing to return, Hab. 2. 6. Now every creature mourns when it wants its company.
3. Becauſe their Countrey was ſpoiled and waſted. A great Comfort it was to ſee Jeruſalem, builded as a City compact, Pſalm. 122. 3. but to ſee it burnt and broken and conſum'd, that was a weeping buſineſs, Neh. 1. 4.
4. Becauſe they were to meet with ſo many Enemies and Oppoſitions in their own Countrey; for though God made Heathen Kings to be for them; yet they had to do with malevolent men round about them, Neh. 2. 10. that would do them all hurt with all their heart, but no good, nor ſuffer to have any, but againſt their will. This they might foreſee when they went to Zion and grieve at it.
5. And eſpecially, becauſe the Temple was burnt, and the Lord had never an Houſe to dwell in with them; we may ſee the ſadneſs of this in the mournful poſture of thoſe fourſcore men, Jer. 41. 5, 6. that are ſaid indeed, to come with Offerings to the Houſe of the Lord; yet it is not probable that the news of the burning of that Houſe had not ſounded ſo far as Sechem and Shilo: They came therefore to preſent their piety, not ſo much in the Houſe as in the place where the Lord had had an Houſe, which becauſe it ſtood not now as before, therefore they were ſo ſad; for what's Canaan without Jeruſalem? Jeruſalem without Zion? Zion without God? and where was God then (moſt eminently) but in his Holy Temple?
6. Becauſe, though after their return, there was a new Temple erected, yet that fell ſo ſhort of the former that they came therefore weeping, Ezek. 3. 12. Hagg. 2. 33. To which we may add.
7. Becauſe they were never like to ſee things in their Countrey reſtored to any ſuch Beauty as they had ſeen it in formerly; to wit, looking on things with an eye of Senſe, and moſt had not the eye of Faith to look to Chriſt, Hag. 2. 7. yea, all generally had a dim eye in thoſe days as to things Spiritual.
Thirdly, There was cauſe enough to mourn for their Sin. In regard whereof,
1. There was a mourning making way for their coming out of Captivity, for the Lord hears Ephraim bemoaning, and then reſolves on their return, Jer. 31. 18, 19, 20,
2. When they came to their Countrey they had cauſe to weep for that ſo long continued, and ſo like to be continued Deſolation that was there becauſe of their Sin. It was mentioned before as a great part of their afflictions; but here it is repeated as reflecting on, and the fruit of, their Sin; which they ſaw they had great cauſe to lament when they had viewed it in that Looking-glaſs, that is, in the Nations ruine: as Joſeph's Brethren mourned for the ill and moſt ſinful uſage of their Brother, when they were ſo harſhly uſed themſelves. See Dan. 9. 8. 12, 13. 18. Ezra 9. 6, 7.
3. Though they rejoyced in the mercy they had in their return, yet even that Mercy gave them cauſe ſo much to mourn for their ſin againſt ſo good a God, Rom. 2. 4. Ezra 9. 8, 9, 10, 13, 14.
4. After they were come into their Countrey they ſinned grievouſly on a ſudden and in many things, Hag. 1. 4. and ſo had reaſon to come to the Houſe of the Lord (it ſeems before it was quite finiſhed) with trembling and weeping, Ezra 10. 1, 9. Nehem. 13. 7, 10, 17.
Howſoever therefore they returned rejoycing, Pſal. 6. 12, laſt; Looking to their enjoyment of God and his Goodneſs towards them; yet it was with weeping alſo, looking upon themſelves and their Sin, the impreſſions whereof they ſaw in their many-ways ſad Condition. We find on the ſame day, weeping in one reſpect, and great Mirth on another, Neh. 8. 9, 12.
But here three things may be added:
1. That this (as we ſaid in the former queſtion) may be referred to the times of Chriſt, unto whom many came in weeping in regard of their Sin? Mark 9. 24. Luke 7. 38. Act. 2. 37. and 16. 39.
2. And it may well be extended to that time when the Nation of the Jews ſhall be called, (in futurum tempus complenda haec prophetia ad huc reſtat. Oecolamp.) when no doubt they ſhall come in weepping for their infinite deſpight done to him, whom they ſhall know then to be the true Meſſiah and not a malefactor, Zech. 12. 10. & 13. 1. Then ſhall that pierce the Nation to the heart which hath pricked ſo many of the Nation already, Act. 2. 37. 41.
3. And it's ordinary for God's Children ſtill, to come in to God weeping in their firſt Converſion, yea and afterward alſo when they deal ill with God, Pſalm 51. 8. 17. Mat. 26. 75. for though they know their Sin to be pardoned, yet it's a woful thing Pſalm 88. 15. to endure the hidings of Gods face, the terrours and perplexities of Spirit that a pardoned Sinner (whom God will never ſend to Hell) may be put to undergo; And withal, they mourn the more with tears of Love becauſe their ſins are forgiven, Luk. 7. 47. Laſtly, In any ſpecial ſtrait which puts the Iſrael of God to a wreſtling with God, how much, in how many, is that wreſtling accompanied with weeping as well as managed with Supplication? Hoſ. 12. 4.