Jeremiah 14:8 O the hope of Israel, the savior thereof in time of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land… The greatest marvel of all creation is that the Son of God should come to redeem; and next to that is this, that having come, He should be neglected and rejected by those who had so long looked for Him. Here is the greatest wonder in all history: a nation neglecting the realisation of its own dream. Search your histories and see if you can find a parallel case. The old Jewish theocracy aspired to pretensions that Rome, Greece, Persia, and Egypt never dared to dream, to bestow to the world one universal king. And what is that land of Palestine, and what are these Jews who aspire to such pretensions as this?...It has no deep thought like India; no genius of stability like China; no sense of beauty like Greece, no high culture like Egypt, no powerful arms like Rome, and yet there is the fact; they speak concerning the kingdom their king should establish. "The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising." Yet, marvellous to relate, when she had given her King to the world she refused to crown Him. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not (the hope of Israel — a stranger in the land). George Mac Donald tells in one of his stories of a born-blind lamplighter who illuminated the city at night, but had no sense of what he was doing. Thus the Jews closed their eyes to the great light which they gave to the world. (Geo. Matheson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? |
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