«It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion does not fail.”
Verse 23 reminds us that this unwavering love, expressed in acts of mercy, is «new every morning. It was true of the prophet, who died not in prison, or in the dungeon; and of the people of the Jews, who, though many of them perished by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, God did not destroy them completely, according to his generous promise (Jeremiah 30:11).
But He left them a seed, a remnant, from which the Messiah came, the mercy promised, and to which it was due because they were not completely cut off by their sins:
Their properties can be consumed, and also their bodies by the waste of diseases and, finally, by death; but not their souls, not only as to their being, but also as to their wellbeing, here and in the hereafter.
Though their peace, joy and comfort may disappear for a while, through temptation, desertion and prevailing corruption; and they may be in decreasing circumstances, as to the exercise of grace, yet the very principle can never be lost.
Neither can they perish eternally, nor be punished with an eternal destruction: all that should be attributed not to their own strength to preserve themselves, nor to any need of desert in them to be destroyed, or of power in God to consume them.
But to his «mercies» and «goodness» of him, the multitude of them; for there is an abundance of mercy, grace, and goodness in God, and several are examples of it; as in the election of his people from him to grace and glory; in the covenant of grace and blessings which concern them; in the redemption of Christ.
In regeneration by his Spirit of him; in the forgiveness of their sins; and in their complete salvation; which are so many reasons why they are not and will not be consumed.
«The mercies» or «goodness of the Lord, because they are not consumed», or «that the mercies of the Lord» Jarchi observes, that «tamnu» is like «tammu»; the «nun» is inserted, according to Aben Ezra, instead of duplicating the letter «mem».
And the first one has the sense of being this, in connection with it (Lamentations 3:21); «This reminds of the mercies of the Lord, which are not consumed»; to which the Targum agrees, «the goodness of the Lord, for it does not cease».
And so the Septuagint, «the mercies of the Lord, for they have not left me»; and in the same sense, the Syriac version is «the mercies of the Lord, for they have no end,» and Aben Ezra’s note on the text is almost in the same words, «for the mercies of God have no end,» because his compassions do not fail.
Or «his tender mercies of him» from him; of which he is full, and which are freely and sovereignly bestowed, and are the source of all good things, and which never fail; and this is another reason why the Lord’s people do not, and never will, burn out because of the Lord’s mercies, for they will never fail. For, though they are, if they fail, they may be consumed; but they are from everlasting to everlasting, and they stand with Christ as their covenant head; see (Psalm 103: 17) (89:28).
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