Jeremiah 3:6-10

It should seem, that this is the opening of a new sermon; perhaps it was preached at a different period from the former: but the subject is the same. A sad account is given of both kingdoms, Judah and Jerusalem. The Reader will not fail to recollect, that the division of the nation continued as it had long been, at this time, when the Prophet Jeremiah exercised his ministry. Ten tribes had revolted from the house of David, and became formed into a separate kingdom. But in one point they both agreed: namely, in their rebellion against God. How graciously the Lord takes occasion from the treachery of the one, and the backsliding of the other, to recommend the exceeding riches of his love and forbearance. The figure of a divorce is uncommonly striking, and it should seem, that the Lord was pleased with it, both to represent his love and union with our nature; and the incorrigible hardness and insensibility of the human heart. Hosea that had been prophesying to the Church some ages before, dwelt very largely in representing Israel's unworthiness, under the same figure. Hosea 1:1; Hosea 2:1; Hosea 3:1.