JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 13

WARNINGS AND LAMENTATIONS

Vs. 1-11: THE LINEN GIRDLE: AN OBJECT LESSON

1. At the Lord’s command, Jeremiah purchases a linen girdle and puts it on-with the understanding that he is not to wash it, (vs. 1-2).

a. The lesson from this symbolic act is for the prophet’s own benefit.

b. The Lord required more symbolic acts of Jeremiah than of any other prophet, (vs. 16:1-4, 5-13).

2. In obedience to a further command of the Lord, Jeremiah went to the Euphrates (approximately 250 miles) – still wearing the unwashed girdle; at God’s command, he took it off, hid it in the cleft of a rock and returned to Jerusalem, (vs. 3-5).

3. After many days, the Lord sent him back to dig up the filthy garment that he had hidden, (vs. 6-7).

a. Exposed to sun, wind, dust and rain; the garment was now rotten and shredded.

b. It was WORTHLESS!-good for nothing!

4. As Jeremiah held the worthless garment in his hand, the Lord spoke to him again – revealing this as a symbol of what was happening to Judah and Jerusalem who, in pride and stubbornness, had rejected the love of Jehovah, to chase after false gods, (vs. 8-10).

a. When one turns away from God his life begins to rot! (Lev 26:14; Lev 26:19-22; Isa 2:10-17; comp. Isa 23:8-9; Zep 3:11-13).

b. God is the source of strength for all humanity; apart from a loving and intimate relationship with Him, no one can experience life at its fullest and best -for fullness of life rests in Him “in whom we live and move and have our being,” (Act 17:28).

c. .Any man, or nation, that refuses to trust in God and walk in loving loyalty (in the way of His appointment) before Him, will soon discover that deterioration has set in; it loses its power and begins to fall apart, (Jer 11:8; Jer 11:10; Num 14:11-12; 2Ch 36:15-21).

d. Man or nation, apart from the true God, will be as this filthy, rotten garment-GOOD FOR NOTHING! (comp. Mat 5:13).

5. But, the full force of the lesson appears in verse 11.

a. God has chosen and designed His covenant people for a walk of intimacy with Himself, (Exo 19:5-6; Deu 7:6-11; Deu 32:10-11).

b. This linen garment was one of the most intimate that a man could put on – illustrating the nearness of relationship that the Lord desires with His people.

c. And the Lord has good reason for desiring this nearness.

1) He wants to set us forth, as His own people, before an unbelieving world, (Jer 7:23-26).

2) He wants to make us a NAME for Himself, (Jer 32:19-20; Isa 63:11-14; Dan 9:13-15; comp. Isa 62:2-4).

3) He wants us to show forth His praise, (Jer 33:7-9; Isa 43:20-21; Psa 102:18-22; Luk 1:68-69; Luk 1:74-75).

4) He wants us to glorify His name, (Eph 3:20).

5) And He wants us to be “a people for His own possession,” (1Pe 2:9) – to show forth His glorious excellencies in all the earth; to be His witnesses, ambassadors and joyful servants!

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

I have said that there is here a new prophecy; for the Prophet is said to buy for himself a girdle or a belt, or, according to some, a truss or breeches; and as mention is made of linen, this opinion may be probable; but אזור, asur, means not only the breeches which they then wore, but also a girdle or belt, according to what Isaiah says, when, speaking figuratively of Christ’s kingdom, that faithfulness would be the girdle of his loins. (Isa 11:5) It, may here, however, be taken for breeches as well as for a girdle. (70)

As to the matter in hand, it makes no great difference. The Prophet then is bidden to buy for himself a linen girdle or a linen breeches, and he is also bidden to go to Euphrates, and to hide the girdle in a hole. He is again bidden to go the second time to Euphrates, and to draw the girdle from the hole, and he found it marred. The application follows; for God declares that he would thus deal with the Jews; though he had had them as a belt, he would yet cast them away. As he had adorned them, so he designed them to be an ornament to him; for the glory of God shines forth in his ChurJeremiah The Jews then, as Isaiah says, were a crown of glory and a royal diadem in God’s hand. (Isa 62:3) Hence he compares them here most fitly to a belt or a girdle. Though then their condition was honorable, yet God threatens that he would cast them away; so that, being hidden, they might contract rottenness in a cavern of the Euphrates, that is, in Assyria and Chaldea. This is the meaning of the prophecy.

But no doubt a vision is here narrated, and not a real transaction, as some think, who regard Jeremiah as having gone there; but what can be imagined more absurd? He was, we know, continually engaged in his office of a teacher among his own people. Had he undertaken so long a journey, and that twice, it would have taken him some months. Hence contentious must he be, who urges the words of the Prophet, and holds that he must have gone to the Euphrates and hidden there his girdle. We know that this form of speaking is common and often used by the prophets: they narrate visions as facts.

We must also observe, that God might have spoken plainly and without any similitude; but as they were not only ignorant, but also stupid, it was found necessary to reprove their torpidity by an external symbol. This was the reason why God confirmed the doctrine of his Prophet by an external representation. Had God said, “Ye have been to me hitherto as a belt, ye were my ornament and my glory, not indeed through your merit or worthiness, but because I have united you to myself, that ye might be a holy people and a priestly kingdom; but now I am constrained to cast you away; and as a person throws from him and casts a girdle into some hole, so that after a long time he finds it rotten, so it will be with you, after having been hidden a long time beyond Euphrates; ye shall there contract rottenness, which will mar you altogether, so that your appearance will be very different, when a remnant of you shall come from thence:” This indeed might have been sufficient; but in that state of security and dullness in which we know the Jews were, such a simple statement would not have so effectually penetrated into their hearts, as when this symbol was presented to them. The Prophet, therefore, says, that he was girded with a belt, that the belt was hid in a hole near Euphrates, and that there it became marred; and then he adds, so shall it be done to you. This statement, as I have said, more sharply touched the Jews, so that they saw that the judgment of God was at hand.

With regard to the similitude of girdle or breeches, we know how proudly the Jews gloried in the thought that God was bound to them; and he would have really been so, had they been in return faithful to him: but as they had become so disobedient and ungrateful, how could God be bound to them? He had indeed chosen them to be a people to himself, but this condition was added, that they were to be as a chaste wife, as he had become, according to what we have seen, a husband to them. But they had prostituted themselves and had become shamefully polluted with idols. As then they had perfidiously departed from their marriage engagement, was not God freed from his obligations? according to what is said by Isaiah,

“

There is no need to give you a bill of divorcement, for your mother is an adulteress.” (Isa 1:1)

The Prophet then, in this place, meant in a few words to shake off from the Jews those vain boastings in which they indulged, when they said that they were God’s people and the holy seed of Abraham. “True,” he says, “and I will concede more to you, that you were to God even as a belt, by which men usually adorn themselves; but God adopted you, that you might serve him chastely and faithfully; but now, as ye have made void his covenant, he will cast away this belt, which is a disgrace to him and not an ornament, and will throw it into a cavern where it will rot.” Such is the view we are to take of this belt, as we shall hereafter see more clearly.

(70) It is rendered “ περίζωμα — a girdle,” by the Septuagint; — “ lumbare — a garment for the loins,” by the Vulgate; — “ sudarium — a napkin,” by the Syriac; — “ cingulum — a girdle,” by the Targum and Arabic. The Hebrew word never means anything but a girdle or belt, as the verb signifies to surround, to bind.

Calvin makes no remark on the command, not to put it in water before he wore it. Various has been the explanation. The view the Rabbins give is inconsistent with the passage, — that it was to be left dirty after wearing, that it might rot the sooner; for the Prophet is bidden, when commanded to wear it, not to wash it. Grotius and others think that he was to wear it as made, in its rough state, in order to shew the rude condition of the Jews when God adopted them. Venema is of the opinion that in order to shew that is was newly made, and had not been worn by another, nor polluted. Gataker says that the purpose was to shew that nothing was to be done by the Prophet to cause the girdle to rot, as wet might have done so, in order to prove that the rottenness proceeded only from the Jews themselves. Lowth regards it as intended to teach the Jews their corrupt state by nature, so that it was through favor or grace only that God adopted them; and he refers to Eze 16:4. The last, which is nearly the same with the view of Grotius, seems the most suitable. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the Chapter. The reference in Jer. 13:18 to the queen is regarded as determining the date of this chapter. Ewald, Hitzig, Umbreit, Dahler, Hend., and Dr. Payne Smith agree in identifying her as Nehushta, the queen-mother of Jehoiachin. For, although it is conjectural whether Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) was eighteen years of age at his accession (see 2Ki. 24:8) or only eight (comp. 2Ch. 36:9), certainly his mother shared with him the responsibilities of royalty and of government; and together the mother and son were dethroned: of which event this verse is peculiarly descriptive. But Keil and Bleek incline to put the prophecy in Jehoiakims reign, explaining that the queen, his mother Zebuda, in common with all queen-mothers, would retain prominence and power (comp. 1Ki. 15:13; 2Ki. 10:13), and the mention of her does not necessarily imply the kings minority. The reason for preferring Jehoiakims reign to that of his successor Jehoiachin, is that after the fourth year of Jehoiakims reign the northern foe is uniformly definitely spoken of as the Chaldeans; whereas in this chapter the allusion is indeterminate. But there is a general appropriateness in this whole chapter to Jehoiachins reign which prevails to fix its date: i.e., B.C. 597; or, according to Assyrian chronology, B.C. 579.

2. Cotemporary Scriptures.2Ki. 24:8-16; 2Ch. 36:9-10.

3. National Affairs.Jehoiachin abandoned himself to flagrant ungodliness immediately upon his accession; and as promptly asserted his revulsion from the now Chaldean domination, for only three months pass ere we find Nebuchadnezzars generals again besieging Jerusalem. The power of resistance was gone; help from Egypt was no longer available after the defeat at Charchemiah, while also the harassing inroads of the evil neighbours (see on chap. Jer. 12:14) had kept the Jews in irretrievable subjection. Consequently, without offering more than a show of resistance the king and queen-dowager surrendered themselves, and both they and the princes, troops, artificers, and principal inhabitants of Jerusalem, together with Ezekiel the prophet, were carried captive to Babylon (comp. 2Ki. 24:14-16; Jer. 52:28).

4. Cotemporary History.Egypt prostrate under Chaldean ascendancy. Nebuchadnezzar incited armed bands of the Moabites, Ammonites, &c., to frequent incursions of Judea, thus maintaining his conquest, and keeping the Jews impotent and defenceless.

5. Geographical References.Jer. 13:4. Euphrates: here called Phrath; most frequently mentioned simply as the river. It was distinctively the river of Western Asia, rising in the Armenian Mountains, flowing through the wildest districts of Armenia by a tortuous course towards the Mediterranean, diverted by the ranges of Amanus and Lebanon, whence it moves onward for above 1000 miles towards the Persian Gulf: its entire course being calculated at 1780 miles, 1200 miles of which is navigable by boats. An annual inundation occurs in May, occasioned by the melting snows on the Armenian heights. Mentioned as one of the four rivers of Eden (Gen. 2:14). See Lit. Crit. on verse, below. Jer. 13:19. Cities of the South: Grotius regards this as a reference to Egypt (comp. Isa. 30:6; Dan. 11:5), indicating that no help could come to them from thence. More properly, the southern cities of Judah, which are blockaded by the enemy: hence flight to the south is no longer possible (see on chap. Jer. 6:1).

6. Personal Allusions.Jer. 13:18. The king and the queen: see supra, on Chronology of the Chapter. Jer. 13:23. Ethiopian: Heb. Cushite: inhabitant of Abyssinia, or the African Cush (Hend.). The Cushite of Arabia, whose colour would not be so swarthy in comparison with the inhabitant of Palestine as to render the reference to his skin specially significant, could scarcely be here meant; but the Cushite of Africa, i.e., the negro, would supply at once an emphatic suggestion.

7. Natural History.Jer. 13:23. The leopard hit spots: see on chap. Jer. 5:6. The ordinary Hebrew word for leopard is , so called from being spotted. But in this verse the word is , from the root , to be marked with stripes or lines, variegated: the striped panther. As the Hebrews had no name for the tiger, this animal was probably comprised by them under the same descriptive word.

8. Manners and Customs.Jer. 13:1. Linen girdle: the common girdle, worn by both sexes in the East, was of leather; the linen girdle was sometimes embroidered with either silk, gold, or silver thread, and studded with gems, fastened with a clasp of silver or gold. Jer. 13:11. The girdle eleaveth to the loins of a man: comp. Isa. 5:27; Isa. 11:5. Jer. 13:12. Every bottle shall be filled with wine: various words rendered bottle: nod, chmeth, ob, chemah, bakbuk, and nbel: by these two latter probably earthen vessels are denoted; nbel being rendered (Lam. 4:2) by pitchers; for evidently other bottles than those made of skin and leather were in common use (Jer. 19:1); while also these bottles filled with wine could be dashed one against another (Jer. 13:14). The word is more appropriately rendered jar, the potters vessel of Isa. 30:14. Jer. 13:22. Skirts discovered, and heels made bare: allusion to the long flowing robes ( is a train rather than a skirt) worn by ladies of rank (Speakers Com.). These robes would be violently upturned (cf. Jer. 13:26): Hend. = thrown up: and the heels made bare, rather ill-used, roughly treated: Hend. = her sandals torn off with violence: Chr. B. Michaelis = loading the feet with chains: Hitzig = affront done to the person suggested by mention of the heels: Keil and Payne Smith = she would be driven forth into exile barefoot, with violence and the rod. Cf. Nah. 3:5. It describes an ancient mode of punishing prostitutes (Hend.). Jer. 13:27. Neighings: cf. notes on chap. Jer. 5:8. On the hills in the field: in the most conspicuous localities she had carried on an incestuous traffic with idols, revelling in the shameless heathen orgies (cf. Notes on chap. Jer. 2:24, Jer. 5:7).

9. Literary Criticisms.Jer. 13:4. Euphrates: . The LXX., Vulg., and other ancient versions give Phrath as Euphrates. The word occurs in fifteen other places; in twelve instances the word river is prefixed; in three it stands, as in this chapter, alone; and in all those cases Phrath means the Euphrates. But the word Phrath is here used (Jer. 13:4-7) four times, and not once is the word river added; and this difficulty, the LXX. met by supplying . Bochart, Venema, Dathe, Hitzig, Henderson, and others prefer to take Phrath as an abbreviation of Ephrath, , the original name of Bethlehem. This rendering avoids the difficulty of the fact that a journey of over 200 miles would have had to be taken twice by Jeremiah if the Euphrates be meant; whereas Bethlehem was distant but six miles. Jer. 13:18. The queen: , the great-lady; once applied to the queen-regnant (1Ki. 11:19), but usually means the queen-mother (Speakers Com.). As the Jewish kings generally married subjects and lived in polygamy, the kings mother took precedence of his wives (Hitzig). Your principalities: , i.e., the ornaments of your head, namely, your splendid crown. Jer. 13:21. to be captains, chief over thee: Keil and Speakers Com. render the verse, What wilt thou say, when (or if) He set over thee for head (for a head) those whom thou hast taught to be thy bosom friends (hast accustomed to thee as thy familiar friends)! The Jews had courted the friendly alliance of the Chaldean king and princes; now they would become their tyrannical rulers. The translation of the verse turns upon the meaning given to , rendered in A.V. captains. Luther, and after him Gesenius, Rosen., and Lange render it princesWhom thou hast trained to be princes over thee: this meaning is sustained in Gen. 26:15, Zec. 9:7. But its more ordinary signification is familiar, friend (cf. Psa. 55:14, Pro. 16:28, Mic. 7:5). It occurs in chap. Jer. 11:19, tame, domesticated (see Notes in loc.). Jer. 13:25. Trusted in falsehood: cf. Notes on chap. Jer. 10:8. Jer. 13:27. When shall it once be?Lit. After how long yet! A conjectural outlook on the far distant purification of the now polluted nation.

HOMILIES ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 13

Vers.

Jer. 13:1-11.

An acted parablethe spoiled linen girdle.

Vers.

Jer. 13:12-17.

A parable in speechintoxicating judgments.

Vers.

Jer. 13:18-27.

An iniquitous nation openly degraded.

Jer. 13:1-11. AN ACTED PARABLETHE SPOILED LINEN GIRDLE

Symbolic acts sometimes teach more impressively than eloquent words. A clean linen girdle purchased and worn, but never washed: then carried away to the Euphrates and buried for many days: finally disinterred, found to be marred, and pronounced worthless. Thus facts are portrayed to Jeremiahs observers: Judah girded into closest connection with Jehovah, yet her impurity was never removed: in consequence she was to be carried to Babylon and lost among the heathen for a long period: ultimately, when brought back, she is found profitable for nothing: For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear.

NOTE.Great contention among commentators whether this journey to Euphrates was actual or merely visionary. It is objected to the occurrence being literal, that the Euphrates was nearly 250 miles distant, that two journeys would have entailed long absence of the prophet from the scene of his urgent ministry. Several scholars, to avoid this supposed difficulty, incline to the locality being not Euphrates but Ephratha, as being near at hand (see Lit. Crit.), but this forfeits the whole meaning of the buried girdleGods people localised and lost among Babylonish scenes. Objections to its being merely a visionary incident are,1. The extreme literalness of the statement, no pretext being left in the narrative for an allegorical interpretation (see Jer. 13:5). 2. The lengthy journey was a small matter compared with the vast and vivid lessons thereby taught to Judahthat she would be carried far away from her present scenes of privilege, and be lost in distant exile. 3. Also Jeremiahs visits to the scene of his nations approaching captivity would supply him with valuable information ready against the emergency, and prove deeply impressive to his own spirit, and helpful to his ministry. Here consider,

I. How closely Jehovah binds His chosen people to Himself. As the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man (Jer. 13:11), &c. Though their banishment was becoming imperative, yet God here testifies His attachment to them, and declares He had, without any reserve, bound them intimately and lovingly to Himself: they were a people near unto Him (Psa. 148:14).

II. The sacred character which His people bear in His esteem. Get thee a linen girdle (Jer. 13:1). A mistake to suppose it was to be linen because it was to be worn as an inner garment next the skin; though that might be impressive of the close union of His people with the Lord: but this peoplelike a beautiful girdlewas to be for a name, a praise, and a glory (Jer. 13:11), hence worn visibly as the girdle worn by the wealthy and by the high priesta thing of beauty. But its being linen indicates that it was the sacerdotal girdle; for Gods people were to Him a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (Exo. 19:6). With this sacred character He invested them; for He designed they should be a pure, priestly, consecrated people. Even as are Christs redeemed ones (1Pe. 2:5).

III. A holy people are capable of proving an adornment to Jehovah. That they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and a praise, and a glory (Jer. 13:11); even as the beautifully-wrought girdle, embroidered with silk and gold, and decorated with gems, was to the wearer (1Sa. 18:4; Dan. 10:5; Rev. 1:13; Rev. 15:6), and as the curious girdle of the ephod (Exo. 28:8) was a work of exquisite grace. Note: Gods people are a choice and beautiful work (Eph. 2:10), and are designed to adorn and glorify Him.

IV. Although so closely identified with God, impurity was contracted by His people. Put it not in water (Jer. 13:1). Necessarily, therefore, the girdle became soiled; and from its defilement it was not cleansed. How truly descriptive of Israel and Judah! The longer they were Gods people the less pure they became. Defilement was contracted, and their state became increasingly corrupt. Pure as a linen girdle when first bound to God, they grew soiled, stained, filthy with wear. Is this not too true of Gods people still?the early days of their betrothment were their best and holiest days (cf. Jer. 2:2-3).

V. Because of this impurity His people are carried away from holy scenes into exile. Arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock (Jer. 13:4). Canaan was chosen for the residence of a godly nation; Jerusalem was the place of Gods gloryHoliness becometh Thine house, O God, for ever. 1. Defilement disqualifies us for sacred privileges. 2. Impurity separates Gods people from Him: the girdle was unclasped from the prophets loins, and laid aside in the land of the heathen; for your iniquities have separated, &c. (Isa. 59:2). Defiled souls are, in Gods regard, placed among the heathen. All pride and self-glorying are thereby put to shame (Jer. 13:9-10). The unclean shall not stand before Him.

VI. Banishment from God is a pitiable experience for His people. Behold the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing. Afflictions sometimes hallow the spirit; but estrangement from God never brings good results. Iniquity in the redeemed of the Lord degrades piety altogether and dishonours Jehovah. A fallen Christian can never be any honour to his Master; he may be recalledas these banished ones werebut he is marred, profitable for nothing. He may illustrate Gods fathomless grace in showing how poor and profitless a soul may be, and yet be saved; but he is of no use for the high purpose God had in redeeming him, that he should be to Him for a name, and a praise, and a glory!

THE MYSTERY OF ELECTION

Naegelsbach, on this section, remarks: The Lord has put on Israel as a girdle for His own adornment and for Israels highest glory. This figure is unquestionably one of the most precious which the Scripture employs to represent the mystery of election. Elsewhere Israel is called Jehovahs inheritance (Deu. 4:20; Deu. 7:6), His wife and His beloved bride (Hos. 2:16, sqq.; Jer. 2:2), His first-born son (Exo. 4:22), His servant (Isa. 41:8), His flock (Jer. 13:17), His vineyard (Isa. 5:7), His signet ring (Hag. 2:23). Like the last emblem, the girdle also denotes

i. The closest intimacy. ii. Indispensable service. iii. A valuable ornament.

But great as is the love which the Lord thus shows to Israel in calling them His girdle, as great is the severity with which He declares that the honour thus received will not save them from destruction.

Let every particular Christian Church mark this! However closely it may be attached to the Lord, this saves it neither from, (1) Internal corruption, nor from (2) External judgment (comp. Luk. 3:8-9).

Jer. 13:12-17. A PARABLE IN SPEECHINTOXICATING JUDGMENTS

Every bottle shall be filled with wine. I will fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness. The figure is not understood by the people, they see not its deeper significance (Jer. 13:12); so it is explained by Jehovah, and then appears terrible in import (Jer. 13:13-14).

I. The Divine parable ominous of misery and ruin. The nation, every man, should be filled with the wine of Gods wrath, and in a drunken frenzy should destroy one another. The highest in the realmkings; the holiest in the nationpriests and prophets; all classes of societyinhabitants; shall become mutually destructive of the state and nation: the nation would become factious and fanatical, and hurry on its own ruin.

1. A delirious nation: filled with drunkenness, folly, and frenzy, like an intoxicated man, giddy, blustering, boastful, and violent.

2. A destructible nation: every bottle; brittle vessels: with all their arrogance. Easily destroyed; vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.

3. A demented nation: proud (Jer. 13:15), my soul shall weep for your pride (Jer. 13:17); inflated with a voluble conceit, arrogant, even in their degradation and peril: incapable as a drunken man of defending himself, yet noisily boastful and vain. Whom God will destroyHe infatuates.

4. A desolated nation: dash them one against another: the wild fury of drunken frenzy would drive the nation into hostile factions and ruinous agitations; civil contentions, mutually destructive, dashing one against another.

II. The prophets expostulation admonitory and pathetic. Hear ye, and give ear, &c. (Jer. 13:15-17): they were heedless and reckless.

1. He appeals to the high authority of his message: the LORD hath spoken. They had repudiated Jeremiah: now they had to do with Jehovah.

2. He exposes the secret of their hardened indifference: be not proud. The cause of their contumacy was pride: just as humility is the spring of obedience, pride is the motive to refractoriness, rebellion, and obstinate impiety.

3. He announces the remedy for their evil state: give glory to the Lord your God. Their apostacy and impenitence must be abandoned; for by ceasing from the iniquity that displeases and dishonours God (Jos. 7:19), they could give Him glory. Sin is an assault upon Jehovahs glory; repentance and reconciliation yield Him glory.

4. An alternative is presented of plaintive misery: before He cause darkness, &c.all their joys and comforts covered with gloom: and your feet stumble upon the dark mountainswandering bewildered amid terrors and perils: while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of deathall hope be extinguished in the dense death-shade of despair: and make it grow darknesstotal spiritual night, in which God and knowledge of Him are wholly lost; darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people (Isa. 60:2).

5. A piteous bewailing over his wretched nation (Jer. 13:17). (a.) For their self-ruinous pride, he would weep in secret, for very shame at their obdurate sin. (b.) For their lamentable desolation his eyes would weep sore in open grief, because of the woe of their captivity. He commiserated their misery, and felt anguish for their ruin. Amid it all note1. He still speaks to Judah of Jehovah as your God (Jer. 13:16); the Almighty Friend still availed them if they would heed His word. 2. He still speaks of Judah as the LORDS flock (Jer. 13:17), claimed by Him, and cherished even though they were wilful and perverse. What exhaustless pitifulness is there in Jehovah! slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.

THE EARTHEN PITCHERS

Naegelsbach suggests the following points:

i. What they signify: proud, yet perishable things; the world.

ii. What will be their fate: dash them, &c. (Jer. 13:14); carried away captives (Jer. 13:17).

iii. What is the means of escaping this fate: a humble attention to the Lord (Jer. 13:15); glorifying God by their repentance and return to Him (Jer. 13:16).

Jer. 13:18-27. AN INIQUITOUS NATION OPENLY DEGRADED

To put his nation to the deepest blush for their sin, Jeremiah again compares their conduct with Jehovah to the vile and graceless behaviour of an adulteress; and likens the shame, which would cover his people in consequence, to the open disgrace with which a prostitute was sometimes treated (see Manners and Customs, supra).

I. Royalty addressed in bold reproof and warning (Jer. 13:18-19). See Addenda on Jer. 13:18, the queen, and rebuking royalty). Upon them is threatenedi. The loss of their dignity and crown, ii. The capture of their cities and captivity of their people. Observe:

1. Gods judgments do not spare those in highest station. Jechoniah had sinned, and by his royal example encouraged the licentiousness and ungodliness of the nation. Therefore he and his queen-mother should be humbled; and are called to sit down, as slaves on the ground (Isa. 47:1). It is high treason against the King of kings for royal personages to rebel against His rule and laws; theirs shall be the greater condemnation; their station degraded, their crown forfeited. Fallen is your crown. A faithful witness for God may have to reprove kings in His name.

2. The conquest of their cities is threatened at a retribution: The crown falls when the king loses country and kingship (Keil). The cities of the south are specified, not because the enemy had first possessed himself of the southern extremity of the land (as Sennacherib did, advancing on the capital from the south, 2Ki. 18:13; 2Ki. 19:8), but because they were the cities most distant from the north-coming foe; hence, when they were in his power, it implied the whole land was conquered. Thus the prophet threatens against godless royalty, the degradation of their station, the forfeiture of their crown, the conquest of their country, the captivity of their people.

II. Jerusalem summoned to witness the woes of capture. Lift up your eyes, and behold, &c. (Jer. 13:20). The verb, Lift up, is fem., and refers to Lion understood. Upon Jerusalem is here threatened

1. Depopulation. Where is the flock? Her streets are to be deserted, her inhabitants carried afar. Or she is asked where the cities, which once lay grouped around her, like a goodly flock of sheep, are gone? The question implies blame. It was the example of Jerusalem which had led the cities of Judah into sin (Mic. 1:5), and brought upon them an invading army (Speakers Com.)

2. Foreign domination. (See Lit. Crit. on Jer. 13:21.) What could Jerusalem say when they, whom she had courted into power as allies, should assert their power as conquerors? We call in ungodly resources of help when our sin forfeits Gods protection; these, our allies, will become our tyrants, ruling us with a sore and unchallengeable despotism.

III. Debasement of licentious Judah vividly portrayed.

1. Affected innocence silenced by a condemning charge (Jer. 13:22, see Crit. Notes on verse).

2. Her doom justified in that her iniquity transcended remedy (Jer. 13:23). Nothing can alter and improve her state. Her habitual spiritual licentiousness had become inveterate and incurable: expatriation therefore must ensue (Jer. 13:24).

3. God associates Himself with her degradation and doom. She had despised His grace; repudiated His calls; ignored Him for idolsfalsehood; but she should recognise Him in the judgments He had measured to her (Jer. 13:26).

4. Disloyalty to her Lord punished with appropriate degradation (Jer. 13:27; see Crit. Notes). Openly put to shame. Her sin had been open: God would expose her to open contempt (Lam. 1:8). Politically degraded.

5. Vileness depicted, cleansing despaired of (Jer. 13:27; see Lit. Crit.). Jeremiah counts it impossible that she will soon be cleansed; her case seems hopeless. The present generation cleaves immovable to wickedness. Yet, in the far future, after sore judgments, there may be reform! On the prophets despair there falls one faint gleam of hope.

HOMILETIC OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 13

Jer. 13:1-11. Theme: BURIED GIFTS.

I. God confers upon man innumerable gifts of talent, privilege, opportunity, blessing. In the case of the Jew especially great.

II. These gifts are suited to our circumstances and requirements (Mat. 25:15).

III. These gifts are intended for our good and Gods glory (Jer. 13:11).

IV. The use to which we apply them depends upon mans wisdom and will (Jer. 13:10-11; Mat. 25:24-25).

V. In this men often fail. The history of the Jew an illustration. Men fail through ignorance, sloth, negligence, lust and impulsiveness, unfaithfulness, pride, selfishness. Men bury their gifts in these things.

VI. Buried they are lost. 1. God withdraws them (Jer. 13:9; Mat. 25:29). 2. The power to use them departs (2Co. 9:6). 3. They rot and decay. The grave is the house of decay (Jer. 13:8; Ecc. 9:10).

Learn

1. That man is blessed with treasure gifts capable of unlimited development.
2. That, by neglecting these, instead of rising to be an angel, he sinks to be a fiend.
3. That we should guard them jealously and cultivate them diligently.

E. Jerman.

Jer. 13:2. Theme: SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE GIRDLE OF TRUTH

I. We are responsible for the effort to obtain the girdle of truth. I got the girdle.

II. We can get the girdle of truth only by knowing the Word of the Lord. According to the word of the Lord.

III. We must make appropriate use of the girdle when it has been obtained. Put it upon my loins.

IV. We can expect further knowledge of Gods Word only by the use of what we already know (Jer. 13:3). The word of the Lord came unto me the second time.W. Whale.

Jer. 13:3. Theme: GODS WORD TO MEN.

The word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying.

I. Jehovah is always speaking to man by one method or another. Creation, providence, revelation.

II. Some persons in all ages and climes have heard His Word. In mystery, in power, in mercy. Some have heard it many times.

III. It is a moment of supreme importance when any one soul becomes conscious of hearing the voice of God. Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, &c., &c.

IV. The way in which a man treats the Word of God will show

1. His present spiritual condition.
2. His general course of conduct.
3. His probable future destiny.

W. Whale.

Jer. 13:2-5. Theme: THE STANDARD OF GODLY CONDUCT. So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord. So I went and hid it as the Lord commanded me. Letting Gods word rule and regulate our life absolutely.

I. The surrenders it involves. It gives up the life into Gods hands, every faculty and purpose submitted to Him, yielded gladly to the requirements and captivity of Christ.

1. The surrender of the will: letting God rule; doing what He bids, bowing personal desires and plans to His purposes. Not my will, but Thine, be done. Unselfish obedience.

2. Surrender of the judgment: perplexing to Jeremiah to see why he must wear this girdle, why go to Euphrates, why hide the girdle there, &c. Gods ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts, &c. Unquestioning obedience.

3. Surrender of ease: a toilsome journey of nearly 250 miles, twice taken. Uncomplaining obedience.

4. Surrender of time: occupy weeks in obeying these demands of God. Conscience must stand aside. Ungrudging obedience.

5. Surrender of self, of the life, of all: Keep back no part of the price. Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Unreserved obedience. (See Addenda, Perfect obedience.)

II. The satisfaction it inspires. The yielding of self to God brings choice and compensatory advantages.

1. It gives simplicity to our life. The eye is single. No other lord rules. God is everything to us. One is our Master, even Christnot self, not custom, not the world, &c.

2. It gives decision to our life. Saves us from halting between two opinions: for the Lord is God and we follow Him. Saves us from uncertainty: His word is law. From delay: To hear Him is to respond. From conflict of conviction: we only need a call from Him: have not to select or choose our way. Anywhere, if only He commands.

3. It gives repose to our life. We are not burdened with the responsibility of life: we are the Lords, He guides and plans and arranges for us. We live exempt from care. Our motto is,

Lead Thou me on! One steps enough for me!

4. It gives nobleness to our life. What a grovelling career they live who obey themselvesfitful, earthly, restless. Or the customs of societyslaves to the caprice of fashion. Or the god of this worldled captive by him. But Christ calls into a high and holy career: godly and Godward. They who live only to obey Him, unreservedly obedient. He leads by still waters, into pleasant heritages of rest, assurance, and joy divine.

5. It gives sanctity to our life. He who lives for God becomes more godly and God-like. Wise in His wisdom, strong in His strength, sufficient in His sufficiency, true in His rightness, holy in His holiness. He will guide by His counsels, lead in the good and right way, until the life rises to His blest abode. Follow me! is the Saviours call: and the issue is, These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.

Jer. 13:5. Theme: ASPECTS OF PASTORAL SERVICE. Jeremiah was to go to Euphrates; perhaps not solely to hide this girdle: exiles were there, to whom he might carry messages and comfort from Jehovah; Ezekiel and Daniel were there, and with them he might hold helpful converse.

i. His own toilsome obedience would be a lesson to his disobedient nation, inciting them to take pains even in order to fulfil Gods commands.

ii. His resolute performance of this mission would awaken in his people attention to the significance of his conduct, and impress them with the lessons designed.

I. Self-sacrificing obedience to God enforces its lessons on others. Our people will heed our consecrated lives, though they may ignore our eloquent words. A living sermon has vast power.

II. Gods chosen servants must yield Him absolute subjection. What God bids, they must do; where He sends, they must go. Ministers of Christ must be willing to accept His demands unquestioningly and entirely; to lay themselves out for any service which may be for the good of their people; to spend and be spent in the Masters service and their nations weal.

Jer. 13:5-6. Theme: GODS COMMANDMENTS.

i. Always wise and authoritative.

ii. Often mysterious, and, to human reason, apparently absurd.

iii. Can be heartily carried out only by a true believer in the divine wisdom, power, and love.

iv. May involve much effort, inconvenience, and suffering. Journey from Jerusalem to Euphrates must have been very trying.

v. Will effectually test the condition of the soul. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. To obey is better than sacrifice. I do alway those things which please the Father. Leaving us an example, &c., &c. Our sufficiency is of God.

Application: This is His commandment, that ye believe on His Son whom He hath sent. His commandments are not grievous.W. Whale.

Jer. 13:7. Theme: THE INJURIOUSNESS OF ESTRANGEMENT FROM GOD. The girdle was marred.

I. The original sacredness and beauty of the godly soul.

1. Linen indicates the sacerdotal girdle: the soul was sacred in Gods esteem.

2. Linen suggests the purity of the soul in its first love.

3. The linen girdle was curiously and exquisitely wrought in choice colours and precious gems; betokening the beauty and spiritual grace of the soul when first allied to God.

4. The girdle clasped upon the prophet denotes the close mutual attachment between the soul and God in the hour of first love; and also the resolute design of God to keep that soul boundclaspedto Himself.

II. The defiled soul separated from the Lord. It necessarily became soiled by being worn, yet linen will wash, and it could, therefore, be cleansed.

1. The cleansing process was neglected. Put it not in water (Jer. 13:1). This represents the criminality of Judah. There was water, easily found, ready to hand: so is there Divine cleansing; A Fountain open for sin and uncleanness: but the defiled life is not put in water.

2. A tainted thing must be removed from God. Nothing impure will the Holy One of Israel retain. He cannot look upon iniquity. Certainly He will not wear as an ornament a thing defiled. So the tainted girdle was carried away: Take the girdle, and arise, go to Euphrates (Jer. 13:4).

3. A faithless soul is banished. Afar from holy scenes, buried in a hole, as unfit for any to see: for nothing is more loathsome to Gods sight and mans than a spiritual apostate, a renegade Christian. It is put at a far distance from Gods presence, buried from sight, lost as an outcast thing, hidden among heathenish scenes, as if belonging more to them than to God.

III. The damaging effects of separation from God. After many days (Jer. 13:6). The girdle was sought and brought back.

1. God does not forget and forsake even the estranged soul. Yet doth He devise means whereby His banished be not expelled from Him (2Sa. 14:14).

2. The recovered soul is found grievously damaged by his banishment. The girdle was marred; the ship had sprung a leak hopelessly; the rift was in the lute silencing the harmony; the rot was at the heart. Never again would the old joy in God, the old love and zeal, return. A faithless soul loses what never again can be recovered. Childhood never comes back again!

3. From a reclaimed soul no profit can accrue to God. Saved, indeed, but no power left for service. A rescued life, but impotent to recall others, or commend the gospel. A disabled and dispirited army the captain refuses to use again on the field. The coward spirit is never more trusted. God cannot wear as a praise (Jer. 13:11) the girdle which has lost its beauty. Only the faithful and the pure can glorify Him. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Profitable for nothing. Salt is good; but if the salt have lost its savour, it is good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men (Mat. 5:13).

Jer. 13:7. Comments: THE GIRDLE WAS ROTTED. This showed that the Jews should in that country lie rotting, as it were, in baseness, and servility, and in together many years; so that God might justly have left them there still in misery, as a man leaves his rotten girdle to become dung.Trapp.

MANY DAYS. The length of time was required to afford time for the girdle to become spoiled and unfit for use. To that condition the Jews had been reduced by the corrupting idolatries of the heathen. They had disqualified themselves for acting as witnesses for Jehovah; as the only true God, and, like a castaway girdle, they were to be humbled and rejected.Henderson.

By the many days are signified the seventy years captivity.Speakers Com.

Jer. 13:9. Theme: GODS SPOLIATION OF PRESUMPTUOUS PRIDE. There may be a reverent pride, based on gratitude and joyous appreciation of Gods distinguishing mercies. There may also be an arrogant prideStand off, I am holier than thou! Equally possible is a self-reliant pridesufficient of ourselves: Who is the Lord that I should obey Him? Likewise, the pride of carnal assurance: fortified in self-esteem, satisfaction with ones own goodness and merits. But this Great pride of Jerusalem was a vaunting, boastful, arrogant pride; a glorying in spiritual possessions and privileges, which they were nevertheless abusingthe pride of presumption: and the presumptuous soul do I hate.

I. Spiritual presumption can only assert itself where true piety has declined. Piety is lowly. Loss of solemn reverence makes room for arrogance. Then the soul presumes, vaunts itself, makes even religion an occasion for self-glorying. Gods grace becomes the pedestal for self-exaltation.

II. Spiritual presumption is peculiarly offensive to a God who loves truth. Pride is a mocking pretence. Of what have the best of men to be proud? What have we that we have not received? This pride assumes and arrogates to ourselves the credit of what God has given. His is the glory, not ours. This wrongs Him, and boasts in a lie.

III. Spiritual presumption leads to the most heinous abuse of sacred privileges. Holy trusts should make those who possess them holier, ergo, humbler, more grateful, and more devoted. But pride reverses all this: the soul dwarfs amidst surrounding magnificence; becomes degraded by the abuse of exalting privileges. This perverts and outrages the Divine endowments and blessings.

IV. Spiritual presumption will assuredly court Jehovahs withering contempt. Dig a hole and bury it! as a rotten, loathsome thing. Thus will I mar the pride. He poureth contempt upon princes! God has resources, appalling in their efficacy, for humbling the arrogant and withering the proud. Think what he did to these Jews! Cast them as a filthy girdle into a hole. We may well fear to court His contempt. See what befel the proud Nebuchadnezzarsank into a mere beast. Oh how, in lifes end, will ail our vanity mock us, and our presumption turn upon us with tortures! (See Addenda, Pride Abased.)

Jer. 13:10. Herein is shown to what their pride led them

i. Disregard of Divine messages.
ii. Indulgence of their own wilful inclinations.
iii. Enthronement of debasing idolatries: ergo, the dethronization of Jehovah in their hearts and their worship.

Jer. 13:10. Theme: GOOD FOR NOTHING.

The most dutiful are unprofitable servants, doing no more than their duty. But how few could honestly declare of themselves, I have done all I could. If the best are imperfect, what can be said of the cold-hearted and indolent? Still worse, far worse, is the case of those who are gone out of the way (Rom. 3:12). This verse symbolizes Gods people in their idolatry and consequent captivity. We proceed to

I. Dwell upon a painful fact. They were His own, a peculiar people to Him, a kingdom of priests who had access to Him above all other nations. To them were sent lawgivers, priests, psalmists, and prophets. To them were committed the oracles of God. To them were given a Divine directory and method of worship. Yet were they good for nothing. All was done for the vineyard which could be done, yet it brought forth wild grapes.

II. Point out the cause of their sad condition. They became an evil people, as is shown in this verse. Disobedient and hardhearted.

1. They refused to hear the word of the Lord. (See notes on Jer. 13:3.)

2. They followed the imagination of their hearts. When a man will not hear God, he has generally resolved to have his own way. He puts fancy for faith, and self for God.

3. They became idolaters. Forsaking the true they follow the false. Man must worship, even it be but the fancy of his own brain, or work of his own hand. Man must serve, but often chooses the wrong master. The value of a man or a nation is in proportion to the truth possessed, and the degree of obedience rendered to it. The unfaithful are good for nothing.

III. Show what they might have been as a people.

1. They might have been separated from the nations as being peculiarly the people of God.

2. They might have been before the nations for the glory of Jehovah, as opposed to idols. For a name, and for a praise, &c.

3. They might have been among the nations as examples and witnesses, setting forth the beneficial influences of true religion.

IV. Proclaim some universal truths.

1. Refusing to hear Gods word is. proof that the people are an evil people.

2. An evil people will substitute a false worship for that which is true.

3. A false worship will produce and foster an erroneous religious life.

4. A people walking according to the imagination of their own hearts must be useless to themselves, to the world, to the Church, or to God.W. Whale.

Jer. 13:10-11. Theme: GODS GIRDLE.

From Jer. 13:11. we conclude that Israel and Judah were Gods girdle. They formerly clave unto Him, but, at the time referred to by the prophet, had gone away to idols. Because of their sin God sent them into captivity until they were reduced to extreme weakness.

Observe

I. That Israel and Judah clave unto Jehovah as a girdle to the loins of a man (Jer. 13:11). Unto His person for favour. Unto His word for direction and teaching. Unto His promise for encouragement. Unto His worship for devotion.

II. That Israel and Judah were then a praise and glory to Jehovah (Jer. 13:11). A girdle of strength and honour before the nations.

1. As opposed to the idolatries of the world.
2. As expressing obedience to Divine law.
3. As exhibiting the beneficial effects of true religion.

III. That Israel and Judah became faithless and disobedient (Jer. 13:10).

1. An evil people, refusing to hear the Word.
2. A stubborn people, going their own way.
3. A deluded people, in vain imaginations.
4. An idolatrous people, like the nations less favoured, going after other gods to serve and worship them.

IV. That Israel and Judah becoming faithless, became also weak and worthless. Went from prominence to obscurity. Went from freedom to captivity. Went, in general, from privilege to punishment.W. Whale.

Jer. 13:11. Theme: GODS GLORIOUS PURPOSE FOR HIS PEOPLE.

Keeping still to the allegory of the girdle, there seems here a reference to the holy girdle of Aaron (Exo. 28:8), which, together with his sacred garments, should be for a glory and a beauty (Jer. 13:2).

I. How determinedly Jehovah makes them His own. The form of sentence is intensitive: I have caused to cleave unto Me, &c.

1. By the mighty working of His grace God united them to Himself. It was His act, not theirs, I caused; a determined act, caused: a constraining act, caused to cleave. (Comp. Eph. 1:19.)

2. Into living connection with His own Person He bound them. Fastened them on, as a girdle, to Himself. Not merely drew them to believe in, or serve Him; but to a personal union. He was Israels God.

II. What exalted aims He cherishes on their behalf. He designs for them that they be established and known as His

1. In covenant relationship: for a people. Israel, His peculiar treasure. What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (Eph. 1:18).

2. As a witness of Him to the world: for a name. He desired to be known among the nations by the name, The God of Israel (1Ch. 17:24). He purposed to win renown among the peoples by His dealings with Israel and Judah.

3. To rejoice in His goodness: for a praise. They were to be glad in the Lord, a joyous people, praising Him for signal blessings, a psalm sounding through the world, commending Him to others by their joyous piety.

4. Contributing to His honour: for a glory. An ornament, a decoration,as was the beautiful girdle, studded with gems, to the wearer. (Comp. Eze. 16:14.)

Alas! a disobedient heart, they would not hear, changed and desolated all! Sin robs God of all the happiness and honour He would find in man, and robs man of all the blessedness and spiritual wealth he might realize in God.

Jer. 13:12-14. Theme: THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF GOD.

This symbol supplements the former and teaches another part of needed truth. It is less dramatic in its form, but not less definite as a threatening of judgment. If we notice the general truths contained in the portion, there can be no difficulty in applying them to this or any other particular case.
Observe, then

I. That every man is being fitted a vessel to honour or dishonour, to good or evil.
II. That every man will ultimately be filled to his utmost capacity by good or evil, according to his spiritual state.
III. That the process of adaptation is being carried on by loyalty or disobedience to truth and God.

IV. That where all are evil every one will be injurious to the other. This will make a hell. The reverse of this is true also. Where all are good, each one is a blessing to the other. This goes far to make a heaven.

V. That God, who is love, has a time for severity as well as a time for mercy. I will not pity, &c., &c.

VI. That if God help not, none can aid effectually. If God save not there is no salvation in any other.W. Whale.

Comments

Jer. 13:12. EVERY BOTTLE SHALL BE FILLED WITH WINE. Every earthen flagon (comp. Jer. 48:12)the inhabitants of Jerusalem, her kings, her priests and prophets, will be filled with the wine of the intoxicating beverage of Gods wrath (see Jer. 25:15; Isa. 28:7; Isa. 51:17; Eze. 23:31; Psa. 60:3; Psa. 75:8), given them as a punishment for the pride, and cruelty, and impiety, which they drank greedily as wine. (Comp. Rev. 14:8; Rev. 18:3), where the Harlot drinks the wine of her own fornication and gives it to others, and intoxicates herself and them with it (Jer. 17:2, Jer. 18:6); and, therefore, God gives her the cup of His wrath, and she reels under it.Wordsworth.

Wine they loved well, and a great vintage they now expected. They shall have it, saith God; but of another nature than they look for.Trapp.

They were like bottles; though God had indeed chosen them for an excellent use, yet, forgetful of their frailty, they had marred their own excellency, so that they were no longer of any use, except that God would inebriate them with giddiness, and also with calamities.Calvin.

DO WE NOT CERTAINLY KNOW THAT EVERY BOTTLE, &c.
An instance of sceptical mocking.Wordsworth.

This they seem to speak insolently and jeeringlyq.d. You should tell us some news!Trapp.

Then shall the hearers take this prophecy in scorn, and say, What wonders are these thou tellest us? As if we knew not that the use of bottles is to be filled with wine.Bp. Hall.

Jer. 13:13. THEN SHALT THOU SAY, THUS SAITH THE LORD. The very solemn way in which the explanation of the symbol is introduced is in striking contrast with the frivolity of the people.Speakers Com.

FILLED WITH DRUNKENNESS. When the wine is in, the wit and wisdom and virtue are out. Like drunken men, they shall be full of confusion in their counsels, sick of all their enjoyments, shall fall into a slumber, and be utterly unable to help themselves; like men who have drunk away their reason, they shall be at the mercy, and expose themselves to the contempt of all about them. And this shall be the condition, not of some only among them (if any had been sober they might have helped the rest), but all, even kings, priests, prophets, and inhabitants would be indulgent of their lusts and deprived of their senses.Henry.

Not with giddiness as of drunken men staggering (Isa. 19:14), but with the impotence of men whose minds are stricken with the wrath of God (Psa. 9:3; Isa. 60:17).Speakers Com.

The Jews, without regard to rank, office, or position, were all to be involved in one common ruin.Henderson.

EVEN THE KINGS THAT SIT UPON DAVIDS THRONE. Four kings in succession were overthrown in the fall of Jerusalem.

Jer. 13:14. DASH ONE AGAINST ANOTHER: shattering them as vessels. Vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction.

Civil war is hereby foreshadowed.Hitzig.

Rather, a collision of parties in the state, resulting in mutual confusion and confutation.

The Midianites (Jdg. 7:12) and the Philistines (1Sa. 14:20), who exterminated each other, were also seized by a spirit of intoxication. If not in this sense, yet in that of mutual hatred, reciprocal oppression, and injury in general.Naeg.

Jer. 13:15. Theme: ATTENTION TO GODS WORD. Hear ye, and give ear; for the Lord hath spoken.

The Bible worthy of attention and study as(1) An ancient book, dealing with the history of the human race(2) A book full of literary beauty(3) A book of great power and influence. Here attention is claimed because it is the Word of God.

I. How should we attend to it? 1. With reverence. 2. In faith. 3. Diligently, earnestly. 4. Intelligently. 5. Intending to be governed by it. 6. Prayerfully.

II. There is here an implied neglect. The exhortation, and especially the mention of pride, implies this. Men neglect the Bible, because1. They are filled with other things. 2. They do not know its worth. 3. They do not apprehend the bearing it may have on their well-being. 4. They are not willing to submit to its teachings.

III. Why should we attend? Our text gives the paramount reasonGod has spoken. Consider

1. The dignity and glory of the Lord.
2. His wisdom and knowledge.
3. His beneficence, interest, and love.
4. He speaks to us of matters in which we have the deepest interest.

Learn

1. To read the Bible regularly. 2. To treasure it in the heart. 3. To honour it in your life.E. Jerman.

Theme: REVELATION.

Given at different times, and by various methods, such as visions, dreams, inspiration or rapture of soul, and direct vocal communication. Its object, to reveal God, to instruct and guide man. Here we have

I. The fact of revelation. The Lord hath spoken.

II. The authority of revelation. The Lord hath spoken.

III. The appeal of revelation. Hear ye, &c.

IV. The purpose of revelation. To rebuke for sin. To save from judgment. To make known the way of mercy. To direct true souls into paths of progress and happiness. To announce Jehovahs wrath against all wrongdoing.W. Whale.

Theme: PRIDE THE GREAT HINDRANCE TO THE RECEPTION OF GODS WORD. Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken.

I. Pride will not seek the knowledge of God.

1. Pride will not brook a rival.
2. Is unwilling to be taught.
3. Is unwilling to use the means of knowledge.
4. Is unwilling to pray.

II. Pride will not seek the favour of God.
III. Pride will not seek likeness to God.
IV. Pride will not seek communion with God.Payson on Psa. 10:14.

Both the symbolsgirdle and vesselwere of a nature very humiliating to the national self-respect: but the prophet warns them against letting any such feeling interfere with the humble reception of the words of God.Speakers Com.

Here is good counsel given, to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. If they will harken and give ear, this is that which God has to say to them, Be not proud. This was one of the sins for which God had a controversy with them (Jer. 13:9); let them mortify and forsake this sin, and God will let fall His controversy.

i. Be not proud when God speaks to you by His prophets. Do not think yourselves too good to be taught. Be not (a) scornful, (b) wilful. Let not your hearts rise against the word, nor slight the messengers that bring it to you.

ii. Be not proud when God is coming forth against you in His providence. Be not (a) secure when He threatens; (b) impatient when He strikes. Pride is at the bottom of both.

It is the great God who has spoken: 1. Whose authority is incontestable: 2. Whose power is irresistible; therefore bow to what He says.(Comp. Henry. See Noticeable Topics on this verse.)

Jer. 13:16-17. Theme: RENDERING GOD GLORY BY REPENTANCE. Giving glory to God is opposed to being proud; which is self-glory.

Jeremiah was as constant a preacher of repentance as Paul, and after him Augustine, were of the free grace of God. The impenitent person robbeth God of His right, the penitent man sarcit injuriam Deo irrogatam, seemeth to make some kind of amends to God, whom he had wronged, by restoring Him His glory, which he had run away with, whilst he putteth himself into the hands of justice, in hope of mercy.Trapp.

The phrase, to give glory to Jehovah, when used in reference to such as had incurred guilt, means to acknowledge the justice of God in the infliction of deserved punishment (Jos. 7:19)Hend.

How, indeed, can we ascribe glory to God, except by acknowledging Him to be the fountain of all wisdom, justice, and power, and especially by trembling at His sacred Word? Whosoever, then, does not fear and reverence God, whosoever does not believe His word, he robs Him of His glory.Calvin.

I. Counsel. Give glory to the Lord.

1. Because the Lords glory is mans good.
2. Because in them that glory might appear (Jer. 13:11).

3. Because by them that glory might be obscured.

II. Warning. Before He cause darkness, &c.

1. Fading light. No clear vision when God is not glorified.
2. Stumbling feet. No power of progress unless for Gods glory.
3. Bewildering night. Captivity. All lost.

III. Pleading. But if ye will not hear, my soul shall weep, &c.His Lamentations.

1. It is the counsel of tender love. For loves sake.
2. It is the counsel of utter unselfishness. For Christs sake.Rev. John Farren.

See Noticeable Topics on these verses. Also Addenda on Jer. 13:16, Repentance glorifying God; and on Jer. 13:17, Lamenting pride.

Jer. 13:16. Comments: HE CAUSE DARKNESS. The night of affliction. Light is the emblem of joy; and happy times are expressed by bright and pleasant days; as, on the contrary, troubles and calamities are represented by the night and darkness, when everything looks melancholy and dismal.W. Lowth.

STUMBLE UPON THE DARK MOUNTAINS: Before the time comes when ye shall be forced to fly by night upon the mountains for fear of your enemies.W. Lowth.

Here is a double metaphor: Judah is not walking upon the safe highway, but upon dangerous mountains: and already the dusk is closing around her. While then the light still serves, let her return unto her God.Speakers Com.

Jer. 13:16. Theme: WANING LIGHT FORESHADOWING UTMOST GLOOM.

God can darken all hope and joy. Lifes gloom is admonitory. We should seek the Lord when shadows gather, and thus turn darkness into dawn.

I. Total darkness will overtake those who refuse God glory. It will gather more thickly and intensely around them, till it become dense. Note the strengthening imagery: Cause darknessshadow of deathgross darkness: it indicates that the awful gloom increases upon the godless soul, ending in utter-most night. To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

II. Fading light, denoting the decline of spiritual opportunity. Action must be quick, for darkness sets in. Repent, give glory to God, before He cause darkness, ere His judgments deepen upon you, and the gloom hides all way of escape.

1. Attempts to escape will desperately fail. Your feet will stumble on dark mountains. The way of deliverance would be hidden from their eyes, and their own efforts would only lead to misery and defeat.

2. The shadows counsel speedy return to God. Before the dread darkness environs us, it is our wisdom to seek God, bow before Him in reconciliation, and glorify Him by submission.

III. Delusive hopes will perish in the terrible gloom.

1. No light will return when once that darkness falls on souls. Impenitent sinners may look for light; for amelioration of woe, for escape from judgment, but light will not come.

2. Deepest terrors will finally overwhelm the godless. God will turn it into the shadow of death, appalling horror and despair: and make it gross darkness, which no ray of hope or relief will pierce. Those who, when the fourth vial was outpoured, repented not to give God glory, were, with the next vial, overwhelmed with darkness, and filled with agony (Rev. 16:9-10).

The literal meaning of the metaphor is that there was nigh at hand a most dreadful vengeance, except the Jews in time anticipated it, and submitted themselves to God. Seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger (Zep. 2:3).

(See Addenda on Jer. 13:16. Stumble upon the dark mountains).

Jer. 13:17. Theme: BITTER WEEPING OVER HARDENED TRANSGRESSORS.

The burdened heart finds relief in tears. And God is not unmindful of the grief of holy commiseration. Such tears are more pleading and potent than prayers: they express groanings which cannot be uttered. Thou wilt put all my tears into Thy bottleprecious are they to God.

I. Mens wilfulness in sin occasions heaviest sorrow to Gods messenger. If ye will not hear it, &c. Ministers know something of the terrors of the Lord, and the preciousness of souls, and, therefore, feel bitterest grief over the obstinate, who put salvation from them. Christians ought to be keenly affected by the guilt of others; and to feel the prevailing rejection of God as a personal distress.

II. Melancholy justification is supplied for such holy grief.

1. Defiant pride, in repudiating Gods word.

2. Desolating exile of Gods cherished flock. Two distinct aspects: mans hardened iniquitya sad fact to contemplate; Gods kingdom dishonouredfor it was a discreditable incident that His flock should be carried away captive. And over human guilt and Gods sullied honour we have still sufficient justification for grief. When our work and word fail, we can still weep and pray in private.

III. Sorrowful tears have a benignant purpose to serve.

1. In prayerful retirement they may be poured out before God, in plaintive supplication for sinners. When preaching effects no good, we can weep in secret for the hardened; and our tears shall be a holy libation to God. My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride.

2. In open lamentation they may be shed over sinners who will not weep for themselves. Hearts may be touched by a preachers grief who would not feel his words. They may plead with men as well as with God. Mine eyes shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lords flock is carried away captive. Would not that sight of the broken-hearted prophet send a pang to many an unreflective observer? Tears may melt a feelingless heart, and holy grief allure a prodigal to God. Weeping is the last resort of love. When He beheld the city, He wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known!

(See Addenda on Jer. 13:17. Sorrowful tears.)

Theme: THE PATHOS OF AN EARNEST SOUL. Jeremiah was not a mere official with a formal message, but a patriot, and a devout lover of his fellow-men. Looking into the text, we note

I. A fearful possibility. The Lords flock captive.

II. A solitary hope. If they will hear the word of the Lord.

III. A faithful messenger. Jeremiah speaking Gods word.

IV. A dreadful anticipation. If they will not hear.

V. A pathetic resolve. If they will not hear, my soul shall weep.

APPLICATION: 1. To ministersthat they feel deep interest in the people, so as to weep over them, &c.
2. To peoplethat it is a question of essential importance concerning which God speaks. That their treatment of the Divine Word will decide whether the future shall be captivity or prosperity and bliss.W. Whale.

Jer. 13:18-19. See homily on section, supra.

When the enemies are at the gate, the plague in the city, and there is no escape, while human help there is none, then it is time when preachers may speak to their princes who are in error; at other times they would be esteemed insolent. Sometimes Gods witnesses are clothed with an authority which no one understands, but all feel.Zinzendorf.

They who are chosen to the office of teaching cannot faithfully discharge their duty except they boldly, and with intrepid spirit, dare to reprove both kings and queens; for the word of the Lord is not to be restricted to the common people, or men in humble life. This prophecy was, no doubt, very bitter to the king as well as to the common people; for the king and his mother thought they could not possibly be dethroned.Calvin.

Jer. 13:20. Theme: THE LOST FLOCK DEMANDED OF THE FAITHLESS SHEPHERD.

God expects of those who were entrusted with the care of others due attention to their responsibilities. And God will require their flock at their hands; that they should return to Him, saying, Behold me, and the children Thou hast given me! or, as they to whom talents were entrusted returned to their Lord with the usury. Yes, and He will hold them accountable for what befalls the flock: their blood will I require at thy hands.

Amazed at the depopulation of the surrounding cities, Jeremiah demands of Jerusalem an explanation of the desolations: or, demands of the State [for the pronoun is fem.], an explanation of the captivity and devastation of Judah. What does this mean, that the flock is scattered which was entrusted to thee?

I. Imminent perils jeopardise the defenceless flock.

1. Foes are visible: Lift up your eyes and behold them! Adversaries are clearly within sight, menacing the safety and weal of society, the peace and progress of the Church, the piety and happiness of the family, the integrity and honour of commerce, the healthful tone and influence of literature, the veracity and authority of revealed truth and Christian doctrine.

2. Foes are advancing: they come from the north. Heathenish forces advance against our sacred inheritanceswould rob Israel of her possession of Canaan; invade our holy scenes, besiege Jerusalem, and desecrate the Temple where God is worshipped, for no hallowed scene awes them away; assail our very libertyintend to conquer and capture the people, to make souls their prey, and carry captive the helpless. For manifestly the flock is defenceless, when the rulers and shepherds fear not God neither regard man. As indeed are our homes and liberties if they be not environed by the covenant care of God.

II. Solemn responsibility charged upon the heedless shepherds. Where is the flock? &c.

a. With which they had been put in trust: given unto thee.
b. Which needed and merited faithful care: thy beautiful flock.
c. Of whose safety God will require solemn account: Where is the flock? This is applicable to
1. Magisterial responsibility for the wellbeing of their people. They must protect their subjects from invading evils, and care for the moral as well as physical good of those they govern.

2. Parental responsibility for the career of their children. Where are they? Trained in the good and right way, led after Jesus, guided into the Church of Christ? Or wandering into worldly scenes, amid snares and sophistries? God will want to know where they are at the end of their life on earth, when we appear before Him to give account of our stewardship.

3. Ministerial responsibility for the salvation of those they taught. Have they watchfully tended the flock, been faithful and dutiful shepherds? Where are he souls to whom you ministered the word of redemption, over whom the Holy Ghost made you overseer? When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, He will require their souls of those who were put in charge of the gospel. (See Noticeable Topic on this verse.)

Jer. 13:21. Theme: WHAT WILT THOU SAY WHEN HE SHALL PUNISH THEE.

Time coming when God would call Jewish nation to awful account. God has solemnly threatened the wicked with punishment. When summoned to His bar, what wilt thou say? What reason allege against justice of thy doom?

I. Reflect on that change of circumstances which will be favourable to a correct judgment.

1. The infidelity which now blinds your minds will then be removed. You will see there is a God, your duty on earth, your guilt in ignoring Him.

2. The mission of Christ will then be understood. Then see the infinite evil your sins wrought on Calvary.

3. The opened books will show record of all your sins, Gods dealings with you, &c., making a revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

4. Eternity will be laid open to your view, the glories of heaven, the horrors of doom.

5. The infinite and eternal interests which Gods law was appointed to protect, and against which your sins waged eternal war, will then stand displayed.

6. Sin will then be seen as in raging hostility to the whole creation; against God, &c.

7. Nothing will then divert attention, or excite false hopes, or offer excuses. Everything will then burst upon you marked with eternity and infinity. Who can describe the emotions of that day?

II. Examine the several pleas which may be supposed to offer themselves then to thought.

1. Will you say that you meant no evil? But it will appear how your selfish heart opposed God, &c.

2. That your sins effected no serious results? But they have wrought immeasurable evils; crucified Christ, &c., and perhaps destroyed souls.

3. That eternal punishment is too severe for temporary sins? The sin of an hour can fix lasting misery, and must fall on the culprit himself.

4. That your sins being finite, do not merit infinite punishment? You sinned against an infinite God, therefore your punishment should be infinite, though it is finite in degree to comport with your nature.

5. Will you plead, You are no worse than others? There was no obligation to do evil with the multitude. Gods law bound you individually.

6. Will you say, You had strong temptations? They were sent to test your obedience. They showed you loved your idols more than God. Your depravity gave them power.

7. Will you say, Those wiser than you betrayed you into errors of doctrine? You had the Word of God, the truth was plainly written there.

8. Will you plead, You had good desires and did good? In Gods account you had no good desire, and did no good act. This will appear against all the unregenerate.

9. Will you say, You did not know God? God was before you in His works, and more gloriously in His Word. Your ignorance arose from your unbeliefHe that believeth not shall be damned.

10. Will you say, The Holy Spirit did not strive? Had you heeded His voice you would not have been in this condition now.

11. Will you say, Ministers and friends did not warn you? Say not so. They would have snatched you from destruction, but they could not.

12. Will you charge the blame on Godsay He gave you passions which betray you? All false. He gave you no passions to lead you astray. Self-love changed all, and you alone are to blame.

13. Will you plead, You could not love God, could not repent and believe, nor change your heart? This is saying your heart would yield to no motives; and if God may not punish that, He can no more exercise moral government.

14. Will you say, You were excluded by Gods foreknowledge and decree? If God foresaw you would reject the gospel, did that compel you to do so. You rejected it as freely as if it had not been foreknown.

15. Will you say, It is hard for a creature to be brought into existence without his own consent, and then to be made eternally miserable? Who art thou that repliest against God? If He may not create intelligent beings, and punish them when they sin, He has no right to maintain moral government.

16. Will you say, Why did He suffer me to sin? If the penalty of the law was not executed, it would have been annihilated, and the law turned into advice. Could not infinite Wisdom judge as well as you?

17. Will you say, There is no need of such severity, God could make the universe happy without your destruction? Can you look through eternity, and judge better than God? Or teach Him what is best for public good? Abandon these charges, fall down at the feet of Christ, and cast your soul on Him. Come, for all things are ready. God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are ready. Are you ready? Come.Anon.

Jer. 13:21-22. Theme: GODS JUDGMENT UPON THE FAITHLESS VINDICATED.

I. The tyranny of usurpers is explained. Why are Gods people found in a state of captivitydoes it not imply that He has failed to guard them? No! Thou hast taught them, &c. By coquetting with foreigners, thou hast given them advantages over thee, which they have used for thy conquest. (See Lit. Crit. on verse.) If we court the friendship of sinners, we lay ourselves open to subjugation, and invite them to seize the unwary prey. Hezekiah, by showing the ambassadors his treasures, thus tempted the Babylonish king to plunder.

II. The misery of the vanquished is justified. Shall not sorrow take thee, as a woman in travail? Poignant will be the anguish; and not a reason will the sufferers be able to adduce why sorrows shall not take them. Self-condemnation, the consciousness of merited misery, is the worm that dieth not, the fire that cannot be quenched.

III. The afflictions of judgment threatened. What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee? There is still an interval of suspended judgment. But the unsheathed sword will assuredly fall on the impenitent.

IV. The questionings of self-vindication silenced. And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? There is reason to doubt whether the sufferer will dare to ask such a question, for he will know the reason all too well: if thou say. Even if he venture on such a self-answered inquiry, it will not dare utter itself, only rising in silence, as being ashamed of being heard: say in thine heart. Yet, should any ask for the justification of the Divine afflictions, here it isFor the greatness of thine iniquity.

V. The degradation of apostates is depicted. Thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. (See Lit. Crit. on verse). This public shame (see also Jer. 13:26) prefigures the confusion and contempt which will be openly poured upon all them that forget God and dishonour Him by their iniquitous disregard of His claims and His grace.

Jer. 13:23. Theme: ESCAPING THE THRALDOM OF EVIL HABITS.

I. The great difficulty of reforming vicious habits. This difficulty of changing a bad course arises

1. From the general nature of habits.

2. From the particular nature of bad habits.

3. From the natural and judicial consequences of the great progress and long continuance of a bad course.

II. This difficulty is not desperate. There is some ground of hope and encouragement.

1. There is left even in the worst of men a natural sense of the evil and unreasonableness of sin.

2. Very bad men, when they have any thought of becoming better, are apt to conceive some good hopes of Gods grace and mercy.

3. Who knows what man, thoroughly roused and startled, may resolve to do?

4. The grace and assistance of God, when sincerely sought, is never to be despaired of.Tillotson.

Suggestions arranged from Lange

i. A comfortless perspective (Jer. 13:23).

ii Yet with God nothing it impossible (Mat. 19:26).

iii. Purification, though slow and successive, can be effected. The conclusion of Jer. 13:27 shows this. In purification

1. We obtain a point of support without ourselves (Archimedes).

2. And a new principle of life in Christ Jesus. (See Addenda on Jer. 13:23, Inveterate Habits.)

Theme: THE POWER OF EVIL HABITS.

We take notice of particular evil acts, but are strangely insensible of an evil principle operating within us. This principle shows itself in daily habits. Experience shows that our habits of sin are not easily broken.

I. The power of sin, as inherent in our nature.

1. It pervades all our faculties, whether of mind or body. Understanding blinded, will perverse, affections earthly, conscience stupefied, &c. (Rom. 3:12-15; Rom. 6:13).

2. It finds in us nothing to counteract its influence. Neither reason nor conscience perform their office in opposing this evil principle. (See Rom. 7:18.)

3. It receives aid from everything around us. All that is in the world, lust of flesh, lust of eyes, and pride of life, are confederates, and solicit us to sin.

4. It conceals its influence under specious names. What will it not commend under the idea of amusement, and sanction as conviviality and good breeding?

II. Its power, as confirmed and augmented by evil habit.

1. Its odiousness is diminished. We see to what lengths wicked men will proceed when once the restraints of conscience and remorse are broken through; glory in their shame (Php. 3:18-19).

2. Its power is strengthened. Man may so accustom himself to anger, intemperance, impurity, or sloth, as to become powerless to resist temptation (2Pe. 2:14; Pro. 26:14; Mat. 19:24).

3. Its opportunities for exercise are multiplied. Habits call around us persons and temptations subservient to their indulgence. Thus, sin most easily besets them (Pro. 7:22-23).

4. The powers whereby it should be resisted are destroyed. Conscience becomes seared (1Ti. 4:2); mind hardened against fear (Heb. 3:13). Hence wax worse and worse (2Ti. 3:13.)

5. Everything good is by it put at an unapproachable distance. How shall they do good? &c. If the putting off of the old man be so difficult, what hope is there of putting on the new? (Eph. 4:22-24). Learn

a. Your need of converting grace. Must be born again.

b. The difference between sin and grace, as affected by our habits. Habits of sin will augment of themselves; not so with habits of grace. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Yet the Lord is able to hold you up, and His strength is made perfect in weakness.Simeon.

Theme: THE ALARMING POWER OF SIN.

This passage, like some others in the sacred writings, is not to be interpreted in the strictest sense; of the same description is the declaration of Christ, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And yet such men are saved, though the difficulties in the way of their salvation are many and great. So, in some instances, are men long accustomed to do evil diverted from their courses of iniquity. But this is not usual. It is a truth which should affect the minds of every class, that the long-continued impenitence of men augments the difficulties in the way of their salvation.

I. The habits of men are strengthened and confirmed by indulgence.
II. The influence of this world, as men advance in life, usually becomes more perplexing, and a greater hindrance to their conversion.
III. As years increase men become less interested in the subject of religion, and more obdurate and averse to any alteration in their moral character.
IV. The thought of multiplied and long-continued transgression is very apt to discourage all attempts at repentance.
V. There is awful reason to apprehend that God will leave men of this description to perish in their sins.

APPLICATION
1. What is the admonition which it addresses to the aged?

2. Our subject addresses those who are in middle life.

3. It addresses the young.Dr. D. Spring.

Comments

Custom in sin is a very great hindrance to conversion from sin.Henry.

Learned men in our age do not wisely refer to this passage, when they seek to prove that there is no free-will in man; for it is not simply the nature of man that is spoken of here, but the habit that is contracted by long practice. Aristotle, a strong advocate of free-will, confesses that it is not in mans power to do right, when he is so immersed in his own vices as to have lost a free choice (7, Lib. Ethicon), and this also is what experience proves.Calvin.

Inveterate habits are justly regarded as a second-nature; but, being moral in their character, instead of extenuating, they aggravate the guilt of those who are the subjects of them. Strong, therefore, as is the physical reference here made, it can with no propriety be employed in support of the physical impossibility of moral reformation.Henderson.

See Noticeable Topics on this verse.

Jer. 13:24. Comments

SCATTER THEM: This was no small aggravation of their misery that they should be thus severed one from another. So the persecutors of primitive times relegated and confined the poor Christians to isles and mines, where they could not have access one to another for mutual comfort and support, as Cyprian complaineth.Trapp.

Jer. 13:25. THY LOT, THE PORTION OF THY MEASURES: The portion I have measured out to thee (Job. 20:29; Psa. 11:6); as by line and measure I formerly allotted thee an inheritance in Canaan.

IN FALSEHOOD: i.e., in false gods and foreign usurpers.

Jer. 13:26. Their punishment should answer to their crime. In spiritual harlotry with heathen gods they had exposed themselves to others; God would expose them to shame and ignominy before the eyes of heathen foes.

Jer. 13:27. Theme: JUDAHS CLEANSINGA FORLORN HOPE.

Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?

I. Purification deliberately refused. Not be made clean. (See on Jer. 13:1 : Put it not in water.) As yet Judah delighted in her defilement.

II. Purification extremely difficult. Shall it once be? These words explain Jer. 13:23. Repentance on the part of Judah seemed to have become a moral impossibility; therefore cleansing could not be effected. No cleansing where there is no penitence.

III. Purification remotely possible. When shall it be? In the far distant future the prospective possibility opens to the Seer. It cannot yet, or soon be. Nevertheless he cherishes the distant hope. His patriotic love leads him to this generous surmise. And his knowledge of the patience and mercy of Jehovah forbid him to despair.

Theme: AN AFFECTIONATE EXPOSTULATION WITH JUDAH. Wilt thou not be made clean?

Though it was adjudged next to impossible for them to be brought to do good (Jer. 13:23), yet while there is life there is hope, and therefore still he reasons with them to bring them to repentance (Jer. 13:27).

i. He reasons with them concerning the thing itself. Wilt thou not be made clean? Note, It is the great concern of those who are polluted by sin to be made clean by repentance and faith and an universal reformation. The reason why sinners are not made clean is that they will not be made clean; and therein they act unreasonably.

ii. Concerning the time of it. When shall it once be? Note,It is an instance of the wonderful grace of God, that He desires the repentance and conversion of sinners, and thinks the time long till they are brought to relent; but it is an instance of the wonderful folly of sinners that they put that off from time to time which is of such absolute necessity that, if it be not done some time, they are undone for ever. They do not say, they will never be cleansed, but, not yet; they will defer it to a more convenient season, but cannot tell us when it shall once be.Henry.

Theme: CLEANSING POSSIBLE, YET REFUSED. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?

Every impenitent sinner is involved in guilt and polluted with sin. God is willing to pardon, if he repent and believe the gospel. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. It is implied

I. That it is possible for creatures involved in guilt and polluted with sin to obtain both pardon and purity. Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?

God is able to cleanse us from sin. Our own unwillingness greatly obstructs it, yet it is possible to obtain it.
1. It is possible to have our guilt removed, and to be delivered from the consequences of sin.

2. It is possible for us to be delivered from the pollution of sin.

II. It is supposed That many raise objections against this cleansing and the means appointed for it. Wilt thou not be made clean?

The unbelieving Jews objected to the charge of guilt brought against them by the prophet.
1. Some are willing to be delivered from the consequences of sin, but not from its power. Would willingly escape hell, but care not to live a holy life; would accept a free and full salvation, but are not ready to take up their cross to follow Christ.

2. Some are willing to be cleansed outwardly, but not inwardly. Many do not object to leave off some of their gross sins, but dislike what is internal and spiritual.

3. Some are willing to be cleansed partly, but not entirely. There are sins they cannot give up.

4. Some raise objections to Gods appointed methods for cleansing sins. Object to the mediation of Christ as the ground of their hope: would prefer to do some good work for themselves. Not willing to be pardoned and sanctified in Gods appointed way.

5. Some who admit the importance of being cleansed, object to being cleansed yet; at once. Religion is important, but it is to be attended to at some future time.

III. That those who object to be cleansed render themselves liable to Divine judgment. The words are introduced with a Woe. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! Refusing pardon, they deserve judgment for their impenitence. So those under the gospel, who remain impenitent and ungodly, are exposed to the most awful judgment.

1. Those who refuse to apply to the sacrifice of Christ have no way of mercy left to them. There is no other name under heaven, &c.

2. Those who are not cleansed from sin must be excluded from heaven. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

3. There is great danger if you are not cleansed yet, that you will remain and perish in your corruption.Anon.

Theme: MERCYS APPEALWILT THOU BE MADE CLEAN? &c.

The favoured city under a banbecause of uncleannessDivine offer of help the only hope. Mercys appeal.
1. Mercys appeal is faithful, convincing of sin, and commanding repentance.

2. Mercys appeal is humiliating. Jerusalem is unclean and unable to make itself clean. Ungodly and without strength. Dependent on Divine love.

3. Mercys appeal is helpful. God has made provision for cleansing. He is anxious to afford aid.

4. Mercys appeal is to the moral wish of man. Wilt thou? &c.

5. Mercys appeal is effectual when man is made willing to be clean.

Another method on same text

I. The great need of the soul, cleansing.

II. The great helplessness of the soul, cannot cleanse itself.

III. The great grace of God. He has provided for cleansing, and offers to cleanse.

IV. The great drawback on our part. We do not naturally wish to be clean.

V. The great work of the ministry.

1. To bring home the feeling of guilt.
2. To ask the question of the text.
3. To direct to the cleansing fount.
4. To urge the importance of immediate application.W. Whale.

NOTICEABLE TOPICS IN CHAPTER 13
Topic: NEARNESS TO GOD DESTROYED BY SIN. (Jer. 13:1-11)

The sacred writers use the incidents of life and the symbolism of nature to inculcate truth. Christ did the same. Reason of this(1.) Difficult to secure mans attention. (2.) Difficult to effect a lodgment of the truth in the heart. We have here a symbolic action, the burying, &c., of the girdle, intended to represent the nearness of the Jewish nation to God, and their alienation and destruction through sin.

Subject: NEARNESS TO GOD DESTROYED BY SIN

I. Nearness to God.1. These Jews were like a girdle bound upon the loins. Should have entwined themselves around God. So nations may be near(1) In the great things that God had done for them. (2) In the covenant relation which He had entered into with them. (3) In the privileges which He had conferred upon them.

2. Man is near(1) He is near by naturecreated in Gods image. (2) He is near to Gods heart. (3) He is near in Gods care over him. (4) He is near in the privileges of liberty, religion, knowledge, discipline, warning. (5) In a position to become eternally nearer by growing up into Christ. Entering into his fellowship. Entering into His palace above. (6) Brought near for Gods glory (Jer. 13:11).

II. His nearness destroyed by sin.1. Sin is the destroyer of nations as well as individuals. The Jews destroyed by idolatry, lust, selfishness, pride.

2. As of nations so of individuals, sin will destroy them unless resisted and cast forth. Man in Paradise, Antediluvian world, Ahab, Haman, Lot, and Solomon almost.

3. This destruction is voluntary. The sinner is a suicide. (Jer. 13:10, &c.).

4. God is represented as active in this destruction, v.q.(1) Not that God deserts the sinner first. Pharaoh hardens his heart repeatedly before God is said to harden it. (2) But, when the measure of sin is full, God removes restraints, and sets in motion the agency of judgment.

5. This destruction will consist in(1) Separation from God. (2) Utter corruption and rottenness.

Learn:1. The terrible power of sin. 2. To guard against it as our chief enemy.E. Jerman.

Topic: LIFE LESSONSBE NOT PROUD: Childrens Sermon. (Jer. 13:15.)

The lily of the valley, growing in the shade, and concealing itself in its own leaves, hints this same lesson. So does the nightingale, which asks no witness to her song. Not need to describe pride, as if it were a new thing, or a rare curiosity, something which we must travel to ruins of Nineveh to find: as ancient as Garden of Eden, and common as thorns and thistles. It is exceedingly deceitful, escapes punishment by assuming a fictitious excellence, but in any form it is SIN! And, this enmity to God, sets up idols where He should reign, and breeds envies, malice, &c.things worthy of death. Its varieties are manifold: dwell on four of the chief

I. There is race pride. Be thankful for good and pious ancestors: but what is there to boast or? Did we help to make them what they were; and are we as good as they? Jews were race proud: We have Abraham to our father; We be the children of Abraham! Not wrong to rejoice that our progenitors have been noble and holy, but to be arrogant and supercilious on account of this, and treat others disdainfully, is a ridiculous and detestable habit.

II. There is face pride. Lovely or manly features are not to be despised. Astonishing what favours they obtain, how many bolted doors they open. But if they foster pride, beauty is no longer beauty; it is despicable vanity. Remember how inferior outward appearance is to moral qualities, how empty it will leave you if disease despoils you of beauty; culture the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.

III. There is place pride. Your position in society, fine house, carriage, rich dress, education, accomplishmentsthese do not render you better than those whose station is lower; not wiser, nobler, holier. You received them from God, without money and without price; be not haughty about them.

IV. There is grace pride. The worst sort of pride, pride in godliness! Mingles with our prayers, praises, charities, repentance, and tears. We estimate our devotions or services, and think them satisfactory, congratulate ourselves on them: we then offer incense to self instead of to God. Grace pride corrupts all grace.

Be not proud therefore, because1. We have nothing to be proud of: we are poor, weak, dependent creatures. 2. It is abhorrent to God: it shuts Him away. The proud He knoweth afar off. God resisteth the proud. Fallen, depraved, perishing beings, proud! 3. It is so unlike Christ. Yet He was altogether lovely; knew everything, possessed everything, could do everything; yet meek and lowly in heart. 4. It is ruinous. Pride goeth before destruction. What warnings do Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod offer! Watch against inducements, to pride: bravely struggle with and subdue it.Rev. James Bolton, in Family Treasury.

Topic: GOD GLORIFIED IN THE FALL OF PRIDE. Text: Be not proud; give glory to the Lord your God. But if ye will not hear, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and my eyes shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lords flock is carried away captive (Jer. 13:15-17).

What a wonderful circumstance claims attention; the Everlasting God Himself pleads for an audience! Hear ye and give ear, for the Lord hath spoken! He tells of matters of vast importance; and, if you listen, through eternity you will thank God for having attended to His word.

I. Ask, What is it which stops people from hearing the voice of God? Text points to one special obstacle which is the last we should have thought possiblepride. When Jehovah condescends to speak to the heart of one so worthless, vouchsafes to offer us counsel of most momentous concern, the thing which bars our door against the entrance of Jesus, or deadens our ear to the sound of His voice, is this accursed thing called pride. Varied aspects assumed by pride:

1. One form of pride is shame. Many kept from Christ because ashamed to come and give themselves up to Him. For fear of the paltry scorn, the momentary ridicule, the soul will risk eternity! You have to choose between shame now and shame eternally. Yet what is there to be ashamed of, that you should be kept from Christ? Rather there is cause for shame in being a sinner, impenitent, self-condemned!

2. There is the pride of respectability and social position. Hold apart from religion, because in the one way all-must go without distinction. Yet who would not prefer the position of the vulgar beggar Lazarus to that of the respectable citizen Dives? What can justify in a lost sinner any high and vain thoughts of self?

3. There is the pride that conceals a wound. Gods word has stricken the heart; healing and joy could be had if we humbly go to God, yet hide the grief and unrest within, from man and Heaven! Let this pride be broken down, and confession be made in the ears of your God.

4. There is the pride of self-righteousness. Thank God, I am not like other men! What say when before the Thronethat you were too good to accept the Gospel? Like the man without the wedding-garment, you will be speechless. You might be clothed with the righteousness which is from God by faith; yet choosing your own, you are justly condemned!

II. Human pride must effectually be broken down.

1. When pride is humbled, and the man is crushed, then it is God speaks. And what does He say? Might expectDepart from Me, ye cursed! Nay: Give glory to the Lord your God. Your God still, though turned your back upon Him, grieved Him, would none of His ways. How make return for the wrong done, years wasted, opportunities lost? Give glory to the Lord your God!

2. The contrite soul cannot realise its ability to glorify God. A child of sin and sorrow, heart vile, sins crying out in reproach, all life a transgression, how can such an one glorify God? Note: A sinner can in one sense glorify God more than the brightest angel before His throne. From deepest woe He raises the soul to highest bliss and holiness! And while there is joy in the presence of God over the sinner repentant, the Most High is glorified in the achievement of wondrous grace! Give this glory to your God; broken down, powerless, self-despairing, cast yourself on His salvation.

3. There is a desperate alternative; that you will not hear. By and by your feet will stumble on the dark mountains. The day of disease will come; life will grow dim; the thin grandeur of a fading world will begin to pass away; all around the gloom will thicken, and on a dying world gross darkness, of unrelieved despair, will cover you. Then the last moment comes; one terrified look for light, but in vain; the soul is carried away into captivity.

Tears for lost Jerusalem! Tears for a lost soul! Mine eyes shall weep sore.Aitkens Mission Sermons.

Topic: GODS CLAIM ON PARENTS. Text: Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? (Jer. 13:20).

If kings are responsible for their subjects, teachers are for their scholars, parents are for their children.

I. What is here shown us respecting the flock. The flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock.

1. The flock is not yours: not yours in proprietorship, but only yours in charge. It is the flock given thee. Mighty kings and tyrants have regarded subjects as their property: such have always wrought the ruin of their nation. The flock belongs to God. Israel was His. Children are peculiarly and specially Gods. Authority over them is Gods gift to parents; but He has a claim prior to yours. He continues His work of Creation in every child born. Its existence is wonderful. Much more wonderful are its capacitiesphysical, mental, social, spiritual!

2. Christ highly estimates the flock. Thy beautiful flock. Whosoever shall receive one such child in My name, receiveth Me. Christian hospitality to a child is homage to God. Teachers, parents, the children of your charge constitute the flock that is given you; but you are not owners, only shepherds; and the obligation of shepherds is on you.

II. The responsibility of parents to whom God has entrusted His flock. The question will be put, sooner or later, Where is the flock given thee?

The great responsibility of parents is seen in this, that
1. They had to impart religious ideas. At home the first principles are instilled: indeed, the childs mind is there made acquainted with the germs of all truthsin, forgiveness, righteousness, salvation, love human and Divine: all the ideas involved in religion.

2. Parents represent to their children the character of the Invisible God. Jewish kings substituted and were to represent the King of kings. The Incarnate Jesus revealed the Father in heaven. The gospel is a declaration of the Paternal Love. The parental relationship, therefore, represents God to the little ones; and they get their first ideas of Him from what their parents are.

3. The inquiry for the flock will be addressed to parents. God will ask of them the beautiful flock that made bright their homes. The time will come when this inquiry will be addressed from the judgment throne to parents. And among the gathered flocks in the one fold of heaven Christ will ask for yours. Alas! some will pass childless into the gates of heaven; bereaved not by death but by sin: themselves saved, their children lost. How will their ears receive the words, Enter into the joy of your Lord? Others will themselves be arrested at the throne; themselves rejected: and to them also will the inquiry come, Where is thy flock? Driven by thee into perditionsouls which were not thine, lambs whom Jesus came to save!

III. The way in which this responsibility should be met. If you would prepare to answer joyfully this question, set it before you as

1. A distinct purpose. The wish for your childrens salvation is not enough. Many good people are bad parents through lack of this purpose that their children shall be saved; a purpose registered in the sight of God over each child singly.

2. Intense devotion is necessary. Lukewarm piety will never enable a man to say at the throne, Behold I and the children which God has given me! To have converting power over your own children you must love their souls, and hold them fast for God.Rev. Alden Davies, in Christian World Pulpit.

Topic: CUSTOM IN SIN EXCEEDING DANGEROUS. Text: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil (Jer. 13:23).

The miserable condition of sin is here exhibited in two branches, its defilement and its entanglement.

I. The defilement of sin. This is propounded from a double resemblance, the blackness of the Ethiopian, and the spots of the leopard. It is a polluting and deforming thing; whether man be regarded as corporeal or spiritual. Let it be beauty of the body, sin will cause loathsomeness; or beauty of mind, sin will take off the comeliness, and reduce it to coarseness and lust. Let men be what they may, yet if defiled by sin, they are so far forth very unlovely. They may not see their own ugliness, deformity, and filthiness in sin, as Ethiopians do not perceive their own blackness, nor are sensible of it; nay, they count their blackness their greatest beauty; yet this does not make them a whit the comelier.

To open this defilement and deformity which is in sin the more, we may take notice of four particulars:
1. The inherence of sin. Like the blackness of the Ethiopian, and spots of leopard. Behold I was shapen in iniquity, &c. (Psa. 51:5); We are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3); The wicked are estranged from the womb (Psa. 58:3). (1) This should humble and abase us in consideration of our own vileness; not lead us to excuse our sins. If sin were a thing which men fell into only by chance, as something adventitious to them, some palliation might be found; but its being inbred and natural makes it the more abominable. Let us prosecute the work of humility and deep contrition, being afflicted in soul on account of this natural deformity. And (2) we see here what cause we have to desire that God would change our nature, and bestow a new nature upon us.

2. The monstrousness of sin. As we have seen it in its generation, so may we look upon it in its degeneration. (1) It alters a mans country; turns an Israelite into an Ethiopian, and thus causes a degeneration there. (2) It also alters a mans nature; gives a man the quality and disposition even of the beasts, makes him a leopard, and thus makes a degeneration there. See Psa. 49:20, I was as a beast before Thee. Thus does sin degenerate, debase, and put the sinner below himself.

3. The multiplication of sin. It is various; expressed here by the leopards spots. Sin is a beast of divers colours and marks and spots. A large catalogue in Gal. 5:19, where the works of the flesh are made manifest. There are not more spots in a leopard than there are lusts in a corrupt heart.

4. The universality of sin. It is a deformity in all the parts, not one excepted: as is the blackness of the Ethiopian and the spots of the leopard. Sin makes a man universally sinful and polluted in every part and member of him (Isa. 1:5; Gen. 6:5). On the other side, good men are freed from these spots: Then art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee (Son. 4:7); Not having spot or wrinkle, &c. (Eph. 5:27). See also 2Pe. 3:14; Jas. 1:27; Jud. 1:23.

Let us not look upon these things as mere metaphors, but as carrying a manifest truth and reality in them; believe them, and be affected by them. Let this carry us so much the more closely to Christ, and cause us to admire Gods free grace in Him, as the Propitiation for sin, and the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The vileness of sin should make it loathsome to us, and love the means appointed for our recovery from it.

II. The entanglements of sin. Expressed in the unmovableness and unchangeableness of it; as the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, or the leopard his spots.

1. The qualification [or condition] of the persons accustomed to do evil. More correctly taught to do evil. Taught (1) By doctrine and instruction. There is a great deal of such teaching in the world (see Mat. 5:19; Tit. 1:11; Mar. 7:7); and a great deal of ill-learning also follows thereupon; people are here quickly taught, so capable and appreciative are they (2Ti. 4:3-4). Those who are thus taught to do evil cannot do good; there is an impotency and indisposition upon them to all good, and a proneness to all evil. Popery, Pelagianism, Anti-nomianism, though they do not always break forth into actual enormities, yet have that within them which teaches and leads to sin. (2) By pattern and example. That which men see to be practised they soon and easily fall into. (3) By practice and use accustomed to do evil. Use makes perfect. There is an art in wickedness itself: wise to do evil. Men are not expert and expedite at first in such sins as swearing, drinking, gaming; but experience comes with use; then they drink in iniquity as waterdraw on iniquity as with cart-ropesdo evil with both hands earnestlyturn to evil course as a horse rusheth to the battle.

2. The invincible necessity which follows upon custom in sinthey cannot do good. As well attempt to make the Ethiopian white or remove spots from leopard, which are expressions of labour in vain, as to reduce an habituated sinner. The invincible necessity and tyranny of accustomed sin shows itself (1) In an impotency to good (Gal. 5:17). (2) A precipitancy unto evil (Ecc. 8:11). The ground of this prevalency of custom is the fixedness of it; it being, as it were, a second nature, which is sure and constant to its principle. Naturalia non mutantur; those things which are natural are unchangeable. (a) Take heed of having anything to do with sin at first. (b.) If any should fall into sin, do not stay in it, but hasten out of it with speed (Rom. 6:1). (c.) Take heed of relapses, and falling back to sin again (2Pe. 2:20). Evil custom reassumed and habits returned to are specially dangerous.

But when is sin come to a habit? Or how may it be discerned so to be? We may know it by three considerations

i. Frequency. When often and familiarly committed. , says the philosopher: That which is often is next to that which is always; and it very suddenly falls into it.

ii. Facility. When one is expedite in doing it. He that is born of God doth not commit sin; i.e., does not make a trade of it; but with an unregenerate heart it is far otherwise, he is prompt and ready at it.

iii. [Felicity] complacency and delight in it. They count it pleasure to riot in the daytime (2Pe. 2:13; Psa. 62:4). When wickedness has reached this height in those corrupted with it, it proves very hard and difficult to wean them from it: an invincible necessity lies upon the accustomed sinner.

Reflection. This seems a very UNCOMFORTABLE DOCTRINE, that an accustomed sinner is unreclaimable, and seems to carry much disheartening and discouragement in it. For are those inured to sin altogether lost,without hope of recovery? This is to be understood, not absolutely and peremptorily, but with due limitation. There is One who can reduce, reform, and reclaim an habituated offender. Who can bring clean out of unclean? Not one; i.e., not one man. Comp. Mat. 19:26. The Lord, by converting grace, can make the most monstrous sinner a good Christian; can change the skin of the Ethiopian, &c. Instances: Manasses, Paul, jailor, Mary Magdalene. (See Isa. 11:6-7; Psa. 68:31; Act. 8:27; Ethiopian changed his skin.) The Lord is able. But we must take the words as applicable to the sinner, thus

1. He cannot do it, i.e., of himself. An accustomed sinner cannot alter his own heart or course (Jer. 10:23). It is not the question, Can the Ethiopians skin be changed? but, Can he change it? (Comp. 2Co. 3:5; Php. 2:13.) We can no more convert ourselves than create ourselves, no more give ourselves a spiritual being than a natural, no more raise ourselves from the death of sin than from the death of the grave.

2. He cannot do it, i.e., easily. There is great difficulty in reclaiming one habituated in sin. (a.) Because Satan will be busy in presenting his temptations; (b.) Lust in the heart of man will struggle towards the enticement (Gal. 5:17); (c.) Grace is oftentimes asleep, which should restrain and subdue sin.

Suggestions: 1. It is not enough for us to abstain from evil, we must also do good (see Psa. 34:14; Isa. 7:16; Rom. 12:9). This meets your negative Christians, merely inoffensive; like Pharisee, no extortioner, no thief, &c. But what good do they do? 2. Sins of commission have sins of omission in them. Doing what they should not, they neglect what they should do: for they forfeit the opportunity, lose the ability, and alienate the proffered assistance (Psa. 51:11). 3. No man can do any good till his nature be first changed. We must become good ourselves, change skin, then may good come from us. This is a fact confirmed by observation (Mat. 7:16), and by doctrine (Heb. 11:6). Therefore should we seek the regenerating of Gods Spirit.Thomas Norton, D.D., A.D. 1678.

ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 13: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS

Jer. 13:1. THE UNWASHED GIRDLE. Put it not in water, i.e., to wash or whiten it; but take it as it is first made, Ut sorditiem magis contrahat, to show, say some, that the Jewish nation, when first chosen, was black by sin and nothing amiable. Or, Put it not in water, i.e., keep it from being rotted, as a type of Gods care of and kindness to that people.Trapp.

Jer. 13:5. THE BURIED GIRDLE. God has cast off His first people, the whole house of Judah and of Jerusalem. God has put us on as a girdle in their stead. For He has not thrown away the girdle and remained unadorned, but has woven Himself another. This girdle is the Church from the heathen. It should know that, as God spared not the former, much more will He not spare it when it sins and is not worthy of Gods loins.Origen.

Jer. 13:2; Jer. 13:5. THE STANDARD OF GOODLY CONDUCT. Perfect obedience.

I worship Thee, sweet Will of God!

And all Thy ways adore;

And every day I live, I seem

To love Thee more and more.

When obstacles and trials seem

Like prison walls to be,

I do the little I can do

And leave the rest to Thee.

I know not what it is to doubt,

My heart is ever gay,

I run no risks, for come what will

Thou always hast Thy way!

I have no cares, O blessed will,

For all my cares are Thine;

I live in triumph, Lord, for Thou

Hast made Thy triumph mine.

Faber.

Jer. 13:9. PRIDE ABASED. There never was a saint yet that grew proud of his fine feathers but the Lord plucked them out; there never was an angel that had pride in his heart but he lost his wings and fell into Gehenna, as Satan and those fallen angels did; and there never shall be a saint who indulges self-conceit and spiritual pride but the Lord will spoil his glories and trample his honours in the mire.Spurgeon.

Pride thrust proud Nebuchadnezzar out of mens society, proud Saul out of his kingdom, proud Adam out of Paradise, proud Haman out of court, proud Lucifer out of heaven.Henry Smith.

Whose robe is white, but heart is black with pride,
He for himself hells gate has opened wide,
For, weighed in God-the-All-sufficients scale,
Not claims nor righteousness of man avail;
But these are costly in His sight indeed
Repentance, contrite shame, and sense of need.

Trench.

Remember what thou wert before thy birthnothing; what thou wert for many years afterweakness; what in all thy lifea great sinner; what in all thy excellenciesa mere debtor to God, to thy parents, to the earth, and to all creatures. Upon these or the like meditations, if we dwell, we shall see nothing more reasonable than to be humble, and nothing more foolish than to be proud.Bishop Taylor.

Those boughs and branches of trees which are most richly laden with fruit bend downwards and han. lowest.Dr. Gill.

Lowliness is the base of every virtue:
And he who goes the lowest builds the safest.
May God keep all His pity for the proud!

Bailey.

Jer. 13:15. BE NOT PROUD. I have read of Menecrates, a physician that would needs be counted a god, and took no other fee of his patients but their vow to worship him. Dionysius Syracusanus, hearing of this, invited him to a banquet, and, to honour him according to his desire, set before him nothing but a censer of frankincense, with the smoke whereof he was feasted till he starved, while others fed on good meat.J. Adams.

Diogenes, being at Olympia, saw at that celebrated festival some young men of Rhodes arrayed most magnificently and exclaimed, This is pride! Afterwards meeting with some Lacedmonians in a mean and sordid dress, he saw the same vanity in another guise, and said, And this is also pride!

Jer. 13:16. REPENTANCE GLORIFYING GOD.

On bended knees, replete with godly grief,
See where the mourner kneels to seek relief,
No God I thank Thee! freezes on his tongue
For works of merit that to him belong;
Deep in his soul convictions ploughshare rings,
And to the surface his corruption brings;
He loathes himself, in lowest dust he lies,
And, all-abased, Unclean, unclean! he cries.
From his full heart pours forth the gushing plea,
God of the lost, be merciful to me!
The light of life descends in heavenly rays,
And angels shout and sing, Behold, he prays!

W. Holmes.

Christ Jesus rejoices over those as blessed who mourn over themselves as cursed, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Out of the subtlest water God can brew the sweetest liquor. The skilful bee gathers the best honey from the bitterest herb. When the cloud has been dissolved into a shower there presently follows a glorious sunshine. The more a stone is wounded by the hand of an engraver, the greater beauty is superinduced thereon. By groans unutterable the Lord ushers in joys unspeakable.Secker.

Jer. 13:16. STUMBLE UPON THE DARK MOUNTAINS:

Not Thou from us, O Lord I but we
Withdraw ourselves from Thee.

When we are dark and dead,

And Thou art covered with a cloud
Hanging before Thee like a shroud,
So that our prayer can find no way,
Oh, teach us that we do not say,

Where is Thy brightness fled!

But that we search and try

What in ourselves has wrought this blame,
For Thou remainest still the same;
But earths own vapours earth may fill
With darkness and thick clouds, while still

The sun is in the sky.Trench.

Arise, and search thy heartlet nothing stay thee;
The fatal cause is there;
This traitor in thy soul may else betray thee
To ruin and despair.
Nor doubt, when thou with heart contrite and lowly
Hast all thy sins confessd,
Thy night shall pass away, and God the holy
Shall hear and give thee rest.Dewart.

Goethes dying exclamation was mournfully significantOpen the shutter, and let in more light! Hobbes, the infidel, before death, said, I am taking a fearful leap into the dark!

Jer. 13:17. LAMENTING PRIDE. Howard, the noble philanthropist, was one day visited by a German Count, governor of Upper Austria, with his countess, interested to see the man who had so excited public attention. The Count asked his opinion as to the state of the prisons in his department. Mr. Howard replied, The worst in all Germany; and advised that the Countess should visit the female prisoners. I, she said haughtily, I go into prisons! and hastily left his presence in anger. Howard, indignant at her proud and unfeeling disposition, followed her, and said in earnest remonstrance, Madam, remember you are a woman yourself, and must soon, like the most miserable prisoner in your dungeons, be enclosed in a small space of that earth from which you equally originated!

Jer. 13:17. SORROWFUL TEARS.

What gem hath droppd, and sparkles oer his chain?
The tear most sacredshed for others pain,
That starts at oncebright, purefrom pitys mine,
Already polished by the hand Divine.

Byron.

The rose is fairest washed with morning dew,
And love is loveliest when embalmed in tears.

Scott.

Hide not thy tears, weep boldlyand be proud
To give the flowing virtue manly way:
Tis Natures mark, to know an honest heart by.
Shame on those breasts of stone that cannot melt
In soft adoption of anothers sorrow.Hill.

Jer. 13:18. THE QUEEN. The Hebrew has no word to express queen, the fem. of king, nor its equivalent dignity. The word, gebirah, translated queen, means mistress or lady, and is used only twice of a kings wife (1Ki. 11:19, wife of king of Egypt, and 2Ki. 10:13, Jezebel, who was not only wife but daughter of a king). In two other places (Jer. 13:18; Jer. 29:2) it may be kings mother, as it clearly is in 1Ki. 15:13; 2Ch. 15:16.

Gray.

Jer. 13:18. REBUKING ROYALTY. When Beza, in the behalf of the Reformed Churches of France, made a speech at Possiacum before the young king and the queen-mother, he spake so effectually, says Rivet, that a great cardinal who heard it wished that either he had been dumb that day, or that they had all been deaf.

Jer. 13:23. INVETERATE HABITS. Bad habits are very easily formed, but when once formed they are like the course of a mighty river. Some of the oldest rivers in the world have the same place in the map, and the same windings on the face of the earth which they first cut for themselves; and that way they have continued to follow through the succession of generations.J. A. Wallace.

When at first from virtues path we stray,
How shrinks the feeble heart with sad dismay!
More bold at length, by powerful habit led,
Careless and seard the dreary wild we tread;
Behold the gaping gulf of sin with scorn,
And plunging deep to endless death are borne.

J. Scott.

Then the shepherds led the pilgrims to a place where they saw one Fool, and one Want-wit washing an Ethiopian, with an intention to make him white; but the more they washed him the blacker he was. Then they asked the shepherds what this should mean. So they told them, saying, Thus it is with the vile person: all means used to get such an one a good name, shall in conclusion tend but to make him more abominable. Thus it was with the Pharisees, and so shall it be with all hypocrites.Bunyan.

Habitual evils change not on a sudden,
But many days must pass, and many sorrows;
Conscious remorse and anguish must be felt,
To curb desire, to break the stubborn will,
And work a second nature in the soul,
Ere Virtue can resume the place she lost.

Rowe.

Said Diogenes, when he reproved an ill man to no purpose, thiopem abluo ut candidum reddam; I do but wash a blackamoor. And the like said Nazianzen concerning Julian the Apostate. It is said that the negroes paint the devil white, as being a colour contrary to their own, and which they less well affect.Trapp.

Custom in sin takes away the sense of it: and it looks for continual entertainment where it hath once gotten a haunt. Nothing so weak as water; yet let much water (as sin, Satan, and custom) be joined together, and nothing stronger. It was not for nothing, therefore, that the Cretans, when they would curse their enemies with most bitter execrations, wished that they might take delight in some or other evil custom. Modestoque voti genere efficacissimum ultionis genus reperiunt, saith the historian (Val. Max.); by a modest kind of wish they sufficiently avenged themselves.Idem.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

VI. THE PRIDE OF THE NATION Jer. 13:1-27

Arrogant, willful, stubborn pride was at the root of all Judahs sins. In chapter thirteen Jeremiah issues five stern warnings concerning pride and its consequences. Pride results in deterioration (Jer. 13:1-11), drunkenness (Jer. 13:12-14), darkness (Jer. 13:15-17), dishonor (Jer. 13:18-19), and disgrace (Jer. 13:20-27).

A. WARNING: Pride Results in Deterioration

Jer. 13:1-11

prophets frequently relied upon object lessons to attract attention to their message and enforce the point they were trying to make. These men of God were following sound principles of teaching long before the study of pedagogy as a science. By means of an action parable (Jer. 13:1-7) and the application of that parable (Jer. 13:8-11) Jeremiah forced the nation to see the ultimate consequences of their sinful pride.

1. The action parable (Jer. 13:1-7)

TRANSLATION

(1) Thus said the LORD unto me: Go and purchase for yourself a girdle of linen and put it about your loins and do not put it into water. (2) And I acquired the girdle according to the word of the LORD and I put it about my loins. (3) And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, Take the girdle which you acquired which is upon your loins. Arise and go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a rock crevice. (5) And I went and hid it at the Euphrates as the LORD commanded me. (6) And it came to pass at the end of many days that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from that place the girdle which I commanded you to hide there. (7) And I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place in which I had hidden it; and, behold, the girdle was ruined and good for nothing.

COMMENTS

The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and instructs him to purchase a girdle or loin-cloth. The loincloth was a strip of cloth, sometimes leather, wound several times around the waist with its ends hanging down over the thigh. The loin-cloth served the purpose of holding up the loose upper garment when walking or working. Jeremiah is to wear his new linen loin-cloth both to attract the attention of people and to provide the basis for the symbolism which he will later explain. The prophet is specifically instructed not to put his new loincloth in water (Jer. 13:1). Various explanations of this prohibition have been offered. Some think he was not to wash the garment; he was to wear it until it became filthy. Others think he was not to soak the garment in order to soften it and make it more comfortable for wearing. Doubtlessly Jeremiah was puzzled by this instruction to purchase and wear a new loin-cloth. But he obeyed the Lord in full confidence that further revelation would be forthcoming (Jer. 13:2).

After wearing the garment about for some time Jeremiah received additional instruction from the Lord (Jer. 13:3). He is to take his new loin-cloth and hide it at the Euphrates river or perhaps the town of Parah in the crevice of a rock (Jer. 13:4). Once again Jeremiah complied with the commandment of the Lord even though he must have thought it very strange (Jer. 13:5). After many days Jeremiah received still further instruction from the Lord. He is to retrieve his loin-cloth (Jer. 13:6). Jeremiah returned to the spot where he had hidden his garment, dug away the earth with which he had covered the crevice in the rock, and removed his loin-cloth. Naturally the garment was moldy, rotted, filthy and utterly worthless (Jer. 13:7).

Commentators are divided into two major schools of thought as regards this episode. Some feel that the story has no foundation in fact. The account is to be interpreted as a vision or perhaps a parable which was related for purely didactic purposes. But if this were the case, would Jeremiah have represented the events as actually happening? Other commentators feel that this was an actual experience of the prophet; but these commentators are themselves divided into two schools. The point of contention is the place where the waistcloth was buried. Did Jeremiah actually make a trip to the Euphrates river as suggested in the standard English versions? Many conservative and many liberal commentators for that matter answer that question in the affirmative. Other equally competent scholars feel that two trips to the Euphrates river some 300400 miles north of Anathoth is out of the question. These scholars translate the Hebrew word perathah, to Parah. According to this view Jeremiah buried his garment in the rocky environs of the little village of Parah a few miles from his home. They feel that in the Hebrew text at least, a trip to the Euphrates river is both unlikely and unnecessary. The position taken here is that Jeremiah did make a journey to the Euphrates to bury his waistcloth and returned later to retrieve the tattered garment. For additional comment see the special note which follows.

SPECIAL NOTE

JEREMIAHS TRIP TO THE EUPHRATES

As one surveys the various commentaries on the Book of Jeremiah he will discover five basic arguments which are advanced to support the position taken in this work that Jeremiah actually made a trip to the Euphrates river during his ministry. Some of these arguments have little if any weight. In order to aid the student in separating the wheat from the chaff as he peruses the various commentaries on the book, the following critique of the various arguments is offered.

ARGUMENT ONE: Jeremiah was forced to go into hiding after the fifth year of Jehoiakim (Jer. 36:9-32) and probably would have been secure only in the far north. Another prophet who tried to take refuge from Jehoiakim in Egypt was extradited and executed (Jer. 26:20-23), RESPONSE: The present narrative gives not the slightest hint that Jeremiah was fleeing to the north to escape the wrath of Jehoiakim or anyone else for that matter. There are many adequate hiding places much nearer than the Euphrates river as is made clear from the narratives of Saul and David.

ARGUMENT TWO: The silence regarding the activities of Jeremiah during the last part of Jehoiakims reign suggests that he was absent from Jerusalem. This would be the ideal time to place his trip to the Euphrates. RESPONSE: Several gaps in the knowledge of Jeremiahs activities exist. Does every silent gap indicate that Jeremiah was absent from Jerusalem? Even if the prophet was temporarily absent from the city this in itself would not prove that he made the trip to the Euphrates. Furthermore the material of this section seems to date to the late years of Josiah or, more likely, to the early years of Jehoiakim.

ARGUMENT THREE: The Chaldean officers who conquered Jerusalem seemed to know Jeremiah (Jer. 39:11-14). This would suggest that they had met the prophet on some previous occasion. Jeremiahs trip to the Euphrates could have been that occasion. RESPONSE: No evidence actually exists that the Chaldean officers knew Jeremiah personally. They could have learned of the prophet through those who were deported in 605 B.C. and 597 B.C. Those Jews who deserted to the Chaldeans during the siege would certainly have been interrogated by their captors. Since Jeremiah was perhaps the one most responsible for those desertions his name must have been frequently mentioned. The Chaldeans knew Jeremiah by reputation only.

ARGUMENT FOUR: The Euphrates is the essential point of the parable representing the corrupting religious influence of Mesopotamia on Judah.[196] RESPONSE: This argument is strange in that Jeremiah does not once mention the Euphrates, Babylon, Mesopotamia or the north in his inspired application of the parable. While the Euphrates may play a part in the symbolism it certainly is not the essential point.

[196] Elmer A. Leslie, Jeremiah Chronologically Arranged, Translated, and Interpreted (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1954), pp. 86, 87.

ARGUMENT FIVE: The normal meaning of the Hebrew word Phrath is Euphrates. Thus the word should be translated and thus the word should be understood in this passage. RESPONSE: This is perhaps the best argument to back the position that Jeremiah actually made a trip to the Euphrates river. However even this argument is not without its difficulties. The Hebrew word Phrath when it refers to the Euphrates usually has the Hebrew word for river following. This is true twelve out of the fifteen times the word Phrath occurs in the Hebrew Bible. Yet the very fact that in three passages Phrath refers to the Euphrates when the word for river is not present indicates that this is proper usage. In no other passage does the word Phrath mean anything other than the Euphrates river.

After studying all the arguments on both sides of the controversy concerning where Jeremiah hid his waist-cloth the present writer has opted for the view that Jeremiah actually made a trip to the Euphrates river. The alternate view that he buried the waistcloth near his home town at Parah cannot be ruled out altogether. The distance to the Euphrates still remains a problem for those who hold the prophet went there. Yet it should be remembered that the prophets often did curious and sometimes almost impossible acts in order to dramatize their message.

2. The application of the parable (Jer. 13:8-11)

TRANSLATION

(8) And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, (9) Thus says the LORD: Like this I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. (10) This evil people who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and follow after other gods to serve them and bow down to them shall be like this girdle which is good for nothing. (11) For as a girdle clings unto the loins of a man so I caused all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah to cling unto Me (oracle of the LORD), to be My people and a name, a praise and a glory; but they would not listen.

COMMENTS

When Jeremiah returned from the Euphrates he carried or perhaps even attempted to wear his tattered loin-cloth through the streets of Jerusalem. Naturally people would ask about the filthy piece of cloth and then Jeremiah would relate the story narrated above. Then he would begin to make the application of the parable. Judah and Jerusalem were guilty of sinful pride and self-exaltation. But their pride is about to be marred, tattered and torn, like the loin-cloth (Jer. 13:9). God will rend Judah to pieces as easily as a rotten piece of cloth is torn. Perhaps as Jeremiah uttered these words he actually tore the old loin-cloth to illustrate his point. He then describes the pride of Judah in more detail. That pride manifested itself in refusal to hear i.e, obey the word of God. They wanted no part of the old stern God of Sinai with His prohibitions and restrictions. That God was tolerable as long as they wandered in the wilderness. But now they had settled down to become farmers. They wanted new gods who would guarantee them fertility of the soil and at the same time condone their sensuality. For this reason the children of Israel began to follow after, bow down to and serve the gods of Canaan. The corrupting influence of idolatry had slowly eaten away at the strength of the nation until finally the nation, like Jeremiahs loin-cloth, had become utterly worthless, fit for nothing but destruction (Jer. 13:10).

In this action parable Jeremiah represents God and the lovely new linen loin-cloth represents the Covenant people, both Judah and Israel. In the ancient Near East the loin-cloth was the principal ornament of a mans dress. This article of clothing was one of the most prized possessions of a man.[197] As Jeremiah had chosen his waist-cloth so God had selected Israel from among all the nations as his special possession. Three times Jeremiah notes that the loin-cloth was worn close to the body. The prophet wishes to emphasize the intimate and beautiful relation ship which had once existed between God and His chosen people. Israel was His people, the means by which Gods name would be made known throughout the world. They were a source of praise and glory to God. But as time went on Israel would not obey the word of God. They continued to deteriorate spiritually and morally until they were of no more value to God (Jer. 13:11).

[197] When Jonathan made a covenant with David he gave him his robe, his armor even his sword and his bow and his girdle (1Sa. 18:4).

THE PARABLE OF THE RUINED WAISTCLOTH

Jer. 13:1-11

Jeremiah selected and purchased his waistcloth as a personal possession.

God selected Israel as His special possession.

Jeremiah wore his waistcloth about his waist for a time.

Israel cleave to God in intimate fellowship for a time.

The waistcloth was not to be washed but worn till filthy.

God maintained his relationship to Israel until the nation became utterly filthy with sin.

When removed from the waist the waistcloth no longer was performing its proper function.

When Israel departed from the Lord she was no longer fulfilling her function in the divine plan.

The garment when removed from the person of Jeremiah degenerated rapidly.

When Israel turned her back on God she rapidly deteriorated.

Jeremiah journeyed far to bury the waistcloth.

Israel had traveled a long way from God.

The waistcloth was buried near the Euphrates river.

Israel would be carried into exile to lose its glory and be despised among the nations.

When retrieved the waistcloth was damaged beyond repair.

Judah in Jeremiahs day was marred beyond recognition, good for nothing.

The rotted garment could be easily ripped and torn,

God will rip asunder the tattered remains of the nation.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) A linen girdle.The point of comparison is given in Jer. 13:11. Of all garments worn by man the girdle was that most identified with the mans activity, nearest to his person. The linen girdle was part of Jeremiahs priestly dress (Exo. 28:40; Lev. 16:4), and this also was significant in the interpretation of the symbolic act. Israel, represented as the girdle of Jehovah, had been chosen for consecrated uses. The word get implies the act of purchasing, and this too was not without its symbolic significance.

Put it not in water.The work of the priest as a rule necessarily involved frequent washings both of flesh and garments. The command in this case was therefore exceptional. The unwashed girdle was to represent the guilt of the people unpurified by any real contact with the clean water of repentance (Eze. 36:25). In the filthy garments of Joshua, in Zec. 3:3, we have a like symbolism. This seems a much more natural interpretation than that which starts from the idea that water would spoil the girdle, and sees in the command the symbol of Gods care for His people.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. Linen girdle “Linen,” as being the appointed dress of the priestly order, and so appropriately symbolical of God’s holy people whom he had selected for his service.

Put it not in water That is, do not wash it, but carry it a soiled and filthy thing, and hence fitly symbolical of a people covered with the filth of their sins.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Acted Out Prophecy Of The Linen Girdle ( Jer 13:1-11 ).

YHWH calls on Jeremiah to illustrate the present state of His people by an experiment with a linen girdle (waist cloth). He is initially to purchase the linen girdle, and then, wear it, after which, without washing it, he is to hide it, burying it in the cleft of a rock near the River Euphrates. When he later recovers the girdle it will be to discover that it has become mouldy.

The girdle represents Israel/Judah, and especially its consecration to YHWH, and its clinging to the loins the closeness between YHWH and His people through the covenant. The fact that it becomes mouldy when buried near the Euphrates is an indication of what has happened to His people through their association with Assyria and Babylon, and what will therefore also happen to them in the future. They too have become mouldy. They have failed to walk as His consecrated people, and have rejected the covenant. This is further emphasised by the fact that the girdle was not to be washed. The washing of the clothes was a symbol of sanctification (see e.g. Exo 19:10). As a result they have become profitable for nothing.

There is a reminder here to us all that once we cease to walk with God and be obedient to His will our lives become marred and we become of no account.

Jer 13:1

‘Thus says YHWH to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water.”

Just as YHWH had bought His people out of Egypt, and had consecrated them to Himself, so Jeremiah was to buy a linen girdle and put it around him. And just as YHWH had united His people with Himself within the covenant, so Jeremiah was to unite himself with the girdle. The command not to put it in water simply indicated that nothing was to be done to remove the effects of this union. There was to be no element of ‘sanctification’. It was to be allowed to become grubby and was not to be laundered, just as His people had been rendered ‘unclean’ and separated from YHWH by their rebellious behaviour.

Jer 13:2

‘So I bought a girdle according to the word of YHWH, and put it on my loins.’

So Jeremiah did what YHWH had said. He bought a girdle and wore it round his waist, clearly for some time. This would have been done in a way which gave the matter full publicity. He was doing it as the prophet of YHWH.

Jer 13:3-5

‘And the word of YHWH came to me the second time, saying, “Take the girdle which you have bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as YHWH commanded me.’

Then in accordance with YHWH’s word Jeremiah was to take the girdle and hide it by burying it (it later had to be dug up) in a cleft of the rock near the River Euphrates. This was a deliberate attempt to link the girdle with the kingdoms to the north, Assyria and Babylon, and to indicate that it was such contact that was, and would be, responsible for the deterioration of the girdle.

This would have involved a considerable journey, and some have doubted whether such an act would have been required of Jeremiah simply for the purpose of giving an illustration. However, we do have to recognise that in Judah’s eyes this physical representation of the situation would have been seen as much more than just an illustration but as an action guaranteeing the fulfilment of what was being described. It was an acted out prophecy, and the acting out would be seen as guaranteeing its fulfilment, whilst the very knowledge of what Jeremiah had done, and the distance that he had to travel, would have brought home to all who knew of it the seriousness of what was being revealed.

Some, however, have argued that prth indicated a local river, such as a river at Prh (see Jos 18:23), possibly known locally in jest as ‘the Euphrates’ (prth). On the other hand, considering the seriousness of the message it may well have been felt necessary for the long journeys to be made, in order to underline that seriousness (compare how Isaiah went barefoot for three years (Isa 20:3) and Ezekiel had to lay on his side for over a year (Eze 4:4-8) with a similar message in mind). The disappearance of the prophet for so long a time would in itself underline the seriousness of his message and cause questions to be asked, and the very arduousness of the journey would symbolise the horrors of the journey into exile..

Jer 13:6

‘And it came about after many days, that YHWH said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”

After the girdle had been allowed to remain buried for many days, Jeremiah was commanded to go Prth and dig it up.

Jer 13:7

‘Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it, and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.’

And when he did so he discovered that, as we might have expected, the girdle had become mouldy. This was to be seen as the inevitable result of its connection with the country around the Euphrates. Some see this as indicating that the contact with the northern countries has marred Judah making it sinful and idolatrous and disobedient to the covenant. Others consider that its message is that having been carried away to the Euphrates in exile they will in the main moulder away there. For whilst eventually some few did make their way back, the majority did not do so but remained in exile. However the interpretation given below concentrates more on what YHWH will do to His people through the people who were linked with the Euphrates. It would result in the fact that their ‘pride’, their wealth, prosperity and national identity would be marred.

Jer 13:8

‘Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying,’

This experience was then made the subject of a word from YHWH.

Jer 13:9

“Thus says YHWH, In this same way will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.”

For YHWH declared that just as the linen cloth had become mouldy, so would the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. They would lose their wealth and prosperity, and their cherished independence, and would be humbled to the dust. They would no longer be able to see themselves as a proud and independent nation, and would no longer glory in what was theirs.

The word for ‘pride’ when used in this way is regularly linked to the fruitfulness of the land (Lev 26:19; Isa 4:2; Mic 2:2) and in Amo 6:8 is paralleled with their palaces. In Isa 23:9 it has more to do with honour. Thus it has reference to the glory of their fruitful fields, the glory of their palaces and of the court, and to glory of their honour.

Jer 13:10

“This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.”

Indeed they would be profitable for nothing. And this would be because of their evil doings in that they had refused to hear His words, but had rather walked in the stubbornness of their hearts, going after other gods to worship them. Like the mouldy girdle they had revealed themselves as useless and profitable for nothing and would therefore become that.

Jer 13:11

“For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says YHWH, that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, but they would not hear.”

But this was the very opposite of what He had intended for them, for what He had intended was that the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah (note the emphasis on their disunity) would be united with Him in the covenant, being His united people who brought honour and worship to His Name, and were to His praise and glory. They were to be His witness to the nations. However, it had not happened because they simply would not listen.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

SECTION 1. An Overall Description Of Jeremiah’s Teaching Given In A Series Of Accumulated, Mainly Undated, Prophecies, Concluding With Jeremiah’s Own Summary Of His Ministry ( Jer 2:4 to Jer 25:38 ).

From this point onwards up to chapter 25 we have a new major section (a section in which MT and LXX are mainly similar) which records the overall teaching of Jeremiah, probably given mainly during the reigns of Josiah (Jer 3:6) and Jehoiakim, although leading up to the days of Zedekiah (Jer 21:1). While there are good reasons for not seeing these chapters as containing a series of specific discourses as some have suggested, nevertheless they can safely be seen as giving a general overall view of Jeremiah’s teaching over that period, and as having on the whole been put together earlier rather than later. The whole commences with the statement, ‘Hear you the word of YHWH O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel, thus says YHWH —.’ It is therefore directed to Israel as a whole, mainly as now contained in the land of Judah to which many northerners had fled for refuge. We may divide up the main subsections as follows, based partly on content, and partly on the opening introductory phrases:

1. ‘Hear you the word of YHWH, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel —’ (Jer 2:4). YHWH commences by presenting His complaint against Israel/Judah because they have failed to continue to respond to the love and faithfulness that He had demonstrated to them in the wilderness and in the years that followed, resulting by their fervent addiction to idolatry in their losing the water of life in exchange for empty cisterns. It ends with a plea for them to turn back to Him like an unfaithful wife returning to her husband. This would appear to be mainly his initial teaching in his earliest days, indicating even at that stage how far, in spite of Josiah’s reformation, the people as a whole were from truly obeying the covenant, but it also appears to contain teaching given in the days of Jehoiakim, for which see commentary (Jer 2:4 to Jer 3:5).

2. ‘Moreover YHWH said to me in the days of King Josiah –’ (Jer 3:6). This section follows up on section 1 with later teaching given in the days of Josiah, and some apparently in the days of Jehoiakim. He gives a solemn warning to Judah based on what had happened to the northern tribes (‘the ten tribes’) as a result of their behaviour towards YHWH, facing Judah up to the certainty of similar coming judgment if they do not amend their ways, a judgment that would come in the form of a ravaged land and exile for its people. This is, however, intermingled with a promise of final blessing and further pleas for them to return to YHWH, for that in the end is YHWH’s overall purpose. But the subsection at this time ends under a threat of soon coming judgment (Jer 3:6 to Jer 6:30).

3. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 7:1). In this subsection Jeremiah admonishes the people about the false confidence that they have in the inviolability of the Temple, and in their sacrificial ritual, and warned that like Shiloh they could be destroyed. He accompanies his words with warnings that if they continued in their present disobedience, Judah would be dispersed and the country would be despoiled (Jer 7:1 to Jer 8:3). He therefore chides the people for their obstinacy in the face of all attempts at reformation (Jer 8:4 to Jer 9:21), and seeks to demonstrate to them what the path of true wisdom is, that they understand and know YHWH in His covenant love, justice and righteousness. In a fourfold comparison he then vividly brings out the folly of idolatry when contrasted with the greatness of YHWH. The section ends with the people knowing that they must be chastised, but hoping that YHWH’s full wrath will rather be poured out on their oppressors (Jer 9:22 to Jer 10:25).

4. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 11:1). He now deprecates their disloyalty to the covenant, and demonstrates from examples the total corruption of the people, revealing that as a consequence their doom is irrevocably determined (Jer 11:1 to Jer 12:17). The section closes with a symbolic action which reveals the certainty of their expulsion from the land (13).

5. ‘The word that came from YHWH to Jeremiah –’ (Jer 14:1). “The word concerning the drought,” gives illustrative evidence confirming that the impending judgment of Judah cannot be turned aside by any prayers or entreaties, and that because of their sins Judah will be driven into exile. A promise of hope for the future when they will be restored to the land is, however, once more incorporated (Jer 16:14-15) although only with a view to stressing the general judgment (Jer 14:1 to Jer 17:4). The passage then closes with general explanations of what is at the root of the problem, and lays out cursings and blessings and demonstrates the way by which punishment might be avoided by a full response to the covenant as evidenced by observing the Sabbath (Jer 17:5-27).

6. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 18:1). Chapters 18-19 then contain two oracles from God illustrated in terms of the Potter and his handiwork, which bring out on the one hand God’s willingness to offer mercy, and on the other the judgment that is about to come on Judah because of their continuance in sin and their refusal to respond to that offer. The consequence of this for Jeremiah, in chapter 20, is severe persecution, including physical blows and harsh imprisonment. This results in him complaining to YHWH in his distress, and cursing the day of his birth.

7. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 21:1). This subsection, which is a kind of appendix to what has gone before, finally confirming the hopelessness of Jerusalem’s situation under Zedekiah. In response to an appeal from King Zedekiah concerning Judah’s hopes for the future Jeremiah warns that it is YHWH’s purpose that Judah be subject to Babylon (Jer 21:1-10). Meanwhile, having sent out a general call to the house of David to rule righteously and deal with oppression, he has stressed that no hope was to be nurtured of the restoration of either Shallum, the son of Josiah who had been carried off to Egypt, nor of Jehoiachin (Coniah), the son of Jehoiakim who had been carried off to Babylon. In fact no direct heir of Jehoiachin would sit upon the throne. And the reason that this was so was because all the current sons of David had refused to respond to his call to rule with justice and to stamp down on oppression. What had been required was to put right what was wrong in Judah, and reign in accordance with the requirements of the covenant. In this had lain any hope for the continuation of the Davidic monarchy. But because they had refused to do so only judgment could await them. Note in all this the emphasis on the monarchy as ‘sons of David’ (Jer 21:12; Jer 22:2-3). This is preparatory to the mention of the coming glorious son of David Who would one day come and reign in righteousness (Jer 23:3-8).

Jeremiah then heartily castigates the false shepherds of Judah who have brought Judah to the position that they are in and explains that for the present Judah’s sinful condition is such that all that they can expect is everlasting reproach and shame (Jer 23:9 ff). The subsection then closes (chapter 24) with the parable of the good and bad figs, the good representing the righteous remnant in exile who will one day return, the bad the people who have been left in Judah to await sword, pestilence, famine and exile.

8. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah –’ (Jer 25:1). This subsection contains Jeremiah’s own summary, given to the people in a sermon, describing what has gone before during the previous twenty three years of his ministry. It is also in preparation for what is to follow. He warns them that because they have not listened to YHWH’s voice the land must suffer for ‘seventy years’ in subjection to Babylon, and goes on to bring out that YHWH’s wrath will subsequently be visited on Babylon, and not only on them, but on ‘the whole world’. For YHWH will be dealing with the nations in judgment, something which will be expanded on in chapters 46-51. There is at this stage no mention of restoration, (except as hinted at in the seventy year limit to Babylon’s supremacy), and the chapter closes with a picture of the final desolation which is to come on Judah as a consequence of YHWH’s anger.

While the opening phrase ‘the word that came from YHWH to Jeremiah’ will appear again in Jer 30:1; Jer 32:1; Jer 34:8; Jer 35:1; Jer 40:1 it will only be after the sequence has been broken by other introductory phrases which link the word of YHWH with the activities of a particular king (e.g. Jer 25:1; Jer 26:1; Jer 27:1; Jer 28:1) where in each case the message that follows is limited in length. See also Jer 29:1 which introduces a letter from Jeremiah to the early exiles in Babylon. Looking at chapter 25 as the concluding chapter to the first part, this confirms a new approach from Jer 26:1 onwards, (apparent also in its content), while at the same time demonstrating that the prophecy must be seen as an overall unity.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Section 4. YHWH Deprecates The Disloyalty Of His People To The Covenant, And Demonstrates From Examples Their Total Corruption, Revealing That As A Consequence Their Doom Is Irrevocably Determined, Something Then Represented By Jeremiah By Means Of Prophetic Symbolism ( Jer 11:1 to Jer 13:27 ).

Commencing with the regular opening phrase ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 11:1), YHWH deprecates His people’s disloyalty to the covenant, and demonstrates from examples their total corruption, making clear that as a consequence their doom is irrevocably determined. This is followed by a symbolic action by Jeremiah, together with its interpretation, which reveals the certainty of their expulsion from the land. The section then closes with a woe expressed against Jerusalem.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

Jer 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Comments Note these insightful words from Marietta Davis:

“‘ There is no help in the arm of flesh.’ (see 2Ch 32:8), answered a voice familiar to me, but I did not know from where it came. ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spits?’ (Jer 13:23), continued that voice. ‘How will the unstrung instrument tune itself?’ Indeed, how will the dying, those who are already victims, restore departing vitality? Will they escape the doom awaiting them by the strength of their exhausted energies? No, wherever they go, there is no relief. Help must descend from above, or hope will not appear.” [18]

[18] Marietta Davis, Caught Up Into Heaven (New Kensington, Pennsylvania: Whitaker House, 1982), 101.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Symbol of the Girdle

v. 1. Thus saith the Lord unto me, in bidding the prophet perform an act of symbolic significance, Go and get thee a linen girdle, a very important article of apparel in those days, since it held the garments together and enabled a person to stride forward without hindrance, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water, thus using it and taking good care of it.

v. 2. So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins, wearing it for some time.

v. 3. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying,

v. 4. Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, soiled now on account of the wear to which it was put, and arise, go to Euphrates, the great river which had formerly formed the extreme northeastern boundary of the united kingdom and the western boundary of Mesopotamia, and hide it there in a hole of the rock, in a cleft of the hills near the river-bank.

v. 5. So I went and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

v. 6. And it came to pass after many days, after a considerable period of time had elapsed, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence which I commanded thee to hide there, the Lord’s purpose concerning it having meanwhile been accomplished.

v. 7. Then I went to Euphrates, making the long journey a second time, to bring out its significance with greater emphasis, and digged, opening up the cleft in the rock, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was marred, its soiled condition having hastened the process of rotting, it was profitable for nothing, it could no longer be used as an article of apparel.

v. 8. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

v. 9. Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This is in agreement with Lev 26:36-39, where the fate of the unbelievers is pictured as a destruction in the land of the enemies, as a pining away in their iniquity; for although a remnant of Judah returned to the Land of Promise, the nation as such had disintegrated during the period of the Exile and never recovered its ancient standing.

v. 10. This evil people, which refuse to hear My words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, in deliberate stubbornness, and walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, in that most reprehensible sin of all, in willful idolatry, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

v. 11. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord, in the wonderful fellowship wherewith Jehovah had joined Israel and Judah to Himself by reason of the covenant of Sinai, that they might be unto Me for a people, His own peculiar nation, and for a name, an object of glory, and for a praise, and for a glory, for a rich ornament to His majesty. But they would not hear, wherefore the punishment of the Lord came upon them in the manner here set forth; for His threats will certainly be fulfilled, just as His promises are.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

The chapter falls into two partsthe one describing a divinely commanded action of the prophet, symbolical of the approaching rejection of the Jewish people, the other announcing in literal language the ruin especially of the king and the queen-mother, and emphasizing the inveterate corruption which rendered such a blow necessary. The mention of the queen-mother (see Jer 13:18) renders it probable that Jehoiachin is the king under whom the prophecy was composed. It is true that other kings besides Jehoiachin ascended the throne in the lifetime of their mother; but the express and repeated mention of the queen-mother in the account of Jehoiachin (2Ki 24:12, 2Ki 24:15; comp. Jer 29:2; Jer 22:26) warrants the inference that Nehushta, Jehoiachin’s mother, was a more powerful personage than other queen-mothers. This will be confirmed if, with Hitzig and Bertheau, we accept the statement of the text of the Chronicles (2Ch 36:9), that Jehoiachin was eight (not eighteen) years old on his accession (see on Jer 21:1-14 :28).

Jer 13:1-11

The entire people of the Jews is like a good-for-nothing apron.

Jer 13:1

A linen girdle; rather, a linen apron. “Girdle” is one of the meanings of the Hebrew (‘ezor), but is here unsuitable. As Jer 13:11 shows, it is an inner garment that is meant, one that “cleaveth to the loins of a man”. The corresponding Arabic word, ‘izar, has, according to Lane, the meaning of “waist-wrapper.’ Israel was to Jehovah in as close a relation spiritually as that in which the inner garment referred to is to him who wears it materially. There is an Arabic proverb which well illustrates this: “He is to me in place of an ‘izar“. “A linen apron” may perhaps be specified, because linen was the material of the priestly dress (Le Jer 16:4), and Israel was to be spiritually” a kingdom of priests.” But this is not absolutely necessary. The common man used linen in his dress as well as the priest; the only difference between them was that the priest was confined to linen garments. But an ,’ apron” would in any case naturally be made of linen. Linen; literally, flax (a product of Judah, Hos 2:5). Put it not in water. The object of the prohibition is well stated by St. Jerome. It was at once to symbolize the character of the people of Israel, stiff and impure, like unwashed linen, and to suggest the fate in store for it (Jer 13:9).

Jer 13:4-6

After Jeremiah has worn the apron for some time, he is directed to take it to P’rath, and hide it there in a cleft (not “hole”) of the rock. A long interval elapses, and he is commanded to make a second journey to the same place, and fetch away the apron. What does this P’rath mean? It is by no means easy to decide. Hardly “the Euphrates,”

(1) because the common prefix, “the river,” is wanting, though in so extraordinary a narrative it was peculiarly needed;

(2) because of the length of the journey to Babylonia, which has ex hyp. to be made twice; and

(3) because the Euphrates is not a rocky river.

Ewald suggested that “some wet place near Jerusalem” probably had the name of P’rath, and indicates a valley and spring called Forah, about six English miles north-east of Jerusalem. Mr. Birch appears to have hit independently on the same spot, which he identifies with the Parah of Jos 18:23, about three miles north-east of Anatbeth, and describes as a picturesque gorge between savage rocks, with a copious stream. This combination, however, involves an emendation of the text (P’rath into Parah)logically it involves this, as Mr. Birch has seen; Ewald’s comparison of the Arabic furat, sweet water, seems inconsistent with his reference to Parahfor which there does not seem to be sufficient necessity; and it is better to adopt the view of the great old French Protestant scholar, Bochart, that P’rath is a shortened form of Ephrath, i.e. at once Bethlehem and the district in which Bethlehem lay (see 1Ch 2:50; 1Ch 4:4; and perhaps Psa 132:6). It need hardly be said that the limestone hills of this region afforded abundance of secluded rocks. There may, of course, be at the same time an allusion to the ordinary meaning of P’rath, viz. Euphrates, on the analogy of the allusion in Isa 27:12. Those who hold the view here rejected, that P’rath is equivalent to the Euphrates, sometimes suppose that the narrative is a parable or symbolical fiction, such as Luther, Calvin, and others find in Hos 1:1-11; Hos 3:1-5, the thing signified being in this case the carrying captive of the people to Babylon; and this seems the best way of making this interpretation plausible.

Jer 13:6

After many days. To allow time for the apron to become rotten.

Jer 13:7

I went and digged. The apron, then, had been covered with a thick layer of earth.

Jer 13:8-11

Explanation of the symbol. Could there be a greater humiliation for Judah and Jerusalem than to be compared to a rotting linen apron? The hard things said of this evil people in Jer 13:10 must of course be understood with the limitations indicated in the note on Jer 9:15, Jer 9:16. Imagination should (as usual) be stubbornness. The explanation in Jer 9:11 is a strong argument for the rendering “apron” (see above, on Jer 9:1).

Jer 13:12-14

Here another symbol is introduceda symbolic phrase rather than a symbolic action. The first symbol referred to the people as a whole; the second represents the fate of the individual members of the people. The words, Thus saith the lord God of Israel, are omitted in the Septuagint, and certainly the form of the following phrase seems hardly worthy of so solemn an introduction. Every bottle. It is an earthenware bottle, or pitcher, which seems from Jer 13:13 to be meant (comp. Isa 30:14), though the Septuagint renders here . The kings that sit upon David’s throne; rather, that sit for David upon his throne; i.e. as David’s heirs and successors. The plural “kings” is to include all the kings who reigned during the final period of impending ruin. With drunkenness. The effect of the “wine-cup of [the Divine] fury” (Jer 25:15). Dash them one against another. This is merely the development of the figure of the pitchers; not a prediction of civil war. The pitchers, when cast down, must of course fall together into pieces.

Jer 13:15-19

An admonition to seize upon the only means of escape.

Jer 13:16

Give glory, etc. Let your tribute to your King be that of humble submission to his will. The precise application of the phrase must be derived from the context (comp. Jos 7:19; Mal 2:2). Upon the dark mountains; rather, upon mountains of twilight. A “mountain” is an image of a great obstacle (Zec 4:7; Mat 21:21). As Judah is walking along, the hitherto even tenor of his way gives place to huge mountains wrapped in an impenetrable dusk, over which he will stumble and fall if he does not repent in time.

Jer 13:17

Should all admonitions be in vain, Jeremiah will return (like Samuel, 1Sa 15:35) and give vent to his sorrowful emotion. The Lord’s flock. Jehovah is likened to a shepherd (comp. Zec 10:3).

Jer 13:18

The extent of the calamity shown in individual instances. For the fulfillment, see 2Ki 24:15. After a reign of three months, the young prince and his mother were carried to Babylon. And to the queen; rather, and to the queen-mother (literally, the mistress). It will be noticed that, except in two cases, the names of the mothers of the reigning kings of Judah are scrupulously mentioned in the Books of Kings. This and the title of “mistress” are indications of the high rank they enjoyed in the social system. In the case of Asa, we are told that he removed his mother, Maachah, from her position as “mistress,” or queen-mother, on account of her idolatry (1Ki 15:13). The political value of the station is strikingly shown by the ease with which Athaliah, as queen-mother, usurped the supreme authority (2Ki 11:1-21.). From an historical point of view, the “queen-mother” of the Jews is a most interesting personage; she is a relic of the primitive age in which relationship was reckoned with regard to the mother (so with the Accadians, Etruseans, Finns, etc.). It should be added, however, that once (viz. 1Ki 11:19) the same title, “mistress,” is applied to the queen-consort. Humble yourselves, sit down; rather, sit down in abase-sent; i.e. take the station suitable for your abased circumstances (comp. Isa 47:1). Your principalities; rather, your head. ornaments.

Jer 13:19

The rendering of the Authorized Version is substantially right, as the events referred to are obviously future. The tense, however, in the Hebrew, is the perfectviz. that of prophetic certitude. Jeremiah sees it all in prophetic vision, as if it were actually taking place. The cities of the south; i.e. of the dry, southern country of Judah, called the Negebshall be [are] shut upi.e. blocked up with ruins (as Isa 24:10)and none shall open them (openeth them), because all Judah will have been carried captive. (For fulfillment, see Jer 34:7.)

Jer 13:20, Jer 13:21

The captivity being still (in spite of the perfect tense) a thing of the future, the prophet can seek to awaken the conscience of the careless under-shepherd by showing how serf-caused is his (or rather her) punishment.

Jer 13:20

Lift up your eyes. The verb is fern. sing; the pronoun (in suffix form) masc. plu,a clear indication that the person addressed is a collective. Probably the “daughter of Zion” is intended, which, in a certain sense, might be called the “shepherd” or leader of the rest of the nation. From the north. Again this horror of the north as the source of calamity (see on Jer 14:1-22).

Jer 13:21

What wilt thou say, etc.? The rendering of the verse is uncertain, though the Authorized Version undoubtedly requires correction. The alternatives are, What wilt thou say when he shall appoint over thee (but thou thyself hast trained them against thee) familiar friends as thy head? and, What wilt thou say when he shall appoint over thee those whom thou hast taught thy familiar friends as thy head? The rendering “familiar friends” is justified by Psa 55:13; Pro 16:28; Pro 17:9; Mic 7:5. The “captains” of Authorized Version, or rather “tribal chiefs,” is unsuitable.

Jer 13:22

Thy heels made bare; rather, treated with violence. The fate held out to the daughter of Zion (trained to walk about with “tinkling ornaments,” Isa 2:18) is to plod wearily along with bare feet (comp. Isa 47:1).

Jer 13:24

As the stubble. “The word means not what we call stubble, but the broken straw which had to be separated from the wheat after the corn had been trampled out by the oxen. Sometimes it was burnt as useless; at other times left to be blown away by the wind coming from the desert, on which see Jer 4:11; Job 1:19” (Payne Smith).

Jer 13:25

The portion of thy measures; i.e. thy measured portion. But it is probably safer to render, the portion of thy garment, the upper garment being used instead of a bag to hold anything (comp. Rth 3:15; 2Ki 4:39). In falsehood; i.e. in false gods (Jer 16:19).

Jer 13:26

Therefore will I, etc. But the Hebrew is much more forcible, “And I also,” etc; implying, as Calvin remarks (comp. Pro 1:26), a certain retaliation. Upon thy face; an allusion to Nah 3:5.

Jer 13:27

I have seen, etc. The Hebrew is again more forcible than the English. It runs, “Thine adulteries and thy neighings,” etc. l (this is an exclamation as it were; then more reflectively),” I have seen thine abominations.” Neighings; i.e. passionate craving for illegitimate objects of worship (comp. Jer 2:24, Jer 2:25; Jer 5:8). In the fields. The Hebrew has the singular. The “field,” as usual, means the open country. Wilt thou not, etc.? rather, How long ere thou be made clean? In Jer 13:23 the prophet had vehemently declared his people to be incorrigible. But, like the tender Hoses, he cannot continue to hold such gloomy thoughts; surely Israel, God’s people, must eventually be “made clean!” But this can only be as the result of judicial affliction, and these afflictions will be no slight or transient ones.

HOMILETICS

Jer 13:1-11

The spoiled girdle.

I. GOD‘S PEOPLE ARE LIKE A GIRDLE TO GOD.

1. They are his peculiar property. The girdle is a private personal possession. It belongs solely to the wearer. When all ordinary property is taken from him he retains the clothes on his body. Even the bankrupt has a right to these.

2. They are near to God. This girdlereally an under-garmentis close to the person of the wearer. God does not simply hold his people as an absentee landlord holds his property. ‘He draws them near to himself. He cherishes them with affection, sustains the burden of them, carries them with him in his glorious out-going to works of wonder and mercy and in his blessed in-coming to Divine peace and sabbatic repose.

3. They are a glory to God. (Jer 13:11.) Garments are worn, not only for clothing, but to add grace and beauty. God’s people are more than safe with him; they are glorious. It is true that they have no inherent grace which they can add to the splendor of God, but they can adorn that splendor by reflecting it, as the clouds which gird about the rising sun seem to increase its beauty by reflecting its own rich rays.

4. They are required to cleave to God. God graciously takes his people near to himself; yet they must voluntarily bind themselves to him in love, in devotion, in submission, in obedience.

II. GOD‘S PEOPLE, IN THEIR SIN, ARE LIKE A GIRDLE DEFILED AND UNWASHED.

1. Jeremiah was forbidden to put the girdle in water (Verse 1). Whilst living in this world the best men daily contract stains of sin; but God has provided a fountain for cleansing, and by daily penitence and faith in his purifying grace the soul may be made and preserved pure (Zec 13:1). As all have sinned and do sin, all need this constant cleansing. To neglect it is to become increasingly foul and unfit for the honor that God bestows upon his people.

2. This corruption is manifest

(1) in neglect of the will-of God”they refuse to hear my words;”

(2) in willful obstinacythey “walk in the stubbornness of their heart;”

(3) in positive disobedience and impuritythey “they walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them;”

(4) in inveterate impenitencethey “would not hear.”

III. THE PUNISHMENT OF GOD‘S SINFUL PEOPLE IS LIKE THE SPOILING OF THE GIRDLE.

1. They are cast off. The unwashed girdle can be worn no longer. In their holiness God’s people were his glory; in their defilement they are his dishonor God can endure the presence of nothing impure (Heb 12:14).

2. They are left to their own increasing defilement. The unwashed garment is buried, and becomes only worse. The most terrible punishment of sin is to be left to sin unchecked. Vice then becomes ingraineda second nature.

3. They are dishonored. The girdle is visibly marred with the earth in which it is buried. Internal impurity is punished with external shame. Punishment is appropriate to guilt. Pride is chastised by humiliation.

4. Though their sin may be hidden for a time, it will be revealed at last. The girdle is buried only to be exhumed. The longer it was buried the worse must have been its condition when it was again exposed to view. The corruption of the heart cannot be ultimately concealed; it must reveal itself in the life. In the resurrection-life, wherein the body is spiritual and fits truly and expresses clearly the soul that inhabits it, the foul soul will be compelled to inhabit a foul body.

5. They are rendered worthless. The girdle is utterly spoiledprofitable for nothing. Sin not only dishonors, it destroys. The girdle becomes rotten. As dirt rots a garment, so sin rots a soul. It not only makes it foul and hideous, but it destroys its faculties and energies, degrades its essential nature, and introduces the corruption of death (Jas 1:15).

Jer 13:12-14

The parable of the wine-flagons.

I. THE PROUD ARE LIKE WINE–FLAGONS. Jeremiah is thinking chiefly of the aristocracy of his nation (Verse 13) and their pride (Verse 17). The metaphor, therefore, specially designates the proud. These are swelled-out and pretentious, but not solid, and do not contain anything good of their own. They are brittle. Pride is itself a source of danger (Pro 16:18).

II. THE WRATH OF GOD IS LIKE FERMENTING WINE. It is a disturbing influence, breaking in upon the quiet of serf-complacency. The more its natural tendency to reduce us to repentance is suppressed by pride, the more terribly will its presence agitate us. The larger the flagon, the more wine will it contain; the greater the rank, the greater the trouble when universal retribution comes. The more empty the flagon, the more wine will it contain; so the less of real solid worth there is in a man’s life, the more room will there be for the exercise of Divine wrath against his wretched condition.

III. THE EFFECT OF THE WRATH OF GOD ON THE PROUD IS LIKE THE ROLLING OF WINE–FLAGONS FILLED WITH FERMENTING WINE. The flagons are imagined to be drunken, and to behave as drunken men would behave. In this condition they exemplify the state of those into whom God has poured the vials of his wrath. This does not simply work in them, leaving their exterior undisturbed. Spiritual though it is, it affects the whole life. We cannot escape the effect of God’s anger by ignoring spiritual facts and living in the outside, worldly life alone. This and all our experience will be disturbed. The flagons strike one another. Companions in the pleasures of sin become mutual enemies in the punishment of it. Moral corruption leads to social discord. Civil war is one of the greatest calamities which can overtake a nation, and when this arises, not from any contention for right or liberty, but from the outburst of wild passions, selfish greed, etc; it is doubly destructive. In such an event wickedness becomes its own executioner.

Jer 13:16

Darkness.

I. SIN PLUNGES THE SOUL INTO DARKNESS. “Light is sown for the righteous“ (Psa 97:11). The darkness of evil thoughts and an evil will throws its shadow out on the world, and ultimately brings gloom over the whole of life.

1. This darkness is distressing. The benighted feel a horror of great darkness falling upon them amid the wild and lonely mountains. When God withdraws the sunshine of his grace this mournful condition must be the experience of the godless.

2. It is confusing. They “stumble upon the twilight mountains.” Without God we have no true guide in life. There are mountains of difficulty to be overcome in our earthly pilgrimage, steep and toilsome and dangerous. How dreadful to venture unenlightened and unguided through such pathless wilds! If the life were to be spent in a paradise, it would be sad to dwell amidst its beauties in perpetual gloom; but, seeing that it is a pilgrimage over the mountains, it is fearful to be left in darkness.

3. It will grow into deeper darkness. At first it is a twilight. Some hope that this is the herald of the dawn; but they are mistakenit is the portend of the night. The mingled lights and shadows will melt into the blackness of midnight. The mixed joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, of this life, which some sanguine souls suppose to be the worst condition they will be in, and likely to give place to rest and joy hereafter, will end to the sinner in the terrible darkness of a much worse future retribution.

4. The present light is no guarantee that the darkness is not approaching. The brightest day may be followed by the blackest night.

II. THE PROSPECT OF THIS DARKNESS SHOULD WARN MEN TO AVERT IT.

1. It is not inevitable. It has not yet come. There is still time to escape. If there were no remedy, all warnings would be useless. The very utterance of warnings implies that the terrors to which they refer may be avoided.

2. The contemplation of its approaching advent should urge men to seek an escape. The prospect is gloomy, and many will not face a gloomy prospect. They dislike allusions to unpleasant subjects. But it is necessary to contemplate such sad truths, that men may be roused by selfish fear when they will not be moved by the love of God.

3. The way of escape is to be found in “giving glory to God.” It is returning from rebellion to the service of God, humbling ourselves, rejecting the pride which clings to the old sin, and regarding God alone as worthy of honor, and so submitting to his will and obeying his commands as to glorify him by our acts. To the Christian all this is implied in faith in Christ which involves the humbling of ourselves before him, and our trust in his grace which glorifies his love, and loyalty to his will which honors his rights of royalty.

Jer 13:18

Royalty humbled.

I. GOD IS THE JUDGE OF KINGS. They are as far beneath God as are the meanest beggars. Their rank is no protection against the execution of Divine justice; their power no security against the consequences of the wrath of God. No earthly honor or power will serve men when they stand before the great throne of judgment.

II. WICKED KINGS WILL MEET WITH SEVERE PUNISHMENT. The greater the privileges they have had, the more have they been able to abuse them, and therefore the greater their guilt. The larger their influence has been, the more harm have they done in using that influence for evil purposes. All who are entrusted with exceptional power should remember that this incurs exceptional responsibility.

III. THE PRIDE OF KINGS WILL BE PUNISHED WITH HUMILIATION. Every sin will have its appropriate retribution. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” not only in the main characteristics, but in particular features. Pride thus naturally sows the seed of shame (Pro 29:23).

IV. THE GREATNESS OF THE PRESENT PROSPERITY OF WICKED KINGS WILL ENHANCE THE SUFFERING OF THEIR FUTURE RETRIBUTION. They who stand highest can fall lowest. Poverty is felt more keenly by people who were once in affluence than by the children of the poor. The memory of his former luxuries must have added keenness to the sufferings of Dives in Hades. We are not to infer from this that future retribution is only a compensation for the inequality of the joys and sorrows of this life, that kings will suffer for their very greatness (for the wicked poor will be wretched hereafter, while the good and great will be blessed in the future with heavenly treasures), but that if we are unfaithful, the measure of future distress will necessarily be partly determined by that of present enjoyment. We need not, therefore, be envious of the prosperity of the wicked. Rather it should fill us with horror, grief, and pity as we consider what a fool’s paradise they live inwhat anguish will grow out of the contrast of it with the certain retribution of all sin!

Jer 13:23

The Ethiopian’s skin and the leopard’s spots.

I. SIN BECOMES INHERENT IN THE NATURE OF MEN. The black of the Ethiopian’s skin and the spots of the leopard are natural. Sin is, of course, originally unnatural. Yet it is so engrafted into the very life of men that it becomes part of their nature.

1. Men inherit tendencies to evil; e.g. the child of the drunkard is likely to feel strong temptation to intemperance, etc. We are not to blame for what we inherit; but we do suffer through it. The degraded moral nature is a fact, and one for which the possessor of it suffers, although he will not be responsible for it, nor punished simply for having it, but only for the way in which, with his free-will, he yields to it, and, on his own account, makes it still more corrupt.

2. Men habituate themselves to sin. Habit is second nature. The sin which is willfully chosen becomes a tyrannous habit. We are coloring our very being by the tone of our thoughts and actions. What we do today, that we will be to-morrow. We are the result of our own past deeds. He who speaks or acts a lie becomes a liar; he who indulges in impurity becomes an unclean being; he who follows selfish impulses becomes a creature of selfishness. Thus every man is building up a habitation for his soul by his own deeds. What shall this house be? A temple of divinity? a palace of pure delights? a charnel-house of corruption? or a prison of gloom?

II. THIS INHERENT CONDITION OF SIN MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY MAN TO IRRADICATE IT.

1. Self-reformation is impossible. Sin is not a mere defilement to be washed off. It is ingrained. It is in the blood, in the life, in the nature. Action is according to character. If the character is corrupt, so must be the action. It is true we are free to do as we will, but so long as our nature is corrupt we shall will to do evil, because the will is part of the nature. But apart from the vexed question of the freedom of the will, every man is conscious of the difficulty of overcoming opposing habits, even when his will is roused against them. When he would do good evil is present with him, and this evil is so strong that it can only be regarded as a law of (corrupted) nature (Rom 7:21-23).

2. Perfect reformation must be sought from God. This must be regeneration (Joh 3:3). Man can do much with himself, but only God can “create” in him” a clean heart” and make him” a new creature.” Therefore, to be born again, we must be born “from above.” Regeneration must be the work of the Spirit, which is the brooding source of all life. But this is possible for all (Mat 19:26). The impossibility for self-reformation should not leave us in sullen indifference, but should rouse us to seek the one sure means of renewal in crucifixion of the old life and spiritual resurrection to a new life, through yielding ourselves up to the influence of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jer 13:1-11

The marred girdle.

This and the following emblem are intended to symbolize the characters and punishment of pride in spiritual and carnal men respectively. The “girdle” of linen cloth worn by the priest represents the close relation of Judah and Jerusalem to Jehovah. He had chosen them, and taken them into closest fellowship. They were as his cincture to declare his character and glory to men. But they had abused his confidence. For them, therefore, the fate was reserved which is described in connection with the girdle. Where the cleft of the rock was, in Ephrath or Euphrates, is not quite plain; but the probability is that the last-mentioned is really meant, and that a journey to it was indeed made by the prophet.

I. THE DIGNITY AND IDEAL CHARACTER OF GOD‘S PEOPLE THUS SET FORTH. The linen girdle worn by the priests was a portion of their appointed and consecrated garments. It represented, therefore, the idea of consecration arising from nearness and closeness. They were highly favored amongst the nations as being brought into immediate relation with Jehovah. “As the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord” (Jer 13:11). And as the girdle, by bracing the body, becomes a means of strength, so Israel was to be the power of God amongst the nations of the world. They were to be as kings and priests before God, to show forth his righteousness and to execute his will.

II. THE CONDITION UPON WHICH THESE HAVE TO BE MAINTAINED. Simply because they had been so designed in the eternal purpose. They had no security for this position being retained. It would not do for them to rely upon prestige. With spiritual strength relaxed and moral pretty lost, they were no longer fit for the honorable service to which they had been called. It was only as their spiritual life rose to the height of their calling, and maintained itself from age to age by means of Divine truth and continual exercise of faith, that they could expect to retain their privileges. But this Israel was far from seeing. She required, therefore, to be taught the truth of it by experience, and nothing would do this better than that which the symbol suggested. Their outward circumstances and position would be made to correspond with their inward character, so that all men, and even they themselves, would cease to be deceived. This is ever the order of the Divine government. He will set our secret sins in the light of his countenance.

II. THE MESSENGER OF GOD SHOULD SPARE NO EFFORT TO EMBODY AND ENFORCE THE TRUTH HE HAS TO DECLARE. Whether Ephrath in Israel or Euphrates was meant, a journey of considerable length had to be taken, and much trouble was involved. But the prophet did not grudge this if thereby he might appeal through the imagination the more forcibly to the heart of his people. So sometimes ancient prophets had to submit to themselves being made signs that were spoken against. There can be no question that the manner adopted by the prophet of illustrating his message was most effective and striking. And it was clear even to the simplest understanding. An illustrative style of discourse is carefully to be distinguished from a florid one; and anything which conveys more vivid impressions to one’s self is more likely to add impressiveness and vivid force to what one has to say to others. This going to Euphrates on the part of the prophet was quite an important business, but it was justified by its result. And so preachers should spare no pains to link the truth of God with the actions, the experiences, and the interests of men.M.

Jer 13:12, Jer 13:15

Broken pitchers; or, worldly sufficiency and its punishment.

I. THE SIGNS OF THIS DISPOSITION. The threatenings of God are interpreted as if they had been truisms of blessing justified by the unbelievers’ own experience. The prophet is therefore despised, and his message wrested from its original meaning. The people were so oblivious to their own guilt that they looked forward without fear to the future, or they professed to do so. They had clothed themselves in triple armor of self-sufficiency against Divine warnings. So the worldly mind continually prophecies good for itself instead of evil, and inverts the messages of Divine grace. The sharpest experiences and most signal reverses are not enough to rid it of this folly, and thereby it condemns itself.

II. HOW IT IS DEALT WITH BY GOD. That this is provoking to the Divine mind is evident. It is a fresh element added to the guilt already denounced. The insult to the messenger of God must be avenged, and this is accomplished:

1. By removing all ambiguity from his words. Their real meaning is explained so that no one can mistake it. In this pointed disillusion there is the greater emphasis imparted to the original message. God will not suffer any one to remain in ignorance of his final destiny, whether it be good or evil.

2. The doom already predicted is repeated with expressions of Divine determination and anger. Civil discord and national destruction are plainly set forth, and whilst these take place the ear of an offended God is turned away. He will “not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.”

III. IT IS WELL, THEREFORE, FOR MEN TO GIVE REVERENT HEED TO DIVINE WARNINGS AND INSTRUCTIONS. Sometimes in the history of the Church omens, dreams, and visions have been given whose meaning was not clear, but on prayerful solicitation it has been revealed. Willful blindness cannot escape punishment, because it provokes the just anger of God. But to those who ask in humble inquiry what the will of the Lord may be, he will return a gracious answer, and declare how the evil may be averted.M.

Jer 13:16

Days of grace and how they should be spent

The mind of the prophet was full of the doom which he had predicted, and he was apprehensive of the spiritual results of exile and confusion with heathen nations. The people themselves, however, did not exhibit any such anxiety. They treated his words as idle tales, or as the expression of ill nature and enmity. The relation of these two is a typical one. From age to age the preacher of righteousness urges his pleas and presses for immediate attention to reformation of life. As constantly those addressed put off the needed repentance and waste the time which is afforded them for working out their salvation.

I. THE PRESENT IS TO BE REGARDED AS A GRACIOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR REPENTANCE AND SPIRITUAL SERVICE. The element of time in these, as in other prophecies, is left for the most part indefinite. Exact dates would defeat the purpose the message of the prophet has in view. It was sufficient for him to impress upon them that there would be but a short time between the present and the fate he had described. It was a sign of God’s grace that he had been sent to warn them. They were to listen to his voice as to the voice of Jehovah. And in the event of repentance, that which was near at hand might be indefinitely postponed or altogether averted. But in any case the really essential work of repentance ought to be done whilst they had clear views of the nature of their sin and the requirements of God’s Law. From Jos 7:19 it is evident that the phrase, “Give glory to the Lord,” meant nothing else than to repeat. It suggests the honor of God, which is acknowledged and felt by the humbled sinner as he bows before the footstool of grace and tells out the dark history of his sin. The lower he is in his own estimation the higher is that throne of glory before which he lies prostrate. And at such a time the grandest conceptions are given of the greatness, the power, and the love of God. His forgiveness shines forth in new, unspeakable splendor. And the restored sinner is eager to declare to others the grace which he himself has received. But all this is necessarily a work of time, and demands for its adequate fulfillment the full possession of our faculties and the clearest perceptions of truth.

II. THE RISKS INCURRED BY DELAY IN THESE DUTIES ARE THEN DESCRIBED. The figure is that of a traveler in a mountainous region who loses his way amongst the dark rocks until eventually the deepening gloom leaves him in despair and death. The picture is very vivid, and appeals to the deepest human feeling. It suggested the mental and spiritual confusion which were likely to arise from unlooked-for reverses, from captivity in a heathen land, and from forgetfulness of the traditions of Israel. But it is even more truly correspondent with the condition of those who have delayed making their peace with God until they have suffered mental eclipse, or been overtaken by the terror, the weakness, etc; of a death-bed. The worth of “a death-bed repentance” has been rightly discounted by every preacher and writer of the Church. There is but one instance of such a thing in Scripture. It is but seldom that resolutions formed under such circumstances, in the event of restoration to health, avail against the temptations and lifelong habits of the sinner. M.

Jer 13:17

(See on Jer 10:19.)M.

Jer 13:23

Moral helplessness: how induced.

I. THE EXTENT TO WHICH IT MAY GO. The metaphors employed are intended to illustrate the difficulty of getting rid of that which has become a part of one’s self, or which has become natural to one. It is evident that superficial means would never produce the effect supposed, because that which seems to be superficial has really its root in the nature, and would be reproduced similarly in place of that which was removed. The doctrine is that there are certain evils into which men fall which may appear to be external, matters of custom and observance, but which have really their origin in the depravity of the heart. Any merely external reform, like that of Josiah, would fail to effect a permanent change, because the source of the errors and transgressions which were corrected was deeper than the remedy could reach. And this is the case with the sins of men. To cease to do evil we have not only to stay the hand but to purify the heart. To cease to do evil we must cease to think it, to feel it, and to conceive it. So helpless is the sinner when he stands face to face with the problem of reformation. Effort after effort is made and fails. It is bound to fail because the source of the wrong-doing has net been rectified. To change himselfwho is capable of this feat?

II. CAUSES OF IT, REAL AND UNREAL. Excuses readily suggest themselves to the sinner who would avoid the humiliation of repentance. He may ask the question, as if it were a mystery, “Wherefore come these things upon me?” Or, ignoring the witness of conscience, he may attribute his weakness to circumstances and external influences. This is the error which the prophet refutes. With great skill he shows the terrible power of habit: how men continue to do that which they have been doing simply because they have been doing it. The feet acquire a fatal facility in transgression, and the, hands a skill in working evil. They almost act automatically when things forbidden are suggested. But when the commandments of God are concerned they are unfamiliar with the duties enjoined, and the will is not resolute enough to persevere in them.

III. ITS GREAT REMEDY. Seeing that in himself the sinner is without strength, it would appear at first as if he could only despair. But this is not the teaching of the prophet. He has already counseled vigorous effort, and implied that a commencement and continuance in well-doing were possible. But the change could only begin at a spiritual point, viz. repentance. And this, as Scripture abundantly shows, though within the power of every one, is a supernatural grace. A true sorrow for sin may be induced in answer to prayer, by the study of Scripture, and the contemplation of Christ; but it is always the work of the Holy Spirit. When that grace, however, has once been attained, it is open to the sinner to reverse the process by which he has been enslaved. After conversion evil habit will assert itself, and can only be met by constant dependence upon Divine grace and constant effort after holiness. The good habit formed by repeated and regular actions according to the Law of God is the best antidote to the evil one.M.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Jer 13:1-12

The ruined girdle; or, it may be too late to mend.

The much-needed lesson of this section was taught by means of one of those acted parables of which we have so many instances both in the Old Testament and in the New: e.g. Zedekiah’s horns of iron (1Ki 22:11); the strange marriages of Isa 8:1, Hos 1:2; the two yokes (Jer 27:2); and in the New Testament, our Lord’s standing the little child in the midst of the disciples; the washing the disciples’ feet; the withering of the fig tree; the taking of Paul’s girdle (Act 21:11), etc. The present instance seems very strange, and to us it would have appeared unmeaning, uncouth, and simply grotesque. But to Orientals, and especially to Jews, the dramatic action of the prophetfor we regard what is here said as having been literally donewould be very impressive. It was a strange garb for the prophet to be arrayed in. It would attract attention, be the subject of much comment, and, when the prophet continued to wear it, though soiled and in much need of washing, this would cause more comment still, and would indicate to the people that the strange garb and conduct of the prophet had meaning and intent which it would be well for them to give heed to. Then the taking of the girdle to Euphrateswhatever place be meantburying it there, leaving it; and then finding it and fetching it back, and no doubt exhibiting it, ruined, worthless, good for nothing;all this would rivet the people’s attention, and deeply impress their minds. Now, one evident, if not the chief, lesson designed to be taught by this to us curious procedure, was the irreparable ruin that would come upon the people through the exile and captivity which they were by their sin bringing upon themselves. Many, no doubt, had comforted themselves with the ideaas is the manner of all transgressorsthat if trouble did come to them it would not be so bad as the prophet made out. They would get over it, and be but little the worse. This dramatic parable was designed to shatter all such notions, and to show that Judah, like the much-marred girdle, would be, after and in consequence of their exile, “good for nothing.” Note, then

I. THE FIRST PART OF THE PARABLETHE GIRDLE WORN. This would encourage their delusion. For the likening of them to a girdle, especially to a linen girdlea priestly and therefore a sacred vestment-and to a chosen and purchased girdle, would vividly declare to them how precious they were in God’s sight.

1. For as the girdle (Hos 1:11) was worn close to the person of the wearer, it denoted how very near to the heart of God they were who by this similitude were set forth. The known favor of God led them, as it had led others, to presume that they could never try God too much. He would be sure to bear with them and forgive them, do what they might.

2. Then the girdle was a portion of the dress most necessary to the wearer, and so denoted how necessary his people were to God. Had not God said, over and over again, in every variety of way, “How can I give thee up? how can I make thee as Sodom?” (Hos 11:8; Jer 9:7) As the girdle was indispensable to the comfort, the decorousness, the strength of the wearer, so God taught by this figure that he could not do without his people.

3. Moreover, as the girdle was adorned and ornamented, and thus was a most valuable portion of the dress, so it showed that his people were to God a cherished ornament and praise. They were to be to him “for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory” (Hos 1:11). And as such God had worn this girdle and put it on him. And his people knew all this, and presumed upon it.

II. THE SECOND PARTTHE GIRDLE UNCLEANSED. This would show wherefore their ideas must be a delusion. “Put it not in water” (Hos 1:1). The prophet was hidden to wear it in this soiled and foul condition, and no doubt he did so. It would provoke the contempt, which adornments associated with uncleanliness ever excite. But its intent in thus being worn unwashed was to depict the moral state of those to whom the prophet was sent. As they would put away from them a soiled and unclean girdle, so they were to learn that God, though he might bear long with a morally unclean people, would not always do so. And

III. THE THIRD PART OF THE PARABLETHE GIRDLE PUT AWAY. This would show that their presumptuous ideas were actually a delusion. The girdle was so spoiled by its burial by the Euphrates that it was henceforth “good for nothing.” And all this came true. It was but a miserable remnant of the people that came back from Babylon, and as an independent nation they have never since regained the position that they then lost. All their national glory came to an end; the lesson of the marred girdle was literally fulfilled.

IV. THE WHOLE A PARABLE THAT HAS MANY APPLICATIONS. TO Churches, to individuals, to all the gifted of God’s grace in time, talents, opportunities, and, above all, in the presence and help of the Holy Spirit. They will be tempted to presume, to think they can never forfeit these things, that God will be ever gracious to them as he has been in the past. This parable is a word for all such, and should prompt the earnest and constant putting up of the psalmist’s prayer, “Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins,” etc.C.

Jer 13:12-14

Vessels of wrath.

This is another similitude having the same general purpose as the former one. “Every earthen flagon (cf. Jer 48:12)the inhabitants of Jerusalem, her king, her priests, and prophetswill be filled with the wine of the intoxicating beverage of God’s wrath (cf. Jer 25:15; Isa 28:7; Isa 51:17; Eze 23:31; Psa 60:3; Psa 75:8) given them as a punishment for the pride and cruelty and impiety which they drank greedily as wine; cf. Rev 14:8; Rev 18:3, where the harlot drinks the wine of her own fornication and gives it to others, and intoxicates herself and them with it (Rev 17:2; Rev 18:6), and therefore God gives her the cup of his wrath, and she reels under it” (Wordsworth). The awful threatenings of these verses teach us much concerning the characteristics of those whom the Lord “will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy” (Rev 18:14).

I. THEY GRADUALLY BECOME VESSELS OF WRATH. Not till they are filled with their intoxicating sin are they certainly to be so called. But this goes on day by day.

II. THEY COME TO JEER AND MOCK AT BOTH THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGERS GOD SENDS TO WARN THEM. Rev 18:12, “Do we not certainly know,” etc; as if they would say, “Tell us something we do not know.” It is an utterance of unbelieving and mocking contempt.

III. THEY ARE AS DRUNKEN MEN: bereft of reason, unable to help themselves or their brethren, the sport of fools, and at the mercy of the most contemptible foe. Either torpid and insensible to all that concerns them, or else filled with fury and lost to all natural affection, hurting and destroying those nearest and dearest to them (Rev 18:14).

IV. ALL VESSELS, LARGE AND SMALL, ARE FILLED ALIKE. (Rev 18:13.) Not alone the common people were to be thus filled, but the magnates of the landking, priests, etc.

V. THEY ARE MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE. (Rev 18:14.) Such is the doom of sin. CONCLUSION. We all are vessels. We all shall be filled. But what with? Pray that it may not be with the wine of the wrath of God, but “with the fullness of God” (Eph 3:1-21.).C.

Jer 13:12-14

The last results of sin.

I. GOD AND HIS MESSAGE MOCKED.

II. OUR ENTIRE NATURE UNDER ITS CONTROL.

III. ALL RANKS AND ORDERS POSSESSED BY IT.

IV. EVERY MAN‘S HAND AGAINST HIS FELLOW.

V. GOD KNOWN ONLY AS THE GOD OF WRATH.C

Jer 13:15

Be not proud.

It is difficult to see what those whom the prophet was addressing had to proud of; but it is certain that they were proud, and that thereby they were, more than by aught else, hindered from receiving the word of God. The inflated shape, the mean material, and the easily destroyed nature of those” bottles” to which he had likened them, as well as the arrogant boastful talk of the drunkard, whose doings theirs he predicted should resemble; both these comparisons show how vividly the prophet discerned in them this besetting sin of pride, and the ruin it would be sure to work them. Let us, therefore, note

I. SOME OF THE REASONS FOR THIS EXHORTATION, “Be not proud.”

1. The main reason which the prophet here urges is its antagonism to the Word of God. Now, such antagonism cannot but be, for:

(1) The Word of God despises what men most esteem.

(a) Their own moral worth. How high men’s estimate of this! how low that of the Word of God!

(b) Their own capacities. Man deems himself capable of self-support, self-deliverance, and self-salvation. The Word of God tells him he is utterly dependent on God for all things, be he who he may.

(c) The worldits maxims, honors, wealth, etc.

(2) It esteems what men most despise.

(a) Such qualities of mind as meekness, forgiveness of injuries, humility, indifference to the world, great regard to the unseen and the spiritual.

(b) Persons who have nothing but moral excellence to recommend them, be they poor, obscure, and despicable in the world’s esteem.

(c) Courses of life which may involve “the loss of all things,” so only as we “may be accepted of him.”

2. Its other terrible fruits. Some of these are given in the verses following. It will not suffer men to give glory to God; it leads men into deadly peril (Jer 13:16). It causes deep distress to those who care for their souls; it will end in their utter ruin (Jer 13:17).

II. How OBEDIENCE MAY BE RENDERED TO IT. Probably there is nothing but that threefold work of the Holy Spirit of which our Lord speaks which will ensure such obedience. Pride is too deeply rooted in the hearts of men to yield to any lesser force but:

1. The conviction of sindestroying all man’s self-complacency.

2. Of righteousnessfilling him at the same time with admiration of the righteousness of Christ, with despair of attainment of it, but with joy that, though he cannot have it in himself, he yet has it by virtue of his faith in Christ.

3. Of judgmentdestroying the supremacy of the world over his mind, and so delivering him from the temptation to its pride. This work of the Holy Spirit lays the axe at the root of the tree, and ere long hews it down. Let, then, this Holy Spirit be sought in all sincerity, and let his guidance be ever followed; so shall “the mind of Christ” be increasingly formed in us, and we shall learn of him who was “meek and lowly in heart,” and so find rest in our Souls.C.

Jer 13:16, Jer 13:17

Lost upon the dark mountains.

“Give glory to the Lord,” etc.

I. THE SCENE PORTRAYED. It is that of unhappy travelers overtaken by night, when crossing some of the perilous mountain tracks of Palestine. A traveler overtaken as these seem to have been by a night storm, is in imminent danger of falling over precipices and perishing miserably. Even by day the way is perilous: the paths are easily lost, or are strewn with rocks, or they lead along steep and slippery slopes, or by overhanging cliffs, where a single foot slip may plunge the heedless passenger headlong to a frightful death in the far depths below. But how much more dangerous such journey must be when night overtakes the travelers, is evident. The fading light has gone, but the journey has still to be pursued. And now comes that stumbling upon the dark mountains, which is so terrible and inevitable. There is the anxious looking for the fitful light of moon or stars, and occasionally hope arises that the clouds will break and some glimmer appear. But this hope has been speedily quenched by the clouds gathering over again, and with the added darkness of the rain-storm, so that the darkness is “gross,” like unto that of the shadow of death. Every step, therefore, is fraught with frightful peril, and not a few thus benighted amid such mountain passes perish miserably ere the morning dawn. Such is the scene portrayed.

II. THAT WHICH IT REPRESENTS.

1. The temporal calamities which God sendsas to the Jewsin punishment for their sins. All earthly distress has the sad tendency to unhinge the mind, to fill with foreboding fear, and greatly to perplex and overwhelm; but when to the natural effects of such earthly distress there is added the consciousness of guilt and of having deserved what God has sent, then the dismay, distress, and despair which are suggested by the prophetic picture are miserably increase.

2. The hardened sinner‘s despair of God‘s mercy. The vision of judgment and wrath has come upon him, but the remembrance of his sins crushes hope of mercy (cf. Judas “going out and hanging himself”).

3. The entanglements of sin. It is a great mistake to imagine that those who are enslaved by any sin are happy in it. Not a few of them endure a very hell in their frantic but futile endeavors to break the chain which long indulgence has forged and fastened around them. The bitter repentance, the unavailing remorse, every gleam of hope of deliverance so soon quenched, the recklessness of despair, the groaning as of the prisoner appointed to death,all these are realities known to the slaves of sin, and should make every soul shudder lest the like should come upon him.

4. The procrastinator‘s death-bed. He who has been convinced over and over again that he ought to seek the Lord, but has ever put it off,his feet are likely to “stumble upon the dark mountains “when the night of the shadow of death draws upon him.

III. HOW SUCH MISERY MAY BE AVOIDED. It was very near: the prophet’s words imply that the’ oft-threatened doom was at their very doors. And so the like doom may be near to many now. But yet it may be avoided. Giving heed to God’s Word (Jer 13:15). We have much hope when we see an earnest heeding of that Word, a really serious attention paid to it. But that by itself is not enough. There must be the actual “giving glory to God;” by confession of sin, acknowledging the wrong done; by casting the soul on God for forgiveness in lowly trust; by forsaking the evil that has roused the just anger of God. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man,” etc.

IV. THE GREAT REASON FOR FEAR THAT THIS MISERY WILL NOT BE AVOIDED AFTER ALL. It was and it ever is the accursed pride (Jer 13:15, Jer 13:17) that will not allow of such giving heed to the Divine Word and such giving glory to him. All the instincts of the unrenewed heart are up in arms against such self-abasement. Any sacrifice will be brought rather than that of the broken and contrite heart.

V. THE UTTERLY HOPELESS CONDITION OF THOSE THUS LOST. (Jer 13:17.) See the prophet’s piteous tears. He can do nothingevery resource has been tried and failed, and he can but “weep sore in secret places” for the “pride” that has ruined those he would fain have saved. Oh then, sinful heart, down, down before thy God, and “give glory to him,” as he would have thee do, as it is so fight and reasonable and good for thee to do, as the ministers of God entreat thee to do.C.

Jer 13:20

The neglected trust demanded.

“Where is the flock that was given thee,” etc.? This word is addressed to the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem. Their people, the nation over whom they ruled, were God’s flock, his “beautiful flock.” That flock had been entrusted to the rulers’ care. The influence of those in power was very great. As were the leaders of the peopleespecially the kingso were the people themselves. They could be led like a flock, and were so. Tremendous, therefore, was the responsibility of those in power, to whom was entrusted this flock of the Lord. But they had used their great authority and power badly. Ruin had come or was about to come upon the flock (cf. Jer 13:18, Jer 13:19); they were to be scattered, scattered wholly, and the greater portion of them lost. To these careless and guilty shepherds the Lord now comes, and asks for the flock he had placed in their hands. “Give an account of thy stewardship,” was said to those who were to be no longer stewards because of their faithlessness. Now, this question, “Where is the flock,” etc.? is one which should be often heard sounding in the ears of many others besides those to Whom it was first addressed, e.g.

I. TO THE PASTORS OF THE CHURCH. The Church of God is his flock, his “beautiful flock.” Its members are very dear to him, “purchased with his own blood.” The Church is given, entrusted, to pastors. When Christ ascended up on high he gave some “pastors.” This method of ordering his Church is the one he has willed. His blessing has evidently rested on it. What does not the Church of God owe to her faithful pastors? But whatever their character they cannot but have great influence. They are trusted by the people. They have received special gifts for their work in the form of mental and moral endowments. They are much prayed for. They are specially set apart for the charge of the Church of God. They have every inducement to fidelity. Faithful, the love of their charge will gather round them; the fear of God will dwell within them; the crown of life awaits them. And these mighty motives, acting upon hearts already prepared by God’s grace and devoted to this high office, have for the most part secured a great degree of fidelity in it. Hence a character and reputation have become associated with the office, which cannot but invest with much influence, as it does with much responsibility, all those who occupy it. But in spite of all this there may be, as there has been at times, great unfaithfulness. Hence the flock has been scattered. The Church has suffered in numbers, in purity of doctrine, in consistency of life, in spirituality of character. Its enjoyment in all holy service goes; its power for good in the neighborhood where it dwells goes; its regard for all that marks vigorous life in a Church all goes; and ere long its “candlestick is removed out of its place.” Perhaps its numbers may not greatly diminish. There shall be the observance of the sabbath, its services, its sermons, its sacramentsorderly, Pedlar, frequent. Many things may conduce to this. Its name may live, but it is dead. Oh, the awfulness of this! And if it have been through the negligence and unfaithfulness of the pastor, who shall deliver him from the charge of blood-guiltiness which will lie at his door? What will he answer when the question is addressed to him, as one day it surely will be, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” Let every pastor of Christ’s Church consider this and pray

“Chief Shepherd of thy chosen sheep,

From death and sin set free,

Let every under-shepherd keep

His eye intent on thee.”

II. TO ALL PARENTS. Our children are the Lord’s flock, his “beautiful flock.” They are very dear to him. He puts his arm round every one of them; he takes them all up in his arms and blesses them. He declares by his Word and by their baptism that they are of his kingdom, and he both promises vast reward to those that receive them in his Name, and threatens with dreadful doom all those who “offend” them. But parents have unspeakable influence over them. They mould and fashion them, not in outward form and habits alone, but in inward character. For a long time they are as God to their children, who know no higher authority, no higher help. Hence they trust their parents utterly. And to guard against the abuse of this tremendous trust, God has implanted the instincts of parental love, and given every motive to parents to guard and keep well those he has entrusted to their care. Now, if through parental unfaithfulness those children become renegades from God, he will surely ask this question, “Where is the flock,” etc.? Let remembrance of this lead to earnest prayer and diligent heed so that each parent at last may have the unspeakable joyas he may haveof standing at last before God, and saying, with glad thankfulness, “Behold, here am I, and the children, thou hast given me.”

III. TO EVERY INDIVIDUAL SOUL. For the sum of all the faculties, opportunities, talents, the whole of the varied gifts and capacities which together form our spiritual naturejudgment, affection, conscience, intellect, will,all these are the flock of God which is entrusted to every individual man; and by due care and cultivation of them he can preserve and develop them into an offering of worship and consecration which God will ever accept and bless. Every man has the making of his own life by the help of God. There is scarce any degree of honor and joy which he may not win by faithfulness in the use of that which God has entrusted to him. Concerning them all God says, “Occupy till I come.” And how vast and varied is the help God gives to us in this great work! What means of grace are provided! What recompense even here and now is given! Victory over self; a mind at peace; blessed influence over others; the love and esteem of the good; free communion and intercourse with God himself; the consciousness of the Divine love; the bright and blessed hope of the eternal life hereafter. So that even now “in keeping of God’s commandments there is great reward.” But if we be unfaithful here and waste all our goodsthese high gifts, faculties, and opportunitiessowing to the flesh when we should be sowing to the Spirit, then this question will be heard concerning all these things, “Where is the flock,” etc.? And then we search in vain for any answer to the next question (Jer 13:21), “What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?” Therefore let us each keep continually before our minds such truths as those that are taught in the well-known hymn

“A charge to keep I have,

A God to glorify,

A never-dying soul to save

And fit it for the sky.

“Help me to watch and pray,

And on thyself rely;

Assured if I my trust betray

I shall forever die.”

C.

Jer 13:21, Jer 13:22

Sin its own scourge.

I. THERE ARE OTHER SCOURGES FOR SIN. The direct and positive inflictions of the Divine wrath. Not alone the Bible but the great books of history and experience must all be denied if we deny such positive punishment of sin. Never has there been yet any system of laws for moral beings which has been left to be simply self-acting, and which therefore have had no positive sanctions of penalty for transgression added. And God’s Law is not such. As the Jews and other nations and individuals have found, and as the unrepentant will find hereafter, if not now, God’s Word upon this matter is most assuredly true.

II. BUT SIN IS ITS OWN SCOURGE. That scourge is woven and knotted with many cords.

1. Conscience, ever passing sentence of judgment.

2. Habits of wrong-doing, hateful but fast clinging to the soul, and by which it is “tied and bound.”

3. The manifold difficulty of repentance. The man would heartily turn from his evil way, but he has got into the current just above the falls, and it is bearing him on and down, resist as he will.

4. The sight of children, companions, etc; corrupted and perhaps ruined by our evil example. Oh, what a horror is this: seeing those whom, for every reason human and Divine we were bound to cherish and guard from evil, cursed by our sin!

5. The moral disapprobation of the good around us. Their sentence of condemnation is felt to have a binding power. What they “bind on earth is bound in heaven.”

6. The “fearful looking for of judgment.” Such are some of the cords which, woven together, make up the dreadful scourge wherewith sin scourges itself.

III. AND THIS SELF–MADE SCOURGE IS THE MOST TERRIBLE OF ANY. Deep and unfathomable as were the sufferings of our Lord, he distinctly declared that those coming on his enemies were worse. “Weep not for me,” he said, “but weep for yourselves, and for your children If they do these things in a green tree,” etc. It is evident, therefore, that suffering in which the consciousness of sin enters must be worst of all. Those “stripes by which we are healed,” though they “ploughed deep furrows” on the body of our blessed Lord, yea, upon his inmost soul, still there are stripes more terrible even than they. The quenchless fire of God’s positive inflictions would be more tolerable were it not for the gnawing of that undying wormthe sinner’s own remorse. Are not they, then, “fools” indeed who “make a mock at sin”?C.

Jer 13:23

An awful condition indeed.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin,” etc.? This verse tells of one who as brought himself to such a pass that he cannot cease from sin. It is an awful condition indeed. Note

I. SOME OF THE ELEMENTS WHICH MAKE IT SO. They are:

1. The memories of a better past. There was a time when his soul was unsullied, his hands clean, his heart pure, his life unstained; when he could hold up his head in conscious integrity by the grace of God. But that is all gone.

2. The prostration of his will He is continually making resolves, but they are frail as cobwebs, they are broken through by the slightest temptation now. The power to firmly and steadfastly resolve seems gone from him. He has resolved so often, but in vain, that his will now refuses to rise to the endeavor.

3. The powerlessness of all means of deliverance. He attends God’s house, he reads the Scriptures, he kneels in prayer, he goes to the Lord’s table still it may be, but they have lost their power to hold him back from his sin. They seem to be of no use at all.

4. The fearful on look to God‘s judgment. He sees it coming swiftly upon him. He is ever terrified at the near approach of the day when he will be utterly lost. “Lost! lost!” he is ever saying to himself. He fears exposure, he fears the final doom, and knows not how to escape.

5. Shame is the presence of the good. He is haunted by the feeling, “If they but knew me as I am!” and he knows the day is coming when they will know, and he will be cast out as vile.

6. The thought of the misery and shame he will bring upon others. Perhaps he has wife, children, father, mother, a number of friends and relations, whom he knows he will drag down with him in his own ruin.

7. The temptation to recklessness born of despair. Satan is ever suggesting to him that, as he cannot regain what he has lost, he had better take Ms fill of such pleasure as he has. And too often he yields.

8. The perversion of his understanding. It is his interest to believe there is no God, and hence his intellect is busy in gathering together materials for this belief and for doubting and denying all religions truth. And so he sinks down into atheism and all ungodliness. Yes; his is an awful condition indeed. But consider

II. SOME COUNSELS, TO THOSE WHOM THESE TERRIBLE TRUTHS CONCERN.

1. Remember you cannot be certain that you have come to this condition. Satan will endeavor to persuade you that there is no hope. But believe him not. You are lost if you believe him. Steadfastly refuse to believe.

2. If the thought that such should be your condition distresses you, take it as a token for good that God has not given you up.

3. Remember that others have been saved who were as near being lost as you.

4. Rouse yourself to use all means of help which God has given you.

(1) Let there be special seasons of prayer.

(2) Avoid the occasions of your sin.

(3) Put every hindrance you can in the way of your Sin; such as altering your manner of life, avoiding being alone, reading such Scriptures and such books as will tend to deepen your sense of the sin and show you how to escape from it.

(4) Avail yourself of the counsels of some wise and godly friend.

(5) Fill up your time, hands, and thoughts with useful and absorbing work.

(6) Do not despise small victories; they lead on to greater ones.

(7) “Pray without ceasing. Remember that God is able and has promised to “save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Christ.” Thus doing, even thou shalt be saved.C.

Jer 13:27

The one thing needful.

“Wilt thou not be made clean? When,” etc.?

I. MEN ARE SPIRITUALLY UNCLEAN. Like as the Lord looked down upon the occupants of the porches at Bethesda, and saw but a multitude of impotent folk (Joh 5:1-47.); so now, as “his eyes behold the children of men,” he sees a similar though a far more terrible sightthe mass of mankind spiritually diseased. This is manifestly true of the heathen world. The abominations and the cruelties that are practiced there show the virulence of the soul’s malady amongst them. And if we look at the mass of those who profess and call themselves Christians, in how many of these is the profession only, a veneer of religious customs covering a corrupt and sin-loving heart. And if it be so with the professing Church, what must it be with those who reject all the means of grace which the Christian Church enjoys?

II. BUT GOD GREATLY DESIRES THAT MEN SHOULD BE DELIVERED FROM THIS UNCLEANNESS. “He will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He desires this:

1. From his very nature. He himself is the most holy God. But all moral qualities ever strive to reproduce themselves in those around them. Let a man be characterized by orderliness, truthfulness, sobriety, purity, and in proportion as he is so the contact of those of opposite character will be painful to him, and he will endeavor to make them like himself. And so, because “good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way.”

2. His righteousness also. The sense of outrage and wrong which sin must produce in the heart of God makes him angry with the wicked every day.

3. His compassion. Sin is sorrow. We wonder at the priests of Baal persisting in cutting and wounding themselves. But is not every sinner just such a one? And with this added sorrowthat their wounds are for eternity, and not for the short lira here alone. On the other hand, to be “made whole” spiritually is to be made blessed forever.

III. YET MEN WILL NOT. The tone of the question, the woe which precedes it, the comparison of the sinner with the Ethiopian and the leopard, etc. (Jer 13:23), the half-despairing cry, “When shall it once be?” (Jer 13:27),all this shows the prophet’s conviction of man’s persistent clinging to his sin. Were the question concerning bodily disease, it would be unnecessary. Who would not be delivered from that? But when it is spiritual healing, men will not. From the consequences of their sin they are willing to be deliveredthe punishment, the remorse, the shame, etc.but not from the sin itself. True, at times, in the first keen pangs of remorse, and under the vivid sense of shame, they would be willing then to be rid of the sin itself. But their return to their sin shows how momentary and superficial this feeling was. And men would be willing, perhaps, if by some one act the whole cure could be effected; if the being made whole was not so slow, so difficult, so self-denying a process. And, in fact, they do hope that by some one acta death-bed repentancethe whole process will be accomplished.

IV. BUT WITHOUT MAN‘S OWN CONSENT HE CANNOT BE MADE WHOLE. God does not by a mere act of power make a man spiritually whole, as he makes one tree an oak, another an elm. The will must consent. We have this awful power of compelling Christ to “stand at the door and knock;” for the door of our hearts is opened from the inside. We must undo the bolts and remove the bars. No view of the Holy Sprat s influence which contradicts this can be a true view. We can, and alas! do, say “No” to God. But also we can, and he is ever pleading with us to, say “Yes” to his call.

V. BUT ONE DAY IT SHALL BE GIVEN. “My people shall be willing in the day of my power.” Christ wept over Jerusalem, but yet he told them that when next he came they should say, “Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord; el. also the predicted repentance of the Jews, “They also which pierced him,” etc. (Zec 14:1-21.). But oh, what “everlasting burnings,” what awful scourgings, has Jerusalem had to go through before, like the prodigal, she came to herself! Let none abuse this doctrine. If we will say “Yes” to God now, and come to Christ in loving self-surrender, we shall find his yoke easy and his burden light; but if we will say “No,” then we shall have to come to ourselves; and what may not that involve? Truly, “now is the accepted time,” etc.C.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE

Jer 13:16

A solemn warning.

This is an appeal to the fears of the people; one of the many instances in which the prophet seeks to win them to the way of righteousness by the presage of impending woe. Utter destruction is before them (Jer 13:14), the twilight is fast deepening into “gross darkness.” But even now it is not too late for them to avert the calamity by their repentance. It is not mainly through their fears that Christianity exerts its influence over men. But, as many of the discourses of Christ show, men may sometimes sink into conditions of moral insensibility from which only an alarming voice will awaken them. And the gospel has its side of terror. Even the gracious Savior and his apostles spoke of” wrath to come.” Consider

(1) the duty,

(2) the motive.

I. THE DUTY. “Give glory to your God.” Several distinct elements of thought and life are involved in this.

1. A recognition of the sacred and indissoluble relation in which we stand towards God. However we may have forsaken him, he is still “the Lord our God.” We are still his dependent creatures, his needy children. To please him, to serve his purposes, to show forth his glory, must, in the very nature of things, be the end of our existence. All religious life begins with the devout acknowledgment of this supreme personal relationship.

2. A due sense of the claims God has, on the ground of what he is in himself, on our regard. The true glory of the Divine Being is his infinite moral perfections. When Moses said, “I beseech thee show me thy glory,” God answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee.” We “give glory to God” when, gazing upon the beauty and majesty of his intrinsic moral excellences, we yield back to him a due response of reverence, and admiration, and trust, and love.

3. Practical surrender to his service. “Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1Co 6:20). The actual homage of a godly life is indicated herethe consecration of all the powers of our nature as a “living sacrifice upon the altar of the Lord. If the Name of the Lord our God is hallowed in our hearts, we shall thus give ourselves and our all to him. Practical goodness akin to his own is the best and most acceptable tribute we can pay. We honor him most when we most strive to be like him in all holy character and Godlike deed.

II. THE MOTIVE. “Before he cause darkness,” etc. Here is a prospect that may well awaken fear. Something more than mere external calamity is suggested. There is internal distress, mental perplexity and bewilderment; a condition in which the spirits of the people become a prey to all kinds of misleading and deluding influences, wildly groping after a good that is lost and gone from them forever. Few pictures of imagination could be sadder than that of men looking and longing for the light, only to find the darkness growing more and more deep and dense around them. It is often something like this when men are unfaithful to their real convictions and negligent el the acknowledged claims of God. Trifle with truth and conscience, and you cannot wonder that truth should become to you a mere mocking shadow, and conscience a perpetual foe to your peace. Despise the sacred privileges and obligations of life, and you make them to be sources of heavy condemnation. Let the light be scorned or abused, and it turns into “the shadow of death.” “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth” (Joh 12:35).W.

Jer 13:23

A moral impossibility.

This passage expresses the hopelessness of the prophet as regards the success of any human effort to persuade the people to forsake their evil ways, or by any efforts of their own to save themselves. It suggests

I. THE INVETERACY OF SIN.

1. Arising from the depravity of nature. The dark spots and the ebon skin have a hidden cause. Sins are the natural outcome of sin. All forms of wrong-doing are but symptoms on the surface of a secret moral disease. “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,” etc. (Mat 15:19).

2. The force of habit. “Use is second nature.” Custom has a power over men that rivals that of native propensity. As good habit is a most effective educator of every form of virtue, so, on the other hand, when habit has been allowed to foster the evil tendencies of a man’s nature, he becomes hopelessly “tied and bound with the chain of his sins.”

II. THE MORAL IMPOTENCE IT ENGENDERS. Sin not only corrupts the springs of a man’s moral life, but paralyzes all his nobler powers, robs him of the ability to act out the better instincts of his nature. The voice of natural conscience may not be wholly silenced, the natural heart may not be utterly destitute of good impulses; but there is no redeeming power in these. As well expect the darkness to give birth to light, and life to spring spontaneously out of death, as suppose that a sin-loving, sin-hardened man will of himself forsake his evil ways. He will never be able by his own hand “to pluck the vicious quitch of blood and custom wholly out of him.” The complete moral helplessness of humanity was made abundantly evident before the full revelation of gospel grace. It was when we were “without strength” that Christ “died for the ungodly.”

III. THE WONDROUS EFFICACY OF THE REGENERATING POWER OF GOD. The most defiled and degraded nature may be transformed by the touch of him who made it. Even the skin of the Ethiopian and the leopard’s spots must yield to the sovereignty of the Divine energy. Deep-rooted and habitual as the evil in a man’s heart and life may be, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth him from it, and when the Spirit of Christ moulds the substance of his being he becomes “a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co 5:17).W.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Jer 13:1-11

The marred girdle.

I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GIRDLE. This is set before us clearly in Jer 13:11. God chose something which should illustrate the close connection between Israel and himself, and yet which should illustrate at the same time how easily that connection could be severed. The girdle was, of course, a familiar part of an Israelite’s apparel. Not exactly a necessity, for a man could perhaps do without it; and yet a necessity in this sense, that habit had made it so. The very function of the girdle was to bind; otherwise it was, as a girdle, of no use. Thus, by likening the people to a girdle, God indicated that, in a certain sense, he had made them necessary to himself. He had placed them in a conspicuous position, where the service they could render was very important. He meant that he and his people should be viewed together; he always in relation to them, they always in relation to him. Hence the variety of terms in which he indicates his purpose in making the children of Israel to be as his girdle. “That they might be unto me for a people.” Jehovah was to look on them with a feeling of ownership and mastery Which he was not able to feel with regard to other nations; and they, in turn, were to look up to Jehovah, feeling that all their purposes and actions were to be determined by his will. Jehovah meant that one of the most suggestive and comforting names by which he could be known should be that of the God of his people Israel, and that in turn Israel should be known as the people of Jehovah. In them Jehovah was to be praised; in them he was to be glorified. Other nations might play the part of girdle to their deities, but there was really nothing of substance to gird. But when Jehovah drew Israel to himself, there was the opportunity of a real, glorious, and ever-extending service before them. Other nations chose and fabricated their gods; Jehovah chose and separated Israel, and in doing so intended the connection to be a very close one, and provided all the means by which it might become such.

II. THE INSTABILITY OF THE GIRDLE. The very Israelite who was to be taught lessons by this girdle, when he chose a girdle for himself, was generally able to make it serve his purpose. He would get it of some durable substance, to wear long. Elijah and John the Baptist were girt with leathern girdles. The Israelite, in the girdle with which he was familiar, dealt with that which was altogether under his control. The longer he wore it, the easier he found it, and the more amenable to his touch. If it began to tear and slip, and to slacken and hinder just when it should have been tightest and most helpful, its owner would very soon get rid of it as a deceiving girdle. But while Jehovah could bring his people very close, and compel them in a certain sense to remain with him, he could not make them cleave to him. Cleaving could only be done with purpose of heart, and must be a voluntary action. These people were not as a piece of linen or leather, to be folded exactly as the wearer might choose. If they had been they could not have rendered the service Jehovah wished from them, and in the result they showed that they did not wish to cleave to God. He could not trust them. Again and again he tried them, only to find that they cared nothing for their relation to him, nothing for the golden opportunity of setting forth his praise and glory.

III. THE HUMILIATION OF THE GIRDLE. Jeremiah was told to take this linen girdle and bind it round his loins. Linen was the material of the priests’ garments; and was not Israel a consecrated people? Jeremiah, belonging to a priestly family, would easily be able to get hold of a linen girdle; although the directions given to him here would seem to show that this particular girdle was, in some way, to excite special attention. Notice how the instructions were given to the prophet bit by bit. At first he is simply told to put on the girdle. It was there to teach its own lesson to all who had eyes to observe and a disposition towards timely repentance. Then with his girdle he was to take a journey to Euphrates. That such a journey was long, difficult, and dangerous, is true as men count length, difficulty, and danger, but to a prophet the greatest difficulties and dangers come from refusing to take the way of God, however long it may be. Jonah had to go to Nineveh; what is there unreasonable in supposing that Jeremiah had to go to the neighborhood of Babylon? It may have been just as profitable a use of time to take long journeys there as to go on giving testimony against those who resolutely closed their ears. Besides, it was by Euphrates that the girdle Israel was to be marred. It was to be shown to them that, if they would not act as a girdle, they could easily be made useless for any other purpose. If they would not be God’s people, they should achieve no position for themselves. If they would not honor the name which he had given them, there was no other name by which they could get distinction. If they would not be to his praise and glory, as the girdle cleaving firmly and serviceably to him, then they should be to his praise and glory as the marred girdle. If we will not do what God wishes us to do, then he takes care that we shall not do what we ourselves wish to do. The girdle brought back from Euphrates was found profitable for nothing. That which is meant for salt of the earth and loses its savor, is thenceforth good for nothing but to be east out and to be trodden underfoot of men.Y.

Jer 13:15, Jer 13:16

A demand for the timely giving of what is due to Jehovah.

It will be observed that the previous verses of this chapter set forth the doom of Jehovah’s apostate people by two very expressive figures. There is the figure of the girdle, marred and become good for nothing by lying so long in the damp recess of the rock. There is also the figure of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from those high in station down to the common people, every one of them become as it were a living wine-skin, filled with drunken fury, destroying one another and being destroyed. This figure, bordering on the grotesque, presents as impending a very terrible scene. But with the verses now to be considered there returns what we may call an evangelical interval. Though in these prophecies of Jeremiah gloom of necessity predominates, yet there are equally necessary intervals of light, intervals where the mercy of Jehovah is clearly revealed, and his never-falling desire that his people should return to him. There is, of course, practically, no hope for these people so far as their present social state is concerned. They will go on their own way; but to the last God will also make his appeal. Notice now the things which God asks for here.

I. ATTENTION. “Hear ye, and give ear.” These people have never really attended to the import of the prophetic messages. Either they have been totally indifferent or they have been irritated by some word they did not like, and so the complete message has fallen uncomprehended upon their ears. For instance, the why and wherefore of the prophet’s extraordinary journey to the Euphrates, they did not trouble themselves to consider. And it is plain from Verse 12 how entirely they missed the meaning of the prophet’s saying respecting the bottles being filled with wine. The parabolic sentence was to them nothing more than mere commonplace. And of course, so long as attention was lacking, truth was of no use. There is an analogy between the receiving of truth and the receiving of bodily food. As food must be properly introduced into the physical system, so truth must be properly introduced into the mind, brought before the understanding of the individual, firmly grasped by him in its reality, so that it may become a real and beneficial element in the life.

II. HUMILITY. There must be submission to the prophet as a proved messenger from God. Pride is going to be the ruin of these people. The prophet himself was humbly obedient to all commandments of God; why, then, should his audience be proud? The grandees of Jerusalem do not like to be talked to by the comparative rustic from Anathoth. The elders resent remonstrances from a man comparatively young. Those whose boast it perhaps was that they had never been in bondage to any man, do not like to hear of conquest and captivity. There is no getting at truth and right without humility. Because truth means, not only the reception of that which is true, but the casting out of the old and the loved and the often boasted of. It is very hard for a man to cut himself off from the past and show by a very different future how he feels the errors and follies of which he has been guilty. It is hard for the like Nicodemus to go down from his chair and become a , stumbling among the rudimentary principles of the kingdom of heaven.

III. THE GIVING OF GLORY TO JEHOVAH. “Give glory to Jehovah your God.” These people had been giving elsewhere what they reckoned to be glory, but which, so far from being glory, was indeed their own deepest shame. Glory of a certain sort they had plenty of, but they came short of the glory of God. They did not, in the conduct of their life, show a proper response to the wisdom by which God had created them as men and separated them as a people. By their present doings they were exposing the Name of Jehovah to insult and scorn from all round about. This asking for glory to be given was a request reasonable in itself. If a master is a good master, it is not right that his servant should act so as to make the master’s reputation suffer. If a father is a good father, it is not right for his child to act as if he had been deprived of all beneficial influences in the way of teaching and training. What is thought of a man who basely forgets his nationality and laughs at the feelings that gather around the idea of fatherland? And hence the Name of Jehovah was a name to be magnified in word and deed and every outcome of life on the part of his people. We ourselves must labor to praise God with our whole hearts. And more than that, we must live as those who show the power of God, saving us and lifting us into an altogether higher life.

IV. THE GIVING OF THIS GLORY PROMPTLY ON ACCOUNT OF PERIL TO THOSE WHO REFUSE TO GIVE. The figure employed is that of a traveler on a journey. He gets into the wrong road, gets indeed altogether out of any proper road; but he persists in mere wandering, refuses to be warned, will not accept guidance back to the proper path. He sees dangers, many dangers; but because it is daylight he manages to escape them. And now, as the darkness momentarily increases, the warnings also increase in urgency. When the darkness is fully come, where will he be. On the mountains, not able to take one confident step in any direction, lest it be over the precipice. Furthermore, in the case of a traveler, he has always this resort, that if darkness comes amid such dangers he can stand still till the return of the dawn. But here is the contrast in that the expected dawn will never come. This rebellious, God-dishonoring generation is virtually walking into captivity of its own accord. As far as it is concerned, it will look in vain for restoration. The restoration will belong, not to it, nor even to its children, but rather to its children’s children. Those who wander from God wander into a state where they are self destroyed, because the resources of which they boasted themselves have come to nothing. Glorify God, willingly, in the light, or you will end by glorifying him unwillingly, in the darkness. Think of what came to Herod because he did not give the glory to God.Y.

Jer 13:20

A searching question to the shepherd.

The position of a king towards his people wag illustrated by the position of a shepherd towards his flock. Hence the question here was doubtless meant for the special attention of the king. The nation was largely in the hands of the king for the time being. Formal authority belonged to him, and it was generally joined with corresponding power; hence the responsibility by which he was justly held for the exercise of his authority, and yet it is plain that such a question as this could only have a partial application to the responsibilities of any particular king. Whoever the king may have been at the time this prophecy was uttered, it was no “beautiful flock” that had been handed to him. He had received it after the neglect and abuse of many predecessors. The nation itself, considered in its collective capacity and through all its past growth, is here impersonated and addressed. Consider

I. TO WHAT CLASSES OF PERSONS SUCH A QUESTION AS THIS MAY BE CONSIDERED AS STILL ADDRESSED. Evidently it bears on all who have to do with the government of any people. Just, firm government has much to dothough how much cannot be exactly expressedwith the welfare of every community. The personal conduct and example of governors is also a very important matter. Better kings in Israel might have helped to make a better people, and this influence of government becomes ever a more important thing to recollect, because the people are becoming more and more their own governors. Each individual has only an infinitesimal part, but it is a real part, and therefore the conduct of each most surely affects the aggregate. It is plain how this question bears on the parental relation. It did so bear on Israel of old, and it bears equally on all who have offspring put in their charge, to train as far as they can, for the service of Christ, in their day and generation. Teachers may be said to have a “beautiful flock ‘ in their charge. The deep influence of Dr. Arnold on his pupils shows how a teacher may bring out all the beauty of his flock. The application to spiritual teachers and pastors under Christ, the great Teacher and Pastor, is obvious. And, generally, every one must consider those around him, on whom, by daily companionship or any way of sufficient contact, he exercises influence. Every one is responsible, not only for that which is formally handed to him, but just as much for all that he can in any way keep. Let no one suppose that he himself has nothing to do but be cared for. Just as we are every one of us sheep in one sense, so we are shepherds in another.

II. WHAT IS REQUIRED IN ORDER TO GIVE THE RIGHT ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION. Nothing but this, that we can truthfully assert ourselves to have been faithful. It cannot be required that we should lose none of the sheep. Not even the most faithful shepherd that trod the pastures of Palestine could manage that. He could only do his best to be provident, watchful, and courageous, so as to be himself free from blame if a sheep was lost or fell a prey to the wild beast. And not one of the kings of Israel or Judah could have said quite so much as this. Some of them, indeed, showed not the slightest notion that sheep had been put into their hands at all. Depend upon it, if there were more of this faithfulness there would be more success in gathering and preserving a flock for God. Faithfulness is the least that can be shown in our relations to others. Of course, meddlesomeness, censoriousness, bigotry, must not be mistaken for it. No good can be done if individual liberty is not respected, but nothing must prevail on us to deviate in the slightest from the line Christ has marked out. Those of Christ’s sheep who, being most conscious of their own incapacity to make a way, keep their eyes fixed on the way their Master makes for them, are really doing something of the shepherd’s work. Every one living and acting by the rule Christ has given is more of a shepherd than he thinks. Then, for comfort, let it be kept in mind that no faithfulness of ours will prevent the waywardness and willfulness of others. Jesus warned Judas, but Judas went obstinately off into his own way. Paul, faithful as none of us can ever hope to be, had to bewail many who, professing faith, yet walked contrary to the will of Christ. The great thing to be aimed at is that we should be clear from the blood of all men (Act 20:26-30).

III. It will be seen that this was a question FOR FLOCKS AS WELL AS FOR SHEPHERDS. Rulers are responsible for right leading, but subjects and followers are not altogether as sheep, that they should blindly follow those in formal authority. Truth has not been put within the formal shepherd’s exclusive protection. We must take care whom we follow. It is a delusion to suppose that we can hand ourselves over spiritually to the guidance of any one less than Christ. Others may help and suggest; only he can command. Paul came to his hearers with arguments and persuasions, laying before them the truth, which they were able to receive because it was the truth, not because the authority of the speaker made it true. All New Testament preaching goes on the assumption that every one can be fully persuaded in his own mind. The same Scriptures are open to reader as to preacher. None can have their eternal interests periled except by their own negligence.Y.

Jer 13:23

A natural impossibility.

I. THE NATURAL IMPOSSIBILITY HERE PRESENTED. It is a profound and momentous truth, God himself being the witnessthe heart-searching Godthat man who is accustomed to do evil cannot turn to good. This truth is not baldly stated here, but is illustrated in such a way that there can be no possible doubt as to God’s meaning. Observe that the impossibility referred to is a natural one. It is not said that under no circumstances whatever can a man accustomed to do evil be enabled to do good. The thing affirmed is that the power of habit and custom is so strong that he cannot turn himself. If we are inclined to doubt this, and indulge in that glorification of human nature which is at once so easy and so perilous, we have only to think of the illustrations here employed. It is vain to discuss with a man who is determined to magnify the power of the natural man towards that which is right and good. The better plan is to assure one’s own heart of the truth which God would make plain by these illustrations of his own giving. If any one asserted that an Ethiopian could change his skin or a leopard his spots, he would be reckoned a fool past arguing with. But there are multitudes who think it is very good advice to tell the poor slave of worldliness and passion to be a man and exert the strength of his will and turn away from evil. Now, what God says here by his prophet is that every such attempt must end in disappointment. No doubt there are certain times and stages in life when it is hard to accept such a view. It is a humbling and limiting view, one which exhibits in such an uncompromising way our weakness. But the sooner we come to take such a viewto take it practically and not in a mere speculative mannerto feel that the way of self-recovery and self-perfecting is closed against us, the better it will be for us.

II. THE CONSEQUENT NEED OF A GRACIOUS INTERVENTION. This is not stated here, but we know that it is meant to be remembered. In all such emphatic assertions of human inability there lies the suggestion that we may look confidently and ought to look promptly for abundance of Divine help. God puts his hand on our mouths to step all proud words, but at the same time he would lead us to lay hold of his promises and be filled with his strength. A clear vision of our own inability means a clear vision of the need of Divine intervention, and a clear vision of the need of Divine intervention may be expected to prepare for an equally clear vision of the reality of that intervention. That which measures the impossibilities in the corrupted natural man helps to measure the reasonable purposes and expectations of the man who is renewed by the Spirit of God. When we have got the life that is hid with Christ in God, we have something within us which defies the corruptions so powerful before. The Christian, fall of the Divine Spirit, is found able to utter all sorts of paradoxes. Though he cannot, of himself, make one hair white or black, he can be “suffering, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich.” There is a way, then, by which those accustomed to do evil can be brought to do good. There are resources which more than make up for the greatest lack of natural strength. If we only seek for those resources in the right place, we cannot fail to find them.

III. THE TEACHING TO BE DERIVED FROM THE EMPLOYMENT OF THESE PECULIAR ILLUSTRATIONS. Thousands of images were available to show natural impossibilities, but these two are employed. It will be observed that they relate to the alteration of external appearance. God could change the skin of the Ethiopian, could change the spots of the leopard; but he leaves them as they are, because no good purpose could be served by the alteration. Where an alteration is really wanted, he can make it, with results that are profitable now and promise a far greater profit in eternity. So far as the merely agreeable is concerned, it would certainly have been pleasanter for the Negro if those features which make him an object of ridicule to the ignorant, the proud, and the fastidious, were taken away. But it is God’s principle to interfere with nature only where sin has made the interference necessary. Many NegroesGod be thankedhave found the better part, the one thing needful; and, compared with this, what is the most disturbing of surface discomforts? Continual comfort at the heart, a comfort which cannot be taken from him, makes him forget all these. There would be no object in changing the spots of the leopard; let us rather rejoice that God takes away from men the leopard-ferocity which makes them as dangerous as any beast of prey. How often we seek vain and useless things, making ourselves miserable over physical defects and peculiarities, and continuing quite indifferent to the washing of the heart from wickedness. Instead of being anxious after things we cannot change and need not change, let us pray and strive after that possible, fundamental, radical change which will bring in due time perfection of the whole man. God, working from the heart, will cause that in due time we shall be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.Y.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Jer 13:1. Go, and get thee a linen girdle The prophet here begins a new discourse. He himself gives us an explanation of the meaning of the symbolical action here related. See the note on ch. Jer 1:11. He is commanded not to put the girdle into water, to clean it, in order to signify that the people of Israel had contracted such spots by their idolatry, as would not be washed away.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

CHAPTER 13

Since the foregoing discourse is complete in itself, it is not correct to say that Jeremiah 11-13 form a whole, one prophetic discourse(Graf, S. 174). Chap. 13. on the contrary is an independent portion, but contemporaneous with the preceding. For although the cleft in the rock by the river Euphrates involves an obscure intimation of the place of exile, the enemies from the North are still spoken of indefinitely (comp. on Jer 13:20). This portion therefore belongs to the period before the fourth year of Jehoiakim. The reign of Jehoiakim is also indicated in what is said of the pride of the great, and especially of the King, Jer 13:12 sqqComp. on the despotism of Jehoiakim, Comm. on Jer 22:13-19.

As to the purport of this passageit is a reproof of pride. Comp. Jer 13:9, I will mar the pride of Judah and the pride of Jerusalem, for it is great; Jer 13:2, bottle, and the interpretation given of it; Jer 13:15, be not proud; Jer 13:17, for your pride; Jer 13:18, humble yourselves, sit down.The reproof is however addressed to the people in a threefold gradationfirst the pride of the chosen people generally (Jer 13:9, Judah and Jerusalem) is rebuked under the figure of a destroyed girdle. This is then done with respect to the particular orders enumerated in Jer 13:13, which are represented under the figure of drunken pitchers breaking each other; finally the prophet humbles the pride of the highest, the king and the kings mother (Jer 13:18) and the form of the concrete mother of the country gradually passes over into the abstract, i. e., ideal, person of the daughter of Zion (Jerusalem, Jer 13:27). There are thus three strophes:

1. Jer 13:1-11. The entire chosen nation a destroyed girdle.

2. Jer 13:12-17. The particular orders broken pitchers.

3. Jer 13:18-27. The father and mother of the country humbled, driven away, insulted.

1. The entire chosen nation a destroyed girdle

Jer 13:1-2

1Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah] unto me, Go and get [buy] thee a linen girdle, 2and put it upon thy loins and put it not in water. So I got [bought, procured] a [the] girdle according to the word of the Lord [Jehovah], and put it on my loins. 3And the word of the Lord came [was communicated] unto me the second time, 4saying: Take the girdle that thou hast got [bought, procured], which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates [Phrath] and hide it there in a hole [cleft] of the 5rock. So [And] I went and hid it by Euphrates [in Phrath, or on the Phrath] as 6the Lord [Jehovah had] commanded me. And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord [Jehovah] said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates [Phrath] and take 7[fetch] the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there. Then I went to Euphrates [Phrath] and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it, and behold, the girdle was marred [spoiled]; it was profitable [good] 8for nothing. Then the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came unto me, saying:

9Thus saith Jehovah:

Thus will I spoil the pride of Judah,
And the pride of Jerusalem, which is great.

10This wicked people, who refused to hear my words,

Who walked in the hardness of their heart,
And went after other gods to serve them and to worship them,
They shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

11For as a girdle lies around the loins of a man,

So have I laid around myself the whole house of Israel,
And the whole house of Judah, saith Jehovah,
That they may be to me for a people,
For a name, for praise, and for beauty;
But they hearkened not.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jer 13:1-2. Go and buy thee a girdle on my loins. The reason why the prophet was to buy a girdle appears in Jer 13:11. As of all parts of the clothing the girdle is that which fits most closely, so Israel of all nations is the most closely connected with Jehovah. And as a beautifully ornamented girdle serves to adorn a man (comp. Herzog, Real-Enc., V. S. 407; VII. 717) so the Lord thought to put on Israel as an armament. The prophet was to buy a linen girdle without doubt, because the sacred garments of the priests were linen (comp. Exo 28:40; Herzog, R.-Enc. VII. S. 714) and because Israel was to be a holy, priestly nation (Exo 19:6). On the question why the prophet was not to put the girdle in water there has been much debate. Grafs view that the girdle was to be preserved from the injurious effects of the water, and kept new and undamaged, refutes itself. For no damage would be done to a linen girdle by washing, but it would rather be renewed. The prohibition to put the girdle in water evidently presupposes that the prophet would have washed the girdle when it became dirty. But this was not to be done. It was to remain dirty. As a dirty girdle it was to be taken to the Euphrates. Since now the girdle denotes the people, it was thus to be set before their eyes what was impending over them as having become unclean, and yet long borne by the Lord in their filth. So Rosenmuller and Maurer.

Jer 13:3-7. Take the girdle profitable for nothing. is in Jeremiah always the Euphrates, Jer 46:2; Jer 46:6; Jer 46:10; Jer 51:63, though in Jeremiah 46. we always find . Now it is inconceivable that Jeremiah made the long journey to the Euphrates twice merely to show that a linen girdle is destroyed by lying a long time in the damp. Therefore is said by some to be a water-gap () near Jerusalem (Ewald), by others an abbreviation of (Bochart, Venema, Hitzig), by others again the whole is regarded as merely an allegorical narrative (Staeudlin, Neue Beitr. zur Erl. d. bibl. Proph. Gtt., 1791, S. 129 sqq., Graf). But I do not see why the words may not be regarded as historical truth, if only we do not apply the standard of the paltry present to the great, past. Was it too much for a prophet to make a long journey in order to set visibly before the eyes of his people their impending fate? There are indeed narratives of such a kind as bear in themselves the necessity of a parabolic interpretation, ex. gr. when Jeremiah in Jer 25:15 sqq. says that he took the wine cup of fury from the hand of the Lord and caused Jerusalem with all the cities of Judah, Pharaoh and many other kings and princes to drink of it. But where this is not the case we must be on our guard against transferring our standard of the suitable, or of the morally and physically possible to those times. I therefore do not perceive why the account in Hosea 1; Eze 4:5 is less real than what we read in Jer 19:1 sqq.; Jer 27:2; Isa 20:3. And here also Jeremiah may have really made a double journey to the Euphrates for the most palpable warning of his people. But let us not expect that Jeremiah will trouble himself to affirm in many words what great result he accomplished by these journeys. He who relates so simply, without even an exclamation, how he was thrown into the miry pit (Jeremiah 38.) might here also leave it to his readers to estimate the importance of the facts.

[Henderson:On the authority of the LXX., Vulg. and other ancient versions, it has been taken for granted, that by here the river Euphrates is to be understood. That the name is elsewhere employed to designate that river is beyond dispute. Not reckoning the present verse, it occurs fifteen times with this application, but except in three instances, Gen 2:14; 2Ch 35:20; Jer 51:63, it never stands alone, but always has , river, attached to it. Indeed the same must have taken place Gen 2:14 if that word had not been used immediately before , so that this passage ought not to be taken into account. With respect to Jer 51:63 also, there was no necessity for employing the qualifying noun, as Seraiah is supposed to be at Babylon at the time to which reference is there made, consequently in the closest contact with the Euphrates. It seems not a little strange, therefore, that the name should appear not fewer than four times in the present verse without the use of the qualifying term, if that river had really been intended. This circumstance appears to have struck the LXX., whose text, Jer 13:7, exhibits . Ewald, who rejects the Euphrates, renders the word by Flussufer (bank of the river) and thinks that it may be used of fresh or sweet water rivers generally, or that it may express the same as the Arab. , a rent in the land formed by water. I prefer the solution proposed by Bochart, and adopted by Venema, Dathe and Hitzig, that is here only an abbreviation of , Ephrath, which appears to have been the original name of Bethlehem and its vicinity, and most commonly appears with the paragogic , Ephratha. The aphresis of the prosthetic is not without examples.The whole extent of the prophetic journey therefore was only about six miles northward of Jerusalem. There at Bethlehem, he was to hide the girdle in a fissure of , the rock, some well-known rock in the vicinity of that town. Why he was especially sent to that place it is impossible to say, except that it may have been that the use of the term Prath might lead the Jews, when the symbolical actions came to be understood by them, to think of the Euphrates, to which they were to be carried away captive, as designated by the same name.S. R. A.]

Jer 13:8-11. Then the word but they hearkened not. Observe in Jer 13:9-10 the relation of this parable to that which follows, of the pitchers. The girdle signifies the entirety of the people, the pitchers the individuals of all ranks. Hence in Jer 13:9, the pride of Judah and Jerusalem, and in Jer 13:10, this evil people, is spoken of, while in Jer 13:13 all ranks are enumerated. The meaning of the destruction of the girdle in the cleft of the rock is declared in Jer 13:9-10 : pride shall be brought low, the chosen people shall become as a girdle, which is profitable for nothing. And certainly, though there was a partial return from exile, yet with the captivity in Babylon ceased the existence of Israel as an independent State with compact national unity. Observe in Jer 13:9 the doubling of the strong word , pride, with the addition , great. The main thought of the passage is thus emphasized.In the words, for a name, for a praise, etc., there appears to be an allusion to Exo 28:2, where it is said of the holy garments of Aaron that they should be for glory and for beauty.

2. THE PARTICULAR ORDERSBROKEN PITCHERS

Jer 13:12-17

12Therefore [And] thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah the] God of Israel, Every bottle [vessel, pitcher] shall be filled with wine; and they shall [will] say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every 13bottle [pitcher] shall be filled with wine? Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah]:

Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land,
And the kings who sit for David on his throne,
And the priests and the prophets and all the citizens of Jerusalem with drunkenness,

14And dash them one against another,

And the fathers and sons together, saith Jehovah.
I will not spare, nor have pity, nor be merciful,
So as not to destroy them.

15Hear ye and attend! Be not high-minded! For Jehovah hath spoken.

16Give to Jehovah, your God, the glory,

Before he causes darkness,
And your feet stumble on mountains of twilight,
And ye wait for light, but he turneth it1 into dark shadow,

And change it2 into cloudy night

17But if ye hear it3 not, my soul will weep in secret for your pride

And mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears,4

That the flock of Jehovah is carried away captive.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jer 13:12. Announcement of the punitive judgment under a new figure, that of pitchers to be filled, which is not understood by the people. Jehovah explains the figure, Jer 13:13-14. Admonition of the prophet to follow the warning of Jehovah, Jer 13:15-17.

Jer 13:12. Therefore thou shalt speak shall be filled with wine. After the declaration, in the words they would not hear, Jer 13:11, that the symbolical action had been unsuccessful, a new attempt is set on foot by a visible parable to make an impression on the people. The first symbolical act was intended to bring the thoughts of God home to the people in an analytical way, the new parable takes a syntheticalform. The short sentence, every bottle shall be filled with wine, is set at the head of an obscure, mysterious problem. The people express their understanding of the sentence in the most natural physical sense, but with the silent assumption (we knew that before, no one need tell us that. Comp. Gen 43:7) that this interpretation is not satisfactory. The Lord therefore develops His meaning more particularly in what follows.

Jer 13:13-14. Then shalt thou say unto them destroy them. It should first be observed that in the three parts of this discourse (Jeremiah 13) there is a climax, in so far as the first part (Jer 13:9-10) is addressed to the mass of the people, without distinction of the particular orders, the second part specifies these orders with evident emphasis on the favored classes, the third part applies to the king and the kings mother alone (Jer 13:18). The prominence of the higher classes in the second part is doubtless connected with the purport of the parable. They are compared with earthen pitchers. [Henderson: These bottles are frequently of a large size. On entering the city of Tiflis, in 1821, the author found the market-place full of such bottles, consisting of the skins of oxen, calves, etc., distended with wine.It is from this custom that our English word hogshead is derivedthat term being a corrupt pronunciation of ox-hide.But Hitzig renders wine-pitchers, earthen vessels or pots.S. R. A.] (Comp. Jer 48:12; Isa 30:14; Lam 4:2). These pitchers are bellied, to a certain extent swollen, but internally they are hollow and empty and moreover of frangible material. They are therefore an excellent emblem of that carnal aristocratic pride to which there is no corresponding inner merit. That this is the prophets meaning is clear from the emphatically prefixed Be not high-minded (), Jer 13:15, and from pride (), Jer 13:17.What a suitable punishment for such men, who are like pitchers, to be filled with wine of intoxication! , drunkenness, designates the immediate subjective effect of the wine of fury (comp. Jer 25:15; Isa 28:7; Isa 51:17; Psa 60:5), of which the further objective effect is collision and breaking to pieces. The Midianites (Jdg 7:22) and the Philistines (1Sa 14:20), who exterminated each other, were also seized by a spirit of intoxication. If not in this sense, yet in that of mutual hatred, reciprocal oppression and injury in general, the prophet applies , dash them, to the Israelites. But when a kingdom is divided against itself it cannot stand, Mar 3:24.The plural kings in Jer 13:13, intimates that not merely the then reigning king, but several, one after another (as the majority of the kings contemporary with Jeremiah were evil-disposed) were included in this category. The addition, who sit for David (comp. Jer 22:4), sets forth that very element on which the pride of these kings especially rested. (Comp. 2 Samuel 7).

Jer 13:15; Jer 13:17. Hear ye and attend carried away captive. The prophet interposes as a mediator with an earnest admonition to observe the divine warning. On high-minded comp. the foregoing remarks.For Jehovah hath spoken, viz., every bottle, etc., Jer 13:12.Give glory. Comp. Jos 7:19. It is opposed to be proud.Cause darkness. Comp. Psa 105:28; Psa 139:12. According to the connection it is easiest to regard God as the subject.Stumble, reference to dash together, Jer 13:14.Dark mountains are more than stones of stumbling. The prophet imagines them to be wandering in a mountainous country and in a dark ravine. Comp. Psa 23:4.In secret places. The prophet will retire from the publicity, in which he has hitherto lived and labored, into solitude, in order that he may give way to his sorrow.Weep in contrast with drunkenness, Jer 13:13 : the prophets eyes will overflow with tears.Flock. Comp. Jer 13:20; Zec 10:3. Even the disobedient people continue to be the Lords flock.

Footnotes:

[1]Jer 13:16. refers to , which is used as a feminine besides only in Job 36:32. Comp. Ewald, 174 c

[2]Jer 13:16.The Chethibh for is foolish.

[3]Jer 13:17. referable to Jer 13:15. The feminine suffix in a neuter sense. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 60, 6 b.

[4]Jer 13:17.On the construction, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 69, 2 a.; Jer 9:17; Jer 14:17; Lam 1:16; Lam 3:48.

3. THE FATHER AND MOTHER OF THE COUNTRY HUMBLED, DRIVEN AWAY, INSULTED

Jer 13:18-27

18Say to the king and the princes, sit down low,5

For fallen is your chief ornament,6 your glorious crown!

19The cities of the south are shut up, and no man openeth them;

Judah is carried away7 wholly, carried away completely.8

20Lift up your eyes and see who are coming from the north.

Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

21What wilt thou say, when he sets over thee those,9

Whom thou hast thyself drawn10 to thee for friends, as chief?11

Will not pangs seize thee as a parturient woman?12

22And if thou sayest in thy heart, why have these things happened to me?

For the greatness of thy iniquity are thy skirts discovered,13

Thy heels abused.14

23Will a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots?

Then shall ye also be able to do good, ye accustomed to evil-doing!

24Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble,15

That hasteth away16 before the wind of the desert.

25This is thy lot, thy measured17 portion from me, saith Jehovah,

Because thou didst forget me and trust in falsehood.

26Therefore I also have discovered thy skirts from before,

That18 thy shame may be seen:

27Thy adulteries and ardent neighings, the enormity of thy unchastity

On the hills in the field have I seen thy abominations!
Wo to thee, O Jerusalem! Wilt thou not be cleansedstill after how long!

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The discourse of the prophet still rising higher, is now addressed to the king and his mother, thus to the heads of the State (comp. on Jer 13:13). He announces humbling of pride (Jer 13:18), overthrow of power and exile (Jer 13:19). Enemies from the north (Jer 13:20), whose friendship was formerly sought, will bring this about to the. extreme misery of the subjects (Jer 13:21), as a punishment for their sins (Jer 13:22). And since Israel is corrupt to the core, an amelioration on their part is not to be expected (Jer 13:24), wherefore the Lord must also scatter them to the winds (Jer 13:24), and as a just punishment of their wickedness (Jer 13:25-27 a), deliver them up to inconceivable woe (Jer 13:27 b). The address, which at first has the king and his mother alone in view (Jer 13:18-19), passes over gradually more to the latter (Jer 13:20-22), and at last (since the kings mother may easily be regarded as the mother of the country and representative of the mother-country) to the entirety of the nation (Jer 13:23-27), the end of the discourse thus returning to the beginning (comp. Jer 13:9-10).

Jer 13:18-19. Say to the king carried away completely. is the queen-mother, who had precedence in rank over the many chosen women of the harem. Therefore the book of Kings (with two exceptions) always mentions with the name of the king, that of his mother.Comp. Jer 29:2; 1Ki 15:12; 2Ki 10:13 (2Ch 15:16).Sit down. Here, also, the prophet attacks worldly pride.Of the south. As the enemy comes from the north, the siege of the cities of the south is a sign that the capital is surrounded, and that flight to the south, is no longer possible. [Henderson following Hitzig, more correctly refers this to the complete desertion of the cities,the inhabitants having all been carried away into captivity, and not so much as one left to open the gates to a traveler.S. R. A].

Jer 13:20-22. Lift up your eyes thy heels abused. The circumstance that the princess is mentioned immediately before, and that Jer 13:20 b appears to refer to the shepherds of the people (the ideal person of the people is represented as wife, mother, daughter, but never as shepherdess), appears to me to indicate that the prophet has made use of the feminine forms , (lift up and see), with primary reference to princess:thou hast thyself drawn, Jer 13:21, also seems to favor this. For such acts always proceeded especially from the heads of the people, and how powerful the influence of the princesses was, is shown in Maachah, the mother of Asa (1Ki 15:13), Jezebel (1Ki 16:31 sqq.), and Athaliah (2 Kings 11). The sudden change of number is not unusual. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 105, 7. Anm. 2.As certainly as the prophet means by those coming from the north the same enemies, of which he has already spoken in Jer 1:14-15; Jer 4:6, etc., so certain is it also, that he does not know definitely what northern people were meant; comp. remarks on Jer 1:14. Thus it is also declared that this prophecy must have been delivered before the fourth year of Jehoiakim. For from this year (comp. chap. 15.) Jeremiah knows definitely that the nation is the Chaldeans.What wilt thou say, Jer 13:21. It having been said of the ruling pair in the previous verse, that they are to lose their flock, it is here added by way of climax, that they will themselves come under the dominion of others, and indeed of those whose friendship might rather have been expected from the previous relations of the kings of Judah towards them. This cannot, indeed, be said of Jehoiakim, for although he had not engaged in direct hostilities against the king of Babylon (his revolt, 2Ki 24:1, mast have taken place after the battle of Carchemish, and therefore long after this prophecy), he was yet a creature of his opponent Pharaoh Nechoh (2Ki 23:34). But of his predecessors, from Ahaz onward (comp. 2Ki 16:7 sqq.), most of them had entered into more or less intimate relations with the northern empire, partly as seeking aid from it (comp. on Jer 2:18; Jer 2:36), partly as introducing among themselves the forms, of religion there prevailing (comp. Manasseh, 2Ki 21:3; Amon, Ib. 1Ki 21:20; Zep 1:5 coll. 2Ki 23:5; 2Ki 23:11 sqq.), partly at least like Hezekiah in an apparently innocuous, but really fatal display of courtesy. If with this we take into account the relations of the Jewish kings to Assyria, as well as to Babylon, we are justified, both by the words of this passage, which speaks only generally of , and the inner unity of those empires (comp. the name Asshur, transferred to the Babylonian and Persian monarchy; 2Ki 23:29; Ezr 6:22).

Jer 13:23-27. Will the Cushite after how long! There might still be a means of escapeReform. But this is not to be expected, because evil-doing has become the peoples second nature. Comp. Jer 5:3; Jer 6:10; Jer 6:13-15; Jer 6:27 sqq.; Jer 8:4-7; Jer 9:24-25.Therefore I also. Jer 13:26. The declaration of cause and consequence are entwined after the manner of a chain in Jer 13:23-27; Jer 13:23 cause, Jer 13:24-25 a, consequence; Jer 13:25 b, repeated cause; Jer 13:26, consequence; Jer 13:27 a, cause again; Jer 13:27 b, the final consequence. Yet since I have discovered thy skirts, evidently points back to Jer 13:22, where the same is said of the enemy, there is in the words, Therefore I also, not merely the antithesis to thou didst forget me, Jer 13:25, but also the thought: whatever the enemy does to thee is done according to my will; I am He who does it.From before. Jeremiah quotes here only Nah 3:5, which passage also refers back to Isa 47:1-3 (comp. Kueper, S. 136; Strausson Nahum, S. 95).Graf strangely maintains that cannot mean over thy face; that the expression never has this meaning. I refer only to 1Ki 18:7; 1Ki 18:39. But I also believe that the meaning face is not to be insisted upon, but that here as frequently (comp. Jer 1:13) signifies the fore-part.Still after how long! Jeremiah had maintained in Jer 13:23 the incorrigibility of the people. From the conclusion of Jer 13:27 it is seen, that he understands this only of the Israel of the present. In the future, though far distant, he sets forth in prospect the purification of the people, comp. Jer 3:18 sqq.; Jer 12:14 sqq.

Footnotes:

[5]Jer 13:18.On the construction comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 95, Anm.

[6]Jer 13:18.. Thus punctuated the word is found here only. On the derivation comp. Olsh. 197, e, S. 374. The meaning is: that which is found at the head or on the head. (Comp. Rth 3:4; Rth 3:7-8; Rth 3:14). Elsewhere we find (occurring only in this form) , Gen 28:11; Gen 28:18; 1Sa 19:13; 1Sa 19:16, etc.: and (erroneously punctuated) 1Sa 26:12.That which is found on the head is the ornament, which is more particularly designated as the crown. On the sing. masc. comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 105, 4 b, 3.

[7]Jer 13:19.. Comp. Lev 25:21; Lev 26:31; 2Ki 9:37 (Chethibh): Ewald, 194 a; Olsh., 226 b, S. 449.

[8]Jer 13:19., adjective, =integer. Comp. Amo 1:6; Amo 1:9.

[9]Jer 13:21.Since there is no nominative to , either mentioned or implied, in the connection, it must be either the ideal-general subject (One,), or Jehovah, which in sense amounts to the same thing. All the commentators recognize a parenthesis as beginning with . But some conclude this with (Gaab), others with (Hitzig, Graf), others with (Eichhorn, De Wette, Umbreit). It is opposed to the first rendering that then the sense of remains indefinite, to the second, that then the parenthesis is either superfluous, if we consider=, or as incorrectly introduced by is to be considered as=adversum te (Vulg., Hitzig). It would then need to be. I therefore agree with those who conclude the parenthesis with . Then is sentence of condition with an adversative meaning (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 109, 4 e) which in its entirety is to be regarded as the object of . The meaning of this verb is that which occurs frequently: to set, ordain over one (comp. Jer 15:3).

[10]Jer 13:21.=to accustom, to train, of beasts (Jer 31:18; Hos 10:11), of men (Jer 10:2). In the latter passage it is construed with for which we here have , which prepositions, as frequently remarked, are often used as synonymous by Jeremiah (comp. on Jer 10:2).The construction with a double accusative is similar to Jer 2:33, only here it is a double accusative of person, since it is not said: thou teachest them intimacy, but as intimates, which is to be regarded as a prolepsis and to be included in the cases enumerated in Naegelsb. Gr. 69, 3.

[11]Jer 13:21., the thought is the same as in Lam 1:5.

[12]Jer 13:21. , mulier partus; elsewhere (comp. Jer 6:24; Jer 22:23; Jer 49:24), besides only in 2Ki 19:3; Isa 37:3; Hos 9:11.

[13]Jer 13:22. . Comp. Nah 3:5.

[14]Jer 13:22The Niph. here only. Comp. Jer 22:3. The captive driven before the enemy is exposed both to shame and abuse. [Henderson: The reason why the heels are particularly mentioned, seems to he that the sandal was fastened by a strap or thong which came round above the heel to the instep. As the sandal was not so easily removed as the skirt was turned up, hence the appropriate selection of the verb , to tear off, or do anything with violence. Both parts of the description literally apply to those who were removed into a state of expatriation by a victorious army.S. R. A.]

[15]Jer 13:24. stubble. Comp. Psa 83:14 : Isa 41:2; Isa 47:14.

[16]Jer 13:24. , literally stubble, which is related to the wind as going along, which runs from the wind. That ; also signifies discedere, abire, auferri is seen from passages like Rth 2:8; 2Ch 18:23; Psa 81:7; Eze 48:14. Comp. , Isa 29:5.

[17]Jer 13:25.. In Job 11:9 also is to be derived from , with the meaning mensura Comp. Olsh., 139, S. 263; Fuerst., Conc. S. 616, s. v., .Therefore it is not necessary to render here=upper garment, with reference to Rth 3:15 (coll. Psa 11:6; Isa 65:6), [as Hitzig does, declaring that never means mensura. Henderson: As the noun is here parallel with , the lot, which was specially employed in determining portions of land, it seems preferable to explain it of such measurements.S. R. A.]

[18]Jer 13:26. is causal. Comp. Jos 4:23; 1Ki 8:33; Zec 1:15.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Jer 13:1-11. The Lord has put on Israel as a girdle for His own adornment and for Israels highest glory. This figure is unquestionably one of the most precious which the Scripture employs to represent the mystery of election. Elsewhere Israel is called Jehovahs inheritance (Deu 4:20; Deu 7:6), His wife and His beloved bride (Hos 2:16 sqq.; Jer 2:2), his first-born son (Exo 4:22), His servant (Isa 41:8), His flock (Jer 13:17), his vineyard (Isa 5:7), his signet-ring (Hag 2:23. Vid. Khler, S. 114). Like the last emblem, the girdle also denotes the closest intimacy, indispensable service, a valuable ornament. But great as is the love which the Lord thus shows to Israel in calling them His girdle, as great is the severity with which he declares, that the honor thus received will not save them from destruction. Let every particular Christian church mark this! However closely it may be attached to the Lord, this saves it neither from internal corruption, nor from external judgment, comp. Luk 3:8-9. Not this or that particular church, but the whole church only has the promise of infallibility (Joh 16:13) invincibility and permanent existence. (Mat 16:18).

2. On Jer 13:17. This is a good advice. In the words of a hymn, when witnesses have sown Gods word, they water it with prayer and many thousand tears. In one hour more grace is drawn by weeping from God the lover of life, who allows Himself to be implored, and who hearkens to the voice of His servants; and hearts, which feel the tears of their lover, are thus brought nearer to their object in a quarter of an hour, than could be accomplished by three sermons Everything is born in pain. When ye can do no more, ye witnesses, go and weep and moisten your seed, then you will come again with joy bringing your sheaves with you. Zinzendorf. Preces et lacrim sunt arma ecclesi.

3. On Jer 13:18. When the enemies are at the gate, the plague in the city or the village, and there is no escape, and human help there is none, then it is of some use for preachers to speak to their princes out of tune; at other times they would be regarded as insolent. Sometimes Gods witnesses are clothed with an authority which no one understands, but all feel. Jehorams visit to Elisha was for the purpose of decapitating him, and a polite conversation was the result, (2Ki 6:30 sqq.) Zinzendorf.

4. On Jer 13:18. A preacher is not to take court-soup and robes of grace and leave the hares head unstript, but put salt even into Herods wounds. Frster from a sermon of Celich, 3 Dom. Adv.

5. [On Jer 13:23. Inveterate habits are justly regarded as a second nature; but being moral in their character, instead of extenuating they aggravate the guilt of those who are the subjects of them. Strong, therefore, as is the physical reference here made, it can with no propriety be employed in support of the physical impossibility of moral reformation. Henderson.Learned men in our age do not rightly refer to this passage, when they seek to prove that there is no free-will in man; for it is not simply the nature of man which is spoken of here, but the habit that is contracted by long practice. Aristotle, a strong advocate of free will, confesses that it is not in mans power to do right, when he is so immersed in his vices as to have lost a free choice (7 Lib. Ethicon) and this also is what experience proves. We hence see that this passage is improperly adduced to prove a sentiment which is yet true and fully confirmed by many passages of Scripture. Calvin.S. R. A.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer 13:1-11. God has cast off His first people, the whole house of Judah and the house of Jerusalem God has put on us as a girdle in their stead. For He has not thrown away the girdle and remained naked, but has woven Him self another. This girdle is the church from the heathen. It should know that as God spared not the former, much more will He not spare it, when it sins and is not worthy of Gods loins. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1Co 6:17) in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen. Origen, Hom. XI. 6.

2. On Jer 13:12-17. Exhortation to repentance: The earthen wine-pitchers of the prophet Jeremiah 1. What they signify (the proud yet perishable world); 2. What will be their fate (Jer 13:14; Jer 13:17); 3. What is the means of escaping this fate (Jer 13:15-16).

3. [On Jer 13:17. Pride the great hindrance to the reception of the word. Pride will not seek 1, the knowledge of God. Pride (a) will not brook a rival: (b) is unwilling to be taught, (c) is unwilling to use the means of knowledge, (d) is unwilling to pray; 2, the favor of God; 3, likeness to God: 4, communion with God. Payson on Psa 10:14.S. R. A.]

4. On Jer 13:23 sqq. The expression in Jer 13:23 opens up to us a comfortless perspective. But with God nothing is impossible (Mat 19:26). The conclusion of Jer 13:27 shows us that a purification, though slow and successive is possible, in that we obtain a point of support without ourselves, (Archimedes), and a new principle of life in Christ Jesus. [On Jer 13:23. I. The great difficulty of reforming vicious habits, or of changing a bad course, arises 1, from the general nature of habits; 2, from the particular nature of bad habits; 3, the natural and judicial consequences of the great progress and long continuance of a bad course. II. This difficulty is not desperate, but there is some ground of hope and encouragement. 1. There is left even in the worst of men a natural sense of the evil and unreasonableness of sin. 2. Very bad men when they have any thought of becoming better are apt to conceive some good hopes of Gods grace and mercy. 3. Who knows what man thoroughly roused and startled may resolve and do? 4. The grace and assistance of God when sincerely sought is never to be despaired of. Tillotson.S. R. A.]

5. [Jer. Taylor uses Jer 13:26 as the text of a sermon on the invalidity of a death-bed repentance.S. R. A.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The Prophet in this Chapter is teaching by signs, as he had before been instructing by plain discourse. Under the similitude of a girdle made rotten, and of bottles perishing with wine; the Prophet showeth the sad Consequences of the children of his people, consuming in their captivity. The Chapter closeth with a gracious call of God to his people.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah spared no pains, and thought nothing of his trouble to follow up the Lord’s commissions. Euphrates was no small distance from Jerusalem: but yet we find thither the Prophet went both to carry the girdle thither and to go for it again. Some have thought, however, that this was rather a vision.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Habit

Jer 13:23

I. The Origin of Habit. Habit may be conceived to arise in this way. When, in the revolution of time of the day, or the week, or the month, or the year the point comes round at which we have been thinking of anything, or have done anything, by the law of the association of ideas we think of it again, or do it again. For instance, when day dawns we awake. We get out of bed because we have done it at that time before. At a later hour we take breakfast, and go away to business, for the same reason; and so on through the day. The more frequently anything has been done, the stronger is habit, and frequency acts on habit through something else. Frequency gives ease and swiftness to the doing of anything. It is not only the mind that is involved in habit. Even the body is subdued to its service. Do we not recognize the soldier by his gait, the student by his stoop, and the merchant by his bustle? And in the parts of the body that are invisible the muscles and nerves there is a still greater change due to habit. Hence the counsel of the philosopher, and I think it is a very profound counsel: ‘Make your nervous system your ally instead of your enemy in the battle of life’.

II. Excessive Habit. Habit, even good habit, may be excessive. It tends to become hide-bound and tyrannical. There is a pharisaical sticking to opinions once formed, and to customs once adopted, which is the principal obstacle to human progress. Yet, on the whole, there is no possession so valuable as a few good habits, for this means that not only is the mind pledged and covenanted to good, but the muscles are supple, and even the very bones are bent to what is good.

III. Desirable Habits.

1. Self-control; that is, the power of getting yourself to do what you know you ought to do, and to avoid what you know you ought to avoid.

2. Concentration of mind.

3. Really working when you are at work.

4. Prayer.

IV. The Tyranny of Evil Habits. Evil habits may be acquired through simply neglecting to acquire good ones. Like weeds they grow up wherever the field is uncultivated and the good seed is not sown. For example, the man who does not work becomes a dissipated loafer.

The tyranny of evil habit is proverbial. The moralists compare it to a thread, at the beginning, but as thread is twisted with thread, it becomes like a cable which can turn a ship.

V. The Problem of Christianity. In the work of overcoming evil habits, is there available for man a power outside himself that when his own power fails, will stand him in stead, not, indeed, by pushing his own powers aside, but by entering into compact with them, and raising them to the strength necessary for the occasion? I say that is the problem of Christianity, and nobody can have any doubt what the answer is which Scripture gives to it Is it not also the answer of experience, the experience of tens of thousands of men who have tried in vain to reform themselves, but have found in the Gospel the power of God unto salvation; the experience of men in whom the power of evil habit was so strong that it seemed as impossible to overcome it as to reverse the course of Acheron, and yet who, by the grace of God, were made humble and progressive Christians? There is no force of evil with which the Saviour cannot cope.

James Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. 1896, p. 198.

References. XIII. 23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliii. No. 2536. A. Brooke, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. 1897, p. 205. L. T. Dodd, ibid. vol. lxix. 1906, p. 88. E. B. Speirs, A Present Advent, p. 51. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 274. XIV. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvii. No. 2745. XIV. 3, 4, 22. Ibid. vol. xxxv. No. 2115. XIV. 7-9. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 281. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii. No. 1661. XIV. 8, 9. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Prophets, vol. ii. p. 1. XIV. 9. Ibid. Sermons on the Apocalypse, etc., p. 9. XIV. 22. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvii. No. 2745. T. K. Cheyne, The Hallowing of Criticism, p. 83. XV. 4. W. Lee, University Sermons, p. 262. XV. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 993.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Divine Punishments

Jer 13:14

These words should be spoken with tears. It is a great mistake in doctrine as well as in practice to imagine that the imprecations of Holy Scripture should be spoken loudly, and, as it were, ruthlessly. They are words that should choke the speaker with emotion; they should be wet with the dew of pity. When Jesus came near the city he wept over it He was never so eloquent in speech as in feeling. He said he would have gathered the city together: he meant to do so: he loved it, he yearned over it; it would have been a kind of heaven to him; he would have made it the home of the world: but it rejected him; it said No to his tenderest appeal, and it thrust its hand into his very life. The words before us would seem to require the thunder for their utterance; but they do not. They were not spoken willingly, but the speaker was bound to utter them. They are the security of creation; they have in them the bonds which bind heaven together in eternal unity and safety. This power of destruction goes commensurately with the power of creation. Let us in this spirit study the words.

Divine punishments are possible. If we are not destroyed, it is not for want of power on the part of the offended Creator. The universe is very sensitively put together in this matter; everywhere there are lying resources which under one touch or breath would spring up and avenge an outraged law. The weapons lie very handy; we are walking upon a thin crust: it may give way, and none can save us or put the surface through which we have plunged together again. Now and then God does bring us to see how near death is to every life. For a long while we pass on as if the earth were a solid rock, the heaven an infinite solidity that could not move; and we forget that every breath we draw is a struggle with death, every throb of the heart a narrow escape from destruction. Life is critical. It may be blown away, stopped suddenly, rebuked, and die as it were in a cloud of wrath. It is a wonderful life, with great powers of endurance, great capacities; and yet it is not stopped slowly because of its greatness: it may be cut in twain in the twinkling of an eye; the greatest life and pulse could be stopped in a moment. The air waits but a word from God to suffocate the race; the obedient earth, swinging like a censer around the altar, needs but a hint from heaven, and it will drop infinite fathoms into space, and be lost for ever. Understand, therefore, that we are not living this kind of riotous life simply because God cannot punish us. We do not escape the rod because there is no rod. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed. Think of that. Do let it enter into our minds and make us sober, sedate if not religious and contrite. How soon we are frightened! Whilst things go on regularly in their monotonous course, we take no heed of them; but sometimes a meteor of unusual size is seen to fall, and then we feel how powerless we are: the lightning strikes the forest and writes in scorching heat some dread signature upon the wood, and we run away as if we would try to be religious: an epidemic vexes the wind, enters into every open door, searches the apertures in the casements, and then we ask for the Bible and begin to count our sins, as if to count were to repent and to destroy. Let us remember that we are walking, as it were, through an armoury filled with weapons which are only waiting the divine hand, and every one of which, or any one of which, would bring our life to a painful close.

Divine punishments are humiliating. In the thirteenth verse the Lord says that he will make the people, as it were, drunk:

“I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.” ( Jer 13:13 )

It is a humiliating punishment Some punishments have a kind of dignity about them: sometimes a man dies almost heroically, and turns death itself into a kind of victory; and we cannot but consent that the time is well chosen, and the method the best for giving to the man’s reputation completeness, and to his influence stability and progress. God can bring us to our latter end, as it were, nobly: we may die like princes; death may be turned into a kind of coronation; our death-bed may be the picture of our life the most consummately beautiful and exquisite revelation of character or the Lord can drive us down like mad beasts to an unconsecrated grave. Close your eyes, let the vision of your imagination have full play, and you may see the Lord driving whole cities down to ruin without one ray of lurid glory to mitigate the horror and the gloom of the overthrow. God will make the inhabitants of cities sinning against him as if they were drunken men, and then he will make them kill one another; they will be dashed together, head against head, by invisible hands, and none will be able to explain the tumult. How contemptuous he can be! How bitter, how intolerable the sarcasm of God! “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.” The Lord seems now and again to take a kind of delight in showing how utterly our pride can he stained and broken up and trampled underfoot. He will send a worm to eat up the harvest: would he but send an angel with a gleaming sickle to cut it down we might see somewhat of glory in the disaster; but he will make a little worm, and say to it, Go and eat up their fields. If an army of men were to invade our vineyards, we might watch the gates and repel the foe; but the Lord sends a little black beetle upon the vine, and says, Wither it; and no fingers are dainty enough or industrious enough to overtake the plague and stay the ruin. Thus God comes into our life along a line that may be designated as a line of contempt and humiliation. We rise in the morning as if it were still night; we put our hand to our head as if to find the brain which we have consciously lost; we attempt to pronounce the name of dearest friend or youngest child, and it is gone from us as if we had never heard it; we look for our crops in the great broad acres lying a thousand thick together, and, behold, the locust has devoured every green thing; the roots have been eaten by unbidden guests, and no blessing was pronounced upon the horrible repast. To what ends we may come! The strong mind may be bowed down in weakness which a child will pity; the gifted man may lose all his talents in a moment; and he who led the sentiments of nations may have to ask to be conducted across one of the thoroughfares of his own city, power gone, ability withered, self-reliance dissolved like a vapour in the wind. O that men were wise, that they would hold themselves as God’s and not their own, as divine property rather than personal possession! then would they walk soberly and recruit themselves in many a prayer, and bring back their youth because they trust in God.

Divine punishments are not only possible and humiliating, but when they do come they are complete “I will destroy them.” We cannot tell the meaning of this word; we do not know what is meant by “destruction”; we have our own ideas of it, we use the term as if we knew its meaning, and possibly we do know its meaning according to the breadth of our own intention and purpose; but the word as used by God has divine meanings upon which we can lay no measuring line. We cannot destroy anything: we can destroy its form, its immediate relation, its temporary value; but the thing itself in its substance or in its essence we can never destroy. No atom of sand has been lost from the basket of the universe; no drop of dew has escaped from the account of God. The scales of the sanctuary are silver, and in them are weighed all worlds and lives, all spaces and substances: forms change, correlation takes place, transmutation, rapid development of power, and change of relationship; but the things themselves are still there, and God needs light no candle nor sweep the house diligently until he find it. Things are lost to us, but they are present to the hand of God. When the Lord says he will take up this matter of destruction we cannot tell what he means; we dare not think of it. We use the word “nothing,” but cannot tell what he means by the nothingness of nothing, by the negativeness of negation, by the sevenfold darkness, by the heaped-up midnight of gloom. My soul, come not thou into that secret!

Divine punishments are avoidable.

“Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness” ( Jer 13:16 ).

The pity of the Lord is thus magnified because all these resources lie within the reach of his hand. He will not touch them if he can possibly help it. The hatefulness of sin is thus shown; nothing that is not infinitely hateful could extort from God the word destroy as applied to the formations of his own hand. The clemency of God is thus declared “Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness.” He may yet be appeased: the Cross is not yet taken down; the Cross means opportunity to return a basis of righteousness upon which to settle the reconciliation of the human with the divine, and the divine with the human. The meaning of the blood of Jesus Christ is, that what we cannot do for ourselves God has done for us; and what we are asked to do is to throw ourselves in an exercise of loving faith upon mysteries we cannot understand, upon grace that astounds the imagination and turns our boldest speech into science.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Jeremiah’s Questions

Jeremiah 13-14

The Book of Jeremiah is full of questions. They are questions indicative of bewilderment, amazement, ignorance, hopefulness; they stand often in place of that silence which is more eloquent than speech, as if the prophet would tempt the Lord himself into reply by asking questions. Thus we tempt little children, and thus we would tempt the wisest scholars with whom we come into momentary contact, and thus adoringly would we seek to lure God into audible speech.

“Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” ( Jer 13:20 ).

Let this stand as an inquiry from God himself. The prophet often personates God: sometimes it is almost impossible to tell who is speaking, whether it is God, or whether it is the prophet speaking in the divine name; but we can always tell by its quality and by its music whence the question comes. “What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?” Here is a flock that is being inquired about, not a flock only, but a beautiful flock. The question comes into our family life, and asks us where all the children are, those lovely children, that banished the silence of the house and made it ring with music. They were fair, they were charming, they were affectionate; what a sweet, merry little fellowship they made! where are they? The parent ought to be able to give some answer to that inquiry. Have they been spoiled into evil, flattered into self-idolatry, neglected into atheism? Have they been over-instructed, over-disciplined, wholly overborne, so that the will has not been only broken but shattered? Where are they? Are children likely to grow up of themselves? Flowers do not, fruits do not, horses do not. There is more man in a horse than there is horse. Will children turn out to be saints and psalmists and preachers by your enjoying yourselves and letting them go their own way? Nature does not submit to that philosophy of life; she says: “You must watch me mother Nature; you must be up in the morning almost as early as I am, and you must begin your training whilst the dew is upon me, or I will uproot your flowers and set a weed where every one of them grew.” Oh, the cruelty of kindness! the madness of neglect! A good example should be supported by good instruction. He is no shepherd, but a tyrant, who does not co-operate with his children, lure them, fascinate them, and give them sacred instruction without appearing to do so, and who when offering religious privileges offers them as if offering coronation, yea, and all heaven.

The question enters also into our Church life, saying to every pastor, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” not large, perhaps, but so expectant, so sympathetic, so co-operative. It is possible for preachers to be always in their places, and yet always out of them. What the flock wants is pastoral preaching. The difficulty is to overcome the temptation to preach to somebody who is not there. There is another difficulty almost impossible to escape, and that is to preach to the one man rather than to all souls the one man being the critic, the intolerable man, who does not understand human nature, who is cursed with a competence, and cursed by knowing so many books as to their title-pages. The preacher will be ruined by that man, unless that man is ruined by the preacher; a great controversy, though not always patent to the public eye, must take place, and the preacher must oust the critic. The people must have pastoral prayer, prayer often all tears, always trembling with sympathy, always indicative of the open eye that sees human life in its most tragic features and relations. The preacher must always know himself to be set for the healing and nurture of men. In every congregation there are the brokenhearted, those who are shattered in fortune, feeble in health, spiritually-minded; women who have great home cares; souls that cannot thrive on criticism; lives that need all nourishment and comfort and loving sympathy. The pastor who so recognises his duty and conducts his function will be able to tell where the flock is, the beautiful flock, the sheep and the lambs; he will carry the lambs in his bosom. Preaching of that sort will never need any foolish assistance in gathering together a flock. Men soon know the physicians who can heal broken hearts. It is marvellous how the poor and the weary and the sad come to know that somewhere there is a man who has the divine touch, the shepherd’s voice, the pastoral enthusiasm. Let it be known by father, mother, preacher, king, queen, that the time will come when the question will be asked, “Where is the flock, the beautiful flock?” Nor will it be sufficient to return a vague and multitudinous reply. The Lord knows every one of his flock. You cannot offer him thirty-nine instead of forty; you cannot persuade him to look upon the flock as a whole, a moving crowd; he counts while he looks, he numbers all his flock, and each passes under the rod. We must be careful for the individual. There is an abundance of public benevolence; a wonderful desire to preside at public meetings, and a shameful disregard of the one little crushed life, the one half-sobbed intercession, which asks for pity, which begs for bread.

Question follows question in this prophet: “And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me?” ( Jer 13:22 ), thou wilt assume the role of the hypocrite, thou wilt talk for talking’ sake; for thou knowest right well that God’s judgments come upon human sin. The Lord never punishes for the sake of punishing. It is not to test the quality of his rod, but to develop the character of man, that God smites any living creature. When he drowned the world, he first drowned his own heart in tears. He suffered more than you suffered when he took the one little ewe lamb away from you because you were turning it into an idol or a temptation. In all our affliction he is afflicted.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” ( Jer 13:23 ). There is no pathos in that inquiry. Perhaps there is a little cadence of satire; there may be some hint of mockery. It is a moral inquiry, ending in this conclusion “Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Man cannot do a little of each, and do both with indifference or reluctance, and have the good set down to him as a positive virtue. Habit becomes second nature, according to the assurance of the proverb. There is a use in evil; it is easy to get into the skill of evildoing; verily we seem to the manner born; it is easier to do wrong than to do right. That, however, is but a partial view, because when proper discipline has been undergone it becomes impossible to do evil. How is it that men do go astray? Why is not one child born that stands up and says, “I will never budge, I will be inflexible in virtue, heroic in suffering, valiant in testimony: I will be the man the ages have been sighing and groaning for.” Where is that child? If we speak of original sin we are mocked. We dare scarcely mention the name of Adam, though mystery of mysteries we have a doctrine of heredity. This doctrine as now understood seems to go no farther back than the grandfather. That is a poor heredity, and laying tremendous responsibility upon that venerable gentleman. What has he done to be the fountain and origin of heredity? he never heard the word; he would need to have it explained to him if he returned to these earthly schools. If we once acknowledge the doctrine of heredity, then there is no Adam, though he were born millions of ages ago, who can escape the responsibility of being the first. We do nothing with this doctrine but aggravate the responsibilities of our own immediate ancestors. The larger doctrine takes in all humanity. There I will stand by the doctrine of heredity. It is a historical fact; it is a philosophy; it is a science by itself; it deserves the devoutest, calmest study: but the doctrine of heredity must not be terminated at a certain point, it must cover the whole ground, otherwise it is partial, whimsical, fanciful, and misleading. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin?” That question ought to be answerable. “Or the leopard his spots?” There ought to be no difficulty about that inquiry. The prophet means by these interrogations that sooner shall these miracles be wrought than that habitual evil shall turn to the ways of light and wisdom and pureness. Then, is it impossible? With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. That is the open door. We must be born again. It is easy to sneer at the doctrine, to call it ancient, and to regard it as metaphysical; but it does take place in every advancing life, and sometimes when we even disown the name we accept the process. We are not to be limited by human definitions. We do not go to some great theologian to tell us the meaning of regeneration; we go into our own experience, and through that we read the divine word, and by the reciprocal action of the divine word and the human consciousness we begin to see what is meant by the Ethiopian changing his skin and the leopard his spots, what is meant by rejuvenation, the offcasting of the old man, and the blooming of the new life, the regenerated soul. This cannot be explained in words, it can be felt in the heart.

“Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?” ( Jer 13:27 ).

“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?” ( Jer 14:8 ).

Here we reach a deeper pathos. The prophet is conscious of the absence of God. A great change has taken place in the divine relation to Jeremiah and to the world. He who once came to reside, to abide, now called in like a wayfaring man, and passed on. What does the pilgrim care for the politics of the city? He came but yesternight, tomorrow he will be gone; he cannot entangle himself with the politics, or the social life, or the family life of the city; he says, I can tarry but a night, I may not unsandal my feet, and my staff I had better have in my hand whilst I sleep a little; I must be up with the dawn. Why art thou as a pilgrim, a wayfaring man, one who can turn aside but to tarry for a night? Almighty One, gracious One, thou didst live with us once; thou wert as part of us, our very home lift depended upon thee, we breathed the atmosphere of thy fellowship, and now we hardly ever see thee; thou dost come sandalled, thou dost come with the staff in thine hand, thou dost scarcely ask a question, or express a sympathy, or disclose a solicitude; thou art no sooner here than gone. O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, our hearts ache when we think of thee coming as a stranger thou once a friend!

“Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us?” ( Jer 14:19 ).

The Lord had told the prophet it was useless to pray for the offender, but the prophet scarcely believed it. It is hard for those who know God to believe that he will resort to judgment. Jonah said: “I knew thou wouldst not destroy Nineveh, I knew I was on a fool’s errand; I knew thy mercy, thy love, thy pity; I had been calling, In forty days Nineveh should be destroyed, and I knew that if Nineveh but whimpered thou wouldst humiliate me and spare the city.” So it is, the individual must go down, the personal consciousness must be rebuked; the city must be saved, the man must be redeemed, and the redeeming God will presently talk to the complaining prophet, and mayhap reconcile him.

“Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers?” ( Jer 14:22 ).

Remember it was a time of dearth. The question turned upon the presence of grass; there was no grass, and therefore the hind calved in the field and forsook its own offspring, that it might abate its own hunger, seeking grass in some far-away place. Natural instincts were subdued and overcome, and the helpless offspring was left in helplessness, that the poor dying mother, hunger smitten, might find a mouthful of green herbage somewhere. And the ground was dust; the ploughmen were ashamed, they resorted to that last sign of Oriental desperation and grief, to cover their heads, because there was no rain, no grass; and now the prophet asks, “Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles than can cause rain?” What can the idols do? If they can give rain, let them give it now. Can the heavens themselves give showers the blue heavens that look so kind can they of themselves and as it were by their own motion pour a baptism of water upon the earth? No. This is the act of the living God, the providence of the redeeming Father, the miracle of love. Thus we are driven in various ways to pray. You never know what a man is religiously, until he has been well tried, hungry a long time, and had no water to drink, until his tongue is as a burning sting in his mouth, until it hardens like metal, and if he can then move his lips you may find the coward trying to pray.

Prayer

Almighty God, thou art always asking for the absent. Thou canst not be satisfied because many are in thy banqueting-house; every vacant seat troubles thine heart: God is love. Thou art always saying, If ye will return, I will receive you. Yea, thou dost say more I will receive you graciously and love you freely. The hospitality of God is boundless. Once we were as sheep going astray, but now we have returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, by the grace of God. Wondrous grace! all-including love! Behold, the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever. By the grace of God we are what we are, still bad, imperfect, unwise, yet having some sense of the invisible, the eternal, the divine; having some sense of the sinfulness of sin, and some hatred of the abominable thing, and some desire to throw our arms around the Cross and cry our hearts out for very shame and penitence. This is thy doing. We love the agony; it is a blessed pain; this is woe which is the beginning of joy; this is godly sorrow which worketh repentance not to be repented of, the liberty of full access to God, the liberty of pardon. May we know it more and more, and pass through all paroxysms and rendings of life into the infinite calm. There is no other way. Every kingdom worth having is entered by a strait gate and a narrow road. This is thine appointment, and it is good, for we have experienced it in all lower things. That which comes easily goes easily. Behold, our agony of heart is in the pledge of our sonship, and is the assurance that thou art going to do great things. When all the discipline is done, when all the piercing and beating and moulding shall be accomplished, when all the firing shall be over, when the poor furnace shall cool down because there is no more dross to burn, then we shall thank thee for every pang; our memory shall treasure somewhat of the pains we bore, and we shall bless God that having come out of great tribulation we can never know it any more. We have done wickedly, we have excited our fears, we have misused our faculties, we have shown genius in crime, yea, inspiration in wickedness. God pity the lives that repent; the Lord weep over our tears himself, and so sweeten them. We come with these petitions. We know how great they are, how large is our request: but what are they compared with thine infinity! Amen

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

VII

THE BROKEN COVENANT OF JUDAH AND GOD’S DECREE TO PUNISH

Jeremiah 11-17

These prophecies were doubtless uttered during the reign of Jehoiakim, sometime between 608 and 603 B.C. They were written first by Baruch, as dictated by Jeremiah in 604 B.C., but cut to pieces and burned by Jehoiakim and then rewritten 603 B.C. They are also a report of Jeremiah’s preaching during the reign of this king, Jehoiakim.

The first two chapters (Jeremiah 11-12) deal with the broken covenant; Jer 13 , with the rotten girdle and the lessons drawn from it; the Jeremiah 14-15 set forth the prophecies relating to the drought that came upon the country at that time; Jer 16 gives the story of Jeremiah’s personal life and the lessons to be derived from it; Jer 17 deals with the impending evils that are threatened upon Jerusalem and exhorts them to keep the sabbath. This is the general outline of these chapters.

The occasion for the utterance of the prophecies of Jeremiah 11-12 was a lapse of the people from the reformation under Josiah into the sins under Jehoiakim. Under that wicked king they broke the covenant that they made with good King Josiah, and lapsed into idolatry again. In the opening words of chapter II the prophet pleads with them to remember their covenant and to suffer no backsliding. That was the real occasion. There had been a great reformation under Josiah; they had broken their covenant in going back into idolatry and the prophet pleads with them to remember their covenant so recently made. We know that Jeremiah helped Josiah and we also know that he preached during the reign of Jehoiakim.

He says, “The word of Jehovah came unto me saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God.”

We find almost these identical words in Deu 27:16-26 .

Jeremiah receives those words from the Lord and, like a true Israelite, he replies, Jer 11:5 , “Amen, O Jehovah.” That expression reminds us of the scene that was enacted soon after Israel entered Palestine when the nation was gathered together and the law was read, the blessings and curses, and the people all answered each time, “Amen.” Over and over again this is repeated. Here he hears the words of the covenant as uttered to him by Jehovah, and he answers, “Amen.” He answered for the people of Judah and Jerusalem, that is, he answered, “Amen,” and he wanted them to answer likewise. But they did not.

The charge against the people in Jer 11:6-8 is that of a violation of the covenant. He says, Jer 11:6 : “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.” In these three mighty words Jeremiah sums up the substance of the great covenant made at Sinai: “Obey my voice.” “Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.”

The people are charged with a conspiracy against the Lord, Jer 11:9-13 : “And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers.” This statement shows the occasion of this prophecy. The people had had an understanding about this, and had agreed among themselves that they would not do as Josiah had commanded them to do; they would not worship Jehovah. Jeremiah calls that a conspiracy against God. They forsook Jehovah and made a covenant with other gods. The breaking of one covenant means the entering into another covenant with other gods.

The doom of the nation is indicated in the fact that Jeremiah is forbidden to pray for them Jer 11:14 : “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me because of their trouble.” The nation is doomed. We have here a full description of the doom that is to come upon this nation, the details of which we need to study very carefully. Jer 11:15 presents a great difficulty for the textual critics. There are three ways it may be rendered: “What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness?” The Septuagint renders this as in the margin: “Why hath my beloved wrought abominations in my house? Shall vows and holy flesh take away from thee thy wickedness, or shalt thou escape by these?” Ball, in the “Expositor’s Bible” renders it, “What hast my beloved to do in mine house? Shall her many altars and holy flesh take away her sin from her?” The text, as we have it, is obscure. We will pass it with the reminder that the general subject of the section is that the nation is doomed and woes are pronounced against her; that Judah cannot be saved by her formal religion.

The result was a plot against Jeremiah, who was commanded to stop prophesying or lose his life. This was the first crisis in Jeremiah’s life. He returned from Jerusalem to Anathoth and found that there was a conspiracy, a plot against him among his own friends. He must stop preaching or lose his life. This is how he puts it, Jer 11:18-20 : “And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then thou showedst me their doings. But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me.” That expression reminds us of Jesus’ words when he was plotted against and killed. He means to say, “I was Just doing my duty; I knew not that they were plotting against me; I knew not that they devised devices against me.” This is what they devised, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.” After that discovery the prophet commits his case to Jehovah for vengeance. This shows that he had risen to a high plane of abiding faith. Jeremiah says, “I shall see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause.” The next three verses (Jer 11:21-23 ) contain the record of what Jehovah said regarding the manner in which these wicked conspirators should be punished: that their sons and daughters should perish.

The prophet raises a question in Jer 12:1-4 and Jehovah answers it in Jer 12:5-6 . We studied this passage in the chapter on “The Personal Life of Jeremiah.” I will not go into details here. The occasion of this marvelous passage was the plot against Jeremiah. He saw that these men who plotted to destroy him were living in plenty and prospered while he suffered. So he raised the great question as to why it is possible for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to suffer. Then he received his answer: “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?” That means, If you are going to give up before this little opposition that is but a trifle, what will you do when the great test and the real crisis comes?

The captivity is described. Here the prophet pictures these evils as having already taken place, Jer 12:7-13 : “I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest; . . . Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? . . . Then go and assemble all the beasts of the field and come upon her to devour her.” Then he accuses the shepherds of destroying the vineyard: “They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. . . They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns.” They must perish. In this we have a bare outline of the judgment to come. This is doubtless the substance of the sermons he preached.

Judah’s evil neighbors are referred to in Jer 12:14-17 . This doubtless means Edom, Ammon, and the enemies on the south. They harassed Judah in the time of Jehoiakim. What about these evil neighbors? Well, he says, “I will pluck them up from off their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah; and after I pluck them up I will return and have compassion on them as I will have on Judah.” That reminds us of the magnificent prophecy of Isaiah: “All the nations shall come up to Jerusalem to worship; all the peoples shall flow to Mount Zion, for the word of Jehovah shall go forth from Zion.”

In Jer 13:1-7 the prophet employs a symbolic action, and the interpretation of it is found in Jer 13:8-11 . By a command of Jehovah he buys a beautiful girdle, a common element of clothing in the East, and wears it for a time. Then the Lord commands him to take it and go to the river Euphrates and hide it in the cleft of a rock. He does so, and after many days the Lord said to him, “Go thou to the river Euphrates and take the girdle which I commanded thee to hide there. And I did so and went and digged up the girdle and behold it was marred and good for nothing.” Now, that was an object lesson to the people. Thus he says, Jer 13:11 : “For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah that they might be unto me for a people, but they would not hear.” That is a remarkable figure. The Lord chose the people of Judah and Israel as a man chooses a girdle and wears it about him. Judah had been a girdle for Jehovah, and he desired that they remain as a beautiful girdle forever, but they would not.

The prophet uses another symbol, that of a bottle, Jer 13:12-14 : “Every bottle shall be filled with wine: . . . Do not we know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? Behold I will fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness.” That bottle is a symbol of drunkenness, the drunkenness that is come upon the people. The symbol means that they shall be destroyed, as drunken men are destroyed.

There is an exhortation in Jer 13:15-17 , a command to the queen mother in Jer 13:18-19 , a curse announced in Jer 13:20-27 , and a great text in Jer 13:23 . In verse Jer 13:16 : “Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains,” is one of the most beautiful figures in all the Scriptures. That is like Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep. In Jer 13:18 , he speaks thus: “Say thus to the king and queen mother.” He probably refers to the wife of Josiah, whose son, Jehoiachim, sat upon the throne. He said to the queen mother and the king, “Humble yourselves.” Then he addresses the shepherds and the princes: “Where is the flock that I gave you, the beautiful flock?” Where is it, thou king, and queen mother, and ye princes and prophets? Where is my beautiful flock that I gave you to care for? Then comes that classic passage: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Thus Jeremiah reaches the conclusion that man has to be changed before he can obey the word of God, and he cannot change himself.

A drought is pictured in Jer 14:1-6 . A drought in that land was terrible: “Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty.” That is a pathetic picture. We can almost see those children in their thirst and distress.

We have the prophet’s plea for the people in Jer 14:7-9 and Jehovah’s reply in Jer 14:10-12 . Here we have Jeremiah’s first intercession and its answer, Jer 14:7-17 . See how he pleads in verse Jer 14:7 : “Work thou for thy name’s sake, O Jehovah; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee, O thou hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man affrighted, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.” Sinners treat God as if he were a stranger, a sojourner, a man who is helpless to save. In verse Jer 14:11 : “Plead not for this people.” That is the answer to his prayer. “Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry. . . I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” So it is possible for people to go so far that God himself must give them up.

Jeremiah assails the priests and the prophets (Jer 14:13-22 ). He says (Jer 14:13 ), “The prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, nor the famine.” Then the Lord said unto him, “These prophets are) liars. They shall perish. These people that believe them shall perish, too. There is no hope for them.” But he will not give up. He begs God to spare the city and the people. Verse Jer 14:19 : “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? . . . Why hast thou smitten us, and is there no healing for us?” Thus he speaks for the people out of his heart: “We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness . . . we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy names sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory.” It is said of Joseph Parker, the great preacher of London, that upon one occasion he prayed, “O Lord, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory.” Some of his stiff-backed hearers received a distinct shock when they heard it. One Presbyterian brother said, “Blasphemy!” but Dr. Parker was simply quoting Jeremiah. That shows that some preachers do not know everything in the Bible. “Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory,” that is, “do not disgrace Judah and Zion,” but he did; they were destroyed.

The impending danger is described in Jer 15:1-9 . We cannot go into detail here. It is not necessary. Read the passage. One point, verse Jer 15:9 : “Her sun is gone down while it was yet day.” That is another classical expression. Note also, verse Jer 15:1 : “Though Moses and Samuel plead for these people I could not save them.” Moses pleaded for the people when they broke the covenant at Sinai. He begged God to blot him out of the book rather than destroy the people. God did hear him and saved them. Samuel was a man of much prayer. Samuel saved Israel by his prayers in the time of Eli. “Though these mighty men of prayer, Moses and Samuel, were to pray to me I would not save these people.” How far can people wander away? There is a limit to God’s grace and mercy.

There are several thoughts in the paragraphs of Jer 15:10-21 . The prophet complains again and receives a reply. We had this in the chapter on “The Life and Character of Jeremiah,” and will not go into details here. It is sufficient to say that God answered him and maintained that the doom of the people was inevitable. Now we have the prophet’s last pleadings with God (Jer 15:15-21 ). We also studied this in the same chapter. Study carefully the text.

Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah (Jer 16:1-9 ). We discussed that in a former chapter. Sufficient to say that he is commanded not to marry, not to have a family, not to mingle with merrymakers, not to have the joys or pleasures of social and family life. He is to be separated, a living example of warning to the people, for destruction is coming. No Jew would refuse to marry or have a family if there were not sufficient reasons for it.

Some questions are raised by the people in Jer 16:10-13 , viz: “Why are these calamities to come? What are the iniquities that we have done?” The answer is that they have forsaken Jehovah and walked after other gods.

There is a comparison in Jer 16:14-21 . The punishment of the captivity shall be most severe and terrible, therefore their return to their own land shall be even more wonderful than the deliverance from Egypt: “The day shall come that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt.” That fact would sink into insignificance in the face of the evils that were to be when Israel was scattered, and when God would gather them again from among the nations; that would be more wonderful than bringing them up out of the land of Egypt. The deliverance would be great because the punishment would be so terrible.

The nature of Judah’s sin and punishment is indicated in Jer 17:1-4 . Their sins are deep and indelible and therefore their punishment is severe: “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, graven on their hearts and on the horns of their altars.” Spurgeon, in a sermon on this text, discussed how sin can be graven into the human heart and cannot be erased by human power. It is written with a pen of iron, written in the very soul and nature. No stronger figure could be used to show the permanent effects of sin. As a result, punishment is certain.

A striking contrast is found in Jer 17:5-11 . Faith in man leads to destruction; faith in God leads to security. Verse Jer 17:5 : “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.” In Jer 17:7-8 , we have the substance of Psa 1 : “Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah . . . he shall be as a tree planted by the waters; he shall not fear when the heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green; he shall not be careful in the year of drought, but his tree shall continue yielding fruit.” Jer 17:9 is one of the profoundest descriptions of the human heart to be found in the Scriptures. It came to Jeremiah out of his experience.

The import of Jer 17:12-18 is that Jehovah is a sure source of strength. Few remarks are needed on this passage. Jeremiah’s faith in God shines very brightly here. Some expressions are very rich and suggestive, such as Jer 17:12-14 ; Jer 17:17 .

The prophecy of Jer 17:19-27 is a prophecy concerning the keeping of the sabbath. This was the great problem of Nehemiah. He had to meet it, and here it is in Jeremiah’s day also: “Go, stand in the gate and say unto the people, Ye shall bear no burdens on the sabbath day.” Verse Jer 17:25 : “Then shall there enter into this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, . . . The men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall remain forever,” this is, if they keep the sabbath day. Then the text shows how the nations will come upon them if they do not keep the sabbath day: “If you will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day and not to bear burdens and enter into the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” This is one of the most significant passages on the sabbath question in all the Bible. This paragraph furnishes the basis for God’s chastisement in the Babylonian captivity. It is specifically stated that this captivity was the penalty for the disregard of the sabbath law.

QUESTIONS

1. What the date of this group of prophecies?

2. Give a general outline of the group of chapters.

3. What the occasion of the prophecies of Jeremiah 11-12?

4. What the reply of the prophet to the words of Jehovah in Jer 11:1-5 and what the application?

5. What the charge against the people in Jer 11:6-8 ?

6. What the charge against the people in Jer 11:8-13 and what the result?

7. How is the doom of the nation indicated (Jer 11:14-17 ) and what the difficulties of the text?

8. What the result as it pertained to the prophet, how did he meet it and what Jehovah’s responses? (Jer 11:18-23 .)

9. What question does the prophet raise in Jer 12:1-4 and what Jehovah’s reply in Jer 12:5-6 ?

10. How is the captivity described in Jer 12:7-13 ?

11. Who Judah’s “evil neighbors” referred to in Jer 12:14-17 , what the threat against them and what hope held out to them?

12. What the symbolic action of Jer 13:1-7 , and what its interpretation (Jer 13:8-11 )?

13. What other symbol used by the prophet here (Jer 13:12-14 ) and what its interpretation?

14. What the exhortation in Jer 13:15-17 , what command to the queen mother in Jer 13:18-19 , what curse announced in Jer 13:20-27 , and what great text in Jer 13:23 ?

15. Describe the drought as pictured in Jer 14:1-6 .

16. What the prophet’s plea for the people in Jer 14:7-9 and what Jehovah’s reply in Jer 14:10-12 ?

17. What Jeremiah’s complaint and Jehovah’s reply in Jer 14:13-22 ?

18. Describe the impending danger (Jer 15:1-9 ).

19. What the thoughts in the paragraphs of Jer 15:10-21 ?

20. What the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah in Jer 16:1-9 , and what its lesson?

21. What questions are raised by the people in Jer 16:10-13 , and what the reply?

22. What the comparison in Jer 16:14-21 and what great hope is therein expressed?

23. How is the nature of Judah’s sin and punishment indicated in Jer 17:1-4 ?

24. What contrast in Jer 17:5-11 and in what other scripture do we find the same thought?

25. What the import of Jer 17:12-18 , and what suggestive passages in this paragraph?

26. What the prophecy of Jer 17:19-27 and what can you Bay of its importance?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jer 13:1 Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.

Ver. 1. Go, get thee a linen girdle. ] Or, Belt, or swath.

And put it not in water. ] Or, Lye, to wash it or whiten it; but take it as it is first made, Ut sorditiem magis contrahat, to show, say some, that the Jewish nation, when first chosen, was black by sin and nothing amiable; better skilled and exercised in making mortar and bricks in Egypt than in the worship of God and in good manners.

Or put it not in water, ] i.e., Keep it from being rotted, as a type of God’s care of, and kindness to, that people.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah Chapter 13

The section ends with a symbolic action to which the prophet was called in Jer 13 , its application and touching appeal to Jerusalem founded on it. The girdle worn and kept safely, then utterly marred, set forth what Jehovah had been and what He would be to Judah. (ver. 1-l l.) Did the people taunt the prophet as telling them what they knew? Let them learn what they did not believe, their own destruction now imminent, kings, priests, prophets, all: the God of mercy should not have mercy, but destroy them unsparingly. “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive. Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captain, and as a chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?” (Ver. 15-21.) Did Jerusalem say in her heart, wherefore come these things upon me? Alas! the answer was already prepared: “For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare.” (Ver. 22.) Their evil was as hopelessly ingrained as the black of a negro or the spots of a leopard. Jehovah should not only scatter His people, but put them to extreme shame. (Ver. 24-27.) So it must be till all has been fulfilled. There remains greater horrors: only there is one that yet hinders the last excess of lawlessness in the rising of the lawless one against Jehovah and His Anointed. But this belongs to another witness than Jeremiah: so 1 say no more here.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 13:1-7

1Thus the LORD said to me, Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water. 2So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist. 3Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock. 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me. 6After many days the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there. 7Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.

Jer 13:1-7 This is a prophetic, symbolic act involving an intimate piece of clothing. Similar illustrative acts are common in Ezekiel (i.e., chapters 4,5). We would call them visual aids (cf. Jer 19:1 ff; Jer 27:2 ff).

Jer 13:1 the LORD said to me This is a prophetic formula for receiving direct revelation. Notice how often the message from YHWH is noted in this chapter.

1. Thus the LORD said to me, Jer 13:1

2. the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, Jer 13:3

3. the LORD said to me, Jer 13:6

4. the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jer 13:8

5. thus says the LORD, Jer 13:9

6. thus says the LORD , the God of Israel, Jer 13:12

7. thus says the LORD, Jer 13:13

This was not Jeremiah’s message!

Go and buy. . .and put it around. . .but do not put. . . These VERBALS are translated as IMPERATIVES (cf. Jer 13:4; Jer 13:6) in English, but in Hebrew they are:

1. go – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE

2. buy – BDB 888, KB 1111, Qal PERFECT (with WAW)

3. put – BDB 962, KB 1221, Qal PERFECT (with WAW)

4. put (negated) – BDB 97, KB 112, Hiphil IMPERFECT

NASBlinen waistband

NKJVlinen sash

NRSVlinen waistcloth

TEVlinen shorts

LXX, NJB,

JPSOA, REBlinen loincloth

This refers to a thigh-length undershort (BDB 25 CONSTRUCT 833; the depictions of this type of undergarment [Canaan and Egypt] seem more like a short shirt than short pants). The exact meaning of the symbol is uncertain (cf. 2Ki 1:8; Job 12:18; Isa 5:27; Eze 23:15). Some have said it was used because of its close contact to the body, thereby symbolizing intimacy (cf. Jer 13:11). Others say that because it was made of linen it refers to what the priest wore (cf. Lev 16:4). It is obvious that God is trying to symbolize Himself and His relationship with Judah by means of this intimate, and possibly priestly, material.

but do not put it in water This means do not wash it. Therefore, it will become soiled and smelly. This is what happened to idolatrous, rebellious, stubborn Israel/Judah. She is unclean (cf. Jer 13:27) and will not allow YHWH to clean her.

Jer 13:4 There is a series of IMPERATIVES in Jer 13:4; Jer 13:6 that relates to Jer 13:1 (cf. Jer 13:5).

1. take the waistband – BDB 542, KB 534, Qal IMPERATIVE

2. arise – BDB 877, KB 1086, Qal IMPERATIVE

3. go – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE

4. hide – BDB 380, KB 377, Qal IMPERATIVE

Also in Jer 13:6

1. arise – BDB 877, KB 1086, Qal IMPERATIVE

2. go – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE

3. take – BDB 542, KB 534, Qal IMPERATIVE

go to the Euphrates This is the Hebrew word , BDB 832. It is used throughout the OT to refer to the Euphrates River (cf. Gen 2:14; Gen 15:18; Deu 1:7; Deu 11:24; Jer 46:2; Jer 51:63). However, because this would involve a trip of over 350 miles each way, and the context probably refers to two different trips, it seems impossible that this could be the meaning of the term here.

Some have asserted

1. This was possibly symbolic of the battle of Carchemish (at a place on the Euphrates where there were rocks), which occurred in 605 B.C., whereby Babylon completely defeated the armies of Egypt and the remaining army of Assyria; the enemy from the north comes!

2. This was possibly a wadi, , which flowed from the village of , about five miles northeast of Jerusalem (cf. Jos 18:23). It provided water for Jerusalem (IDB, vol. 4, p. 656).

3. It is a play on the sound of the word linen (, BDB 833m cf. Jer 13:1).

Jer 13:7 the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless The first VERB ruined (BDB 1007, KB 1469, Niphal PERFECT) denotes that which cannot be used for its intended purpose! This same VERB is used of the clay pot in Jer 18:4. Israel/Judah’s intended purpose was to inform the world about YHWH and help draw them to Him (cf. TEV of Jer 13:11; see Special Topic at Jer 1:5). Their unrepentant (cf. Jer 13:10), consistent idolatry thwarted that purpose (cf. Eze 36:22-38).

It is also possible that this text refers to a literal 700 mile trip twice to the headwaters of the Euphrates. It might symbolize:

1. the invasion, exile, and (i.e., after many days) dominance of Babylon. Judah was ruined in a physical sense during this period. If so, then the ruined waistcloth (cf. Lev 26:39) symbolizes Judah’s temporal destruction.

2. the spiritual corruption of the Mesopotamian powers through political alliances which involved Judah and introduced their gods to Palestine

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the Lord. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-14

a linen girdle. Soft girdles, made of silk or linen, still worn by upper classes. Compare Eze 16:10. Some embroidered (Dan 10:5. Rev 1:13; Rev 15:6).

not in water. So that the cause of its marring be not mistaken.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 13

Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go down and buy a linen girdle, and put it on, but don’t wash it. So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and I put it on. And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, Take the girdle that you have purchased, which you have been wearing, and go to Euphrates, and hide it there under a rock. So I hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide. And I went to the river Euphrates, and digged, and I took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing ( Jer 13:1-7 ).

As you can imagine, if you take a linen girdle and put it under a rock and you know, the whole thing when you go back later and get the thing, the bugs have eaten holes in it and the thing is just good for nothing as he said. Now God says, “Put it on and wear it back to the streets again and preach to the people.” Now they saw him when he first had this beautiful linen girdle. “Oh wow, look at that.” One to draw attention. But now as he wears the thing again, “Yuck, what’s he wearing the holey, filthy thing for?” But this was an illustrated sermon.

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear. Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel ( Jer 13:8-12 ),

So he goes into the next thing. But the idea with the girdle was that the nation was once bound to God. And as it was bound to God, it was a beautiful thing. A people worshipping God, serving God, bound to God. But when they have turned from God, that which was once beautiful and glorious has become ugly and repulsive. That same nation that once was the glory of the earth, as God’s love and blessings were showered upon it, has now become the curse of the earth as they have removed themselves from that place of nearness to God and they’ve become good for nothing.

There’s an interesting book called The Light and the Glory in which they trace the historic roots of the United States and show how that God had a very definite hand in the founding of this nation, even as He did in the founding of the nation of Israel. God’s hand was upon the founding fathers. And it’s a beautiful book, The Light and the Glory, giving you historic insights to our nation that you don’t find in the public textbooks in your school system. Because they don’t want you to know the spiritual roots of the nation. They like to hide that from you. But this nation was born of God as a light to the world and God’s blessing is upon it. They wrote the song, “America, America, God shed His grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.” And songs that reflected the nation’s relationship to God. And men were conscious that it was God that had blessed and made our nation great. But they’re trying to hide that truth from the children today. And they’re trying to hold up the god of capitalism, free enterprise. And they’re saying it’s free enterprise that has made us strong. Now fight for free enterprise. Fight for the capitalistic system. They can’t inspire me to fight for free enterprise or the capitalistic system. I’ll fight for the freedom that we have been given by God to worship Him, to serve Him. I love that.

But it’s tragic that we’ve turned from the basic roots upon which the nation was founded. We were once beautiful before the world. God’s blessing was upon our land. But we like the linen girdle are becoming good for nothing in the eyes of the world.

Even in… I was in Canada. I was in a radio talk show in Canada. You’ll be amazed at how many called in and were angry at me just because I was from the United States. All of the bitterness that they have towards the U.S. Over in England we found a lot of bitterness just because I’m from the U.S. We were once the glory of the world, but now we’re becoming hated throughout the world. We travel in some parts of the world where the people look at you and just spit at you. They don’t even know you. But they recognize you as because the way you dress. Nobody dresses like Americans. And they can spot you a mile away. When they get near you they just spit at you, which is an oriental sign of disgust and disdain. Oh, it’s sad when a nation turns from God to find its fulfillment and satisfaction in something other than God. Once a beautiful garment.

Now in verse Jer 13:12 , the second thing. Speak this to them, the proverb sort of. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,

Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they will say unto you, Don’t we know that every bottle is going to be filled with wine? ( Jer 13:12 )

Because they were preaching a message of prosperity, two cars in every garage.

Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of the land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. And I will dash them one against another, even as the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive ( Jer 13:13-17 ).

Now Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, and this is one of his references to his weeping. God is giving them a message of warning, “If you won’t hear it,” then he said, “in the secret place my eye will weep sore and run down with tears.” You know, this is an interesting thing. We look at a minister and we’re prone to just say, “He’s just a hell-fire-damnation, fire-brimstone preacher.” And we’re prone to just… if a man comes and pronounces the judgment of God that is coming, we’re prone to just sort of say, “Ah, he’s filled with hatred and everything else.” Well, that may be the case in some. But here with Jeremiah, here he’s pronouncing the horrible judgment of God but he’s weeping. He’s not smacking his lips and saying, “Boy, God’s going to smack you, brother! Hardly wait.” But he’s going and weeping over the condition of the people because they will not respond to the message of God.

Say to the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none of them will be open ( Jer 13:18-19 ):

That is, they’ll be shut up into a siege.

Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? What will you say when he will punish you? for you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman who is in travail? And if you say in your heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil ( Jer 13:19-23 ).

No, a man cannot change his nature. Only God can change a man’s nature by the Holy Spirit. A leopard can’t change his spots. You are what you are by nature. And if you have not received Jesus Christ, you’re a sinner by nature. You can’t be righteous even though you try. It’s impossible. You need a new nature. I don’t care. You can take a pig out of the pigsty, give him a bath with deodorant soap, spray him with perfume, put a bow around his neck and let him go and he will go right back to the mud. He’ll just roll over and wallow in it. That’s his environment. He loves it. That’s his nature. Loving to just wallow in the mud. And that’s the nature of some people. You can clean them up, give them a new act, and you can say, “Oh, it’s their environment, you know. Let’s bring them out of that environment and let’s clean them up and all.” Hey, but it’s their nature. Let them go, they’ll go right back. You need a change of nature.

That’s why Jesus said, “Don’t be surprised when I say don’t marvel when I say you’ve got to be born again.” That’s the answer. A change of nature, that’s what’s accomplished by the Spirit of God. He changes my nature. People say, “I could never be a Christian. I don’t want to be… I don’t want to be hypocrite, but I can never live that life.” They don’t accept the Lord because they say, “I could never do it.” Of course you can’t do it. And no one expects you to do it. You can’t do it apart from the power and the work of the Holy Spirit in giving you a new nature. But God, that’s what He does. He gives me a whole new nature. A nature that is after Him.

So God speaks about the fact that a man is what he is by nature. He cannot change except by God’s power.

Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because you have forgotten me ( Jer 13:24-25 ),

This is what’s going to happen because you’ve forgotten me.

and trusted in a lie. Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. I have seen your adulteries, the neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredoms, and the abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? ( Jer 13:25-27 ) “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Jer 13:1-2

Jer 13:1-2

FIVE WARNINGS FOR ISRAEL

There are five warnings given to Israel in this chapter. The nation of the Chosen people, which should have been living in a happy and intimate relationship with the Creator, and also should have been busily engaged in teaching the benighted nations of mankind the wonderful facts regarding the true and Almighty God, had, contrary to all reason, itself succumbed to the sensual allurements of paganism. Their spiritual discernment had almost disappeared; and the whole nation was thoroughly overcome with abandoned wickedness. The dramatic warnings of this chapter were designed to stem the headlong rash of Israel to destruction; but the warnings were not heeded.

The warnings were: (1) the parable of the mined linen loin-cloth (Jer 13:1-11), (2) the parable of the wine jars (Jer 13:12-14), (3) the warning against pride and arrogance toward God (Jer 13:15-17), (4) the warning to the king and the queen-mother (Jer 13:18-19), (5) the warning that identified “friends” of Israel, such as Babylon, as their conquerors and exploiters.

Jer 13:1-2

PARABLE OF THE RUINED LOINCLOTH

Thus saith Jehovah unto me, Go, and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. So I bought a girdle according to the word of Jehovah, and put it upon my loins.

Linen girdle…

(Jer 13:1). Why linen? This was a mark of the priesthood; and because this garment was given as a representation of Israel, it had to be linen in order properly to symbolize that nation of priests unto God which Israel was intended to be.

Put it upon thy loins…

(Jer 13:1). This was not an outer girdle, but a covering worn next to the skin. F1 This very intimate and personal garment symbolized the intimate relationship between God and Israel during the long centuries of the nation’s development.

And put it not in water…

(Jer 13:1). This meant that Jeremiah was not to wash the garment either before or after he had worn it. This would illuminate the meaning of the linen loincloth in later portions of the parable.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The account of this time of communion between Jeremiah and Jehovah ends with the story of how Jehovah gave him two signs, one for himself and one for the people. That for himself was the sign of the girdle which he was to wear, then to hide by Euphrates, and then to seek in order to see its worthlessness. The significance of the sign was clearly stated to him. The girdle was the emblem of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah.

The second sign was a spoken one in the form of a proverb, “Every bottle shall be fled with wine.” This he was to declare in the hearing of the people. Their obvious retort would be, ‘Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?” In answer he was commanded to declare that God would fill the rulers with drunkenness, and dash them one against another.

The account closes with the cry of the prophet to the people to hear, the last charge of Jehovah, which is a call to the king and queen mother, Jehoahaz and Hamutal; and an announcement of the coming judgment and its cause, the declaration of the hopelessness of the case, and a final pronouncement of doom.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

20-25, the Parable of the Girdle

Jer 13:1-11

This parable of the girdle may really have been transacted. By some such striking symbol before them the attention of the people must have been powerfully arrested. Or, it may be that this is only a vivid style of presentation. Whichever it is, the chief idea is the intimacy of relationship between the Chosen People and their God, Jer 13:11. Oh, that He would cause us to cleave to Him! The degradation of the best produces the worst, and nothing more strikingly sets forth the condition to which those may sink who have abused the highest possibilities, than the condition of this marred and profitless girdle. Let us beware! since capable of Gods best and highest, we are also liable to the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Jerusalem is apostrophized, and asked where was the beautiful flock of sister and daughter towns which had gathered under her lead. They had been destroyed, and their people were in captivity. Their destruction had come from those who had been allies and friends, Jer 13:21; but their sin was so deeply seated and inveterate that such a fate was inevitable. There was no hope of reformation, Jer 13:23. It was easier to expect a negro to become white, or for a leopard to change his spots than that Israel should do good. Only Christ can do this for us. He can with a word arrest a Niagara in its fall and bid it leap back. His grace can cause the leprosy of inbred sin to cease its hold, never again to pollute the soul.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

CHAPTER SIX

THE MARRED GIRDLE: “WILT THOU NOT BE MADE CLEAN?”

(Chap. Jer 13:1-27)

“Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water” (Jer 13:1).

The Lord would now teach by what is evidently a vision, as it is hardly to be supposed that Jeremiah actually carried the girdle all the way to the river Euphrates. On the other hand, if a literal occurrence, it but exemplifies his obedience to the commands of GOD. The girdle, is the sign of service, as is evident in many scriptures.

The Lord JESUS frequently so speaks of it, as in Luk 12:35, where He bids His servants have “their loins girded about,” and in the 37th verse of the same chapter (Luk 12:37), where He tells of His perpetual service for His redeemed throughout the ages to come. In John 13 we see Him as the girded servant washing His disciples’ feet, that they may be cleansed from earthly defilement and thus “have part with Him;” and when He appears in glory to the beloved disciple on the isle of Patmos, He is “girt about the breasts with a golden girdle.” (Rev 1:13)

Israel had been the Lord’s girded servant from of old; but, alas, a faithless one, as Christendom has been since. The girdle was the sign of service. Jeremiah gets one, and girds himself therewith.

The word of the Lord comes again, telling him:

“Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in the hole of the rock” (Jer 13:3-4).

So should the faithless nation be carried away to Babylon and be defiled, by the Euphrates. Jeremiah does as he is commanded. “After many days” (indicative of the captivity by the Euphrates where they were about to be carried) he was sent to get it again; but, “behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing” (Jer 13:7).

The application is readily made: captivity would not change the state of the people’s heart. Only genuine self-judgment could effect that. Israel had been caused to cleave to the Lord as a girdle to the loins of a man, “that they might be unto Me,” He says, “for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear” (Jer 13:11). Therefore they must as an untrustworthy servant be put away.

By the parable of the bottle their emptiness is set forth (Jer 13:12). They shall be filled, not with the joy of the Lord, but with the wine of strong delusion, which will make them drunk with self-confidence and lead them to destruction.

The prophet’s soul enters fully into this awful word, and he cries as from an anguished heart:

“Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it grass darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive” (Jer 13:15-17).

He sees his light-rejecting people about to be given up to judicial darkness. He would still arouse them to the solemnity of their condition. If they sleep and refuse to hearken, he will weep bitterly as his own predictions come to pass.

There are differences between the darkness of nature, the darkness of choice, and the darkness of judgment.

In Eph 4:18 we read of the Gentiles “having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness” (or hardness) “of their heart.”

The result of long years of turning away from GOD is that men are born in natural darkness. GOD has, however, sent the Light into this scene of gloom; but in Joh 3:19-20 we learn that “this is the condemnation, that light is came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” This is deliberate, willful darkness. In such manner had the men of Judah and Jerusalem refused to come to the light when GOD was speaking to their consciences by His prophet. The inevitable result must be judicial darkness. They would be given up to the darkness they had chosen.

So will it be, in an even mare dreadful sense, with highly favored Christendom after the Church has been caught away to be forever with the Lord. “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie [of the Antichrist]: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Th 2:11-12).

By commandment of the Lord, our prophet addresses himself directly to the king and the queen as the responsible leaders – probably Jehoiakim and his consort. He calls upon them to humble themselves and sit down. Their warlike preparations could be of no possible avail. It was repentance that was needed, not arms and soldiers.

The captivity was decreed. Judah, as Israel before, should be borne away from their land. “Them that come from the north” (Jer 13:20) refers to the Babylonian army.

How touching and yet solemn the question put to the unfaithful king, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” (Jer 13:20) The king had not been to them an example of subjection to GOD, but rather of defiance to Him. So he is asked, “What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee?” (Jer 13:21) As a travailing woman’s pains come suddenly, so should his sorrows take him; as indeed they did very shortly after (ver. 21). And if the question is asked “Wherefore come these things upon me?” the answer is, “For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare” (Jer 13:22).

Could they then make themselves pure in the sight of GOD? Far from it. It was just as impossible for them to do good who had become accustomed to do evil, as for the Ethiopian to become white – or the leopard to change his spots. How little do the modern apostles of the religion of culture enter into this! As no account of washing can alter the black skin of the negro, so no merely human effort to reform can effect a real change if there be not first a divine work in the soul.

“Altogether unprofitable,” they should be scattered as the worthless stubble is carried away by the wind of the wilderness. This was their due reward (“the portion of thy measures”), because they had forgotten the Lord and trusted in falsehood (Jer 13:25-26).

Sin had made them as an utterly reprobate and loathsome adulteress, whose shame was to be openly manifested. Idolatry had been their ruin. “Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem!” he cries; but because GOD is gracious and long-suffering still, he entreats, “Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?” (Jer 13:27)

Alas, alas, they were turning away in their folly from the only One who could cleanse them, and the black clouds of doom were fast gathering overhead.

~ end of chapter 6 ~

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Jer 13:23

I. Conversion is wholly the work of God, man himself being incapable of effecting it, by any means, or through any instrumentality. What is the judgment of Scripture with respect to the condition of man as a fallen creature? (1) “He cannot please God.” The Divine Spirit puts forth His power when men are born again; and until He thus puts forth His power, they are in the flesh, and cannot please God however much their actions may seem to resemble those which His word enjoins. (2) Man in his natural state cannot love and serve God. He is described as being without God, and as being alienated from Him. (3) Man cannot of himself do good either in the way of thinking or acting. (4) Man cannot of himself believe God’s word. (5) Man in his natural state is represented in the Scripture as dead in sin. As the ear of the dead is sealed up against every sound, so are men while unrenewed insensible to the calls of God addressed to them in His word. As the dead hand cannot grasp, so the spiritually dead cannot lay hold of God’s gracious offers.

II. While we say that nothing which men can do can qualify them for conversion, or merit conversion, or be the cause of conversion, we say at the same time, that there are certain things which they may do, and which they are bound to do, towards their conversion. (1) As the Word of God is the common instrument of conversion, men may do something toward their conversion and are bound to do so, by the way in which they read it, and the improvement they make of what they read. (2) Men may do something towards their conversion in the improvement they make of the ordinary means of grace, especially the preaching of the gospel. (3) Men can do something toward their conversion through the instrumentality of prayer. (4) They can avoid occasions to sin, by which they have been led away; they can serve God more faithfully, up to the light they have received; they can choose the company of the godly. All these are helps onward in the right path to Christ’s believing people.

A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 259.

References: Jer 13:23.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 108; Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 276; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 220; J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 374. Jer 14:7-9.-A. Maclaren, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 337; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1661. Jer 14-J. Keble, Sermons from Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday, p. 313; S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 12. Jer 15:1.-H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2112. Jer 15:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 993. Jer 15:15.-S. Greg, A Layman’s Legacy, p. 160. Jer 15:16.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 980, and vol. xviii., No. 1079. Jer 15:20.-I. Taylor, Saturday Evening, p. 178. Jer 15:21.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 286. Jer 16:16.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 86. Jer 16:20.- Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 125. Jer 17:1.-Ibid., Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 812. Jer 17:5, Jer 17:8.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 181. Jer 17:9.-Ibid., p. 23; W. H. Murray, American Pulpit of the Day, p. 295; W. Wilkinson, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 151. Jer 17:10.-S. Cox, Expositions, 1st series, p. 103.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 13

Signs, Warnings, and Exhortations

1. The linen girdle and the filled bottles (Jer 13:1-14)

2. Hear and give glory (Jer 13:15-21)

3. The justice of the judgment (Jer 13:22-27)

Jer 13:1-14. The prophet enacts a sign, that of the linen girdle. After he had put on the girdle, he was told to hide it in a hole of the rock of the Euphrates. After many days, he was commanded to dig for the girdle. It was found marred and profitable for nothing. Was this only a vision, or did the prophet actually make the long journey to the Euphrates and then repeat it after many days? The latter is quite improbable, nor can the command be called a vision. The question is what river is meant, the river Euphrates or another river by a similar name? The Hebrew word for Euphrates is Perath, and the word river is generally added to this word. In the text here it is missing. Now, three miles north of Anathoth there was a small river by the name of Parah Jos 18:23. It probably means this place to which the prophet was commanded to go. Both words in the Hebrew spring from the same root.

The meaning of this symbolical action is explained. A girdle belonged to the priest. Israel was called to be the priestly nation. As a girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so the Lord had chosen Israel to cleave unto Him, that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name and for a glory. And as the girdle had become marred and profitable for nothing, so even would their pride, that in which they gloried as the chosen people, be marred.

The bottles filled with wine, dashed one against the other, are the symbol of their sin intoxication and their destruction.

Jer 13:15-21. How patient and merciful is Jehovah! He interrupts His judgment message by calling on the people, whom He still loves, to give ear and to give glory to Jehovah. It is the utterance of the prophet, the outpouring of His love towards His people. The prophet addresses the king and the queen: Humble yourselves. And then his heart seems to break in anticipation of their obstinacy. But if ye will not hear, my soul shall weep in secret places on account of your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORDs flock is carried away captive.

Jer 13:22-27. Wherefore? they asked. And He answers, For the greatness of thine iniquity … because thou hast forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood. Woe unto thee, Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it be? But could they do it themselves? Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to evil. The new heart is needed Eze 36:1-38; the new birth of which the Lord spoke to the teacher in Israel.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

am 3405, bc 599

Go: Jer 13:11, Jer 19:1, Jer 27:2, Eze 4:1 – Eze 5:17, Heb 1:1

Reciprocal: Isa 20:2 – Go Jer 18:2 – and go Jer 43:9 – great Eze 12:3 – prepare Hos 1:2 – Go Hos 12:10 – used Act 21:11 – he took

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 13:1. On various occasions the Lord has required his prophets to go through what I have termed some “acting.” This subject was introduced at 1Ki 20:35 in Vol. 2 of this Commentary; one of those instances is the present verse. Linen was a material commonly used for the making of clothing hence the instruction to get a linen girdle. It was to be worn next to the body but was not to be removed at any time for cleansing in water.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

IN THE SWELLING OF JORDAN

God told the prophet worse was to come. The Swelling of Jordan would be experienced later, and in the present lesson, especially towards the close, we have an illustration of it.

There are things of interest to look at in the meantime, for example, an illustration of that symbolic teaching mentioned earlier.

In chapter 13 we have what two symbols? See Jer 13:1-11 for the first and Jer 13:12-14 for the second. The prophet acted these out before the people just as he was told. The significance of the first is apparent, the second means that the destruction of Jerusalem would be brought about by her own conduct. The evils in her would cause her to be filled with a rebellious spirit as with drunkenness. Mutual self-seeking and distrust would produce a condition where God could not pity.

Look at the prophet from the point of view of intercessor (chaps. 14-15), nothing more affecting in the same line being found anywhere in the Bible. Note the occasion (Jer 14:1-6); the first supplication (Jer 14:7-9); the divine reply (Jer 14:10-12); the renewal of the prayer and the excuse for Judah that is pleaded (Jer 14:13); Gods answer (Jer 14:14-18); the prophets pleading and confession (Jer 14:19-22); his final rejection (Jer 15:1-9). See the personal lament and inquiry that follow (Jer 15:10-18), and Gods comfort and instruction to him (Jer 15:19-20).

Chapter 16 has a peculiar interest as carrying out 1Co 7:32-33. The prophets life must be an independent and separated one. He must be a celibate, and shun all social amusements (Jer 16:1-9). His attitude in these matters would be symbolic and give him further opportunity to instruct and warn the people (Jer 16:17, and the following).

Another symbol in chapters 18-19, and a lesson about the divine sovereignty. Judah was a vessel marred in the making, not through want of skill on the potters part, but because of resisting elements in the clay. It is to be broken that a better vessel may be made.

It is the use the prophet makes of this earthen vessel that brings on him the suffering recorded in the next chapter. Read chapters 19 and 20 together. He is in the swelling of Jordan now (Jer 20:1-2; compare Luk 20:2). See how he meets his enemy and Gods in the next verses (Jer 20:3-6), remembering as he does, the divine warning not to be dismayed at their faces (chap. 1). But when the crisis is past and he is in his own chamber, how discouraged he appears (Jer 20:7-10). He complains that God had coerced him into this ministry. He would turn his back upon it if he could, but God will not permit him. He is between two fires, persecution without and the Holy Ghost within, and the latter being the hotter fire of the two he is compelled to the work again.

In other words God gains the victory in him (Jer 20:11-13), and he is at length able to sing praises to His holy name.

QUESTIONS

1. From what chapter and verse is the title of this lesson quoted?

2. Name the two symbols in chapter 13.

3. What does the second mean?

4. What was the occasion of the prophets intercession?

5. What two earlier servants does God name as having great power in prayer?

6. What is the general theme of 1 Corinthians 7?

7. What great doctrine is illustrated in the symbol of chapter 18?

8. Tell the story of the prophets experience in chapter 20.

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Jer 13:1-2. Thus saith the Lord unto me The prophet here begins a new discourse. Go and get thee a girdle, &c. God explains, at Jer 13:11, what was meant by the symbol of the girdle, or sash, worn about the loins, namely, his people Israel, whom he redeemed of old, and attached to himself by a special covenant; that as a girdle served for an ornament to the wearer, so they should be subservient to the honour and glory of his name. But it is added, They would not hear, or conform to his intentions; therefore, being polluted with the guilt of their disobedience, they were, in that state, and on that very account, to be carried into captivity; conformably to which the prophet was commanded not to put the girdle in water, that is, not to wash it, but to leave it in that state of filthiness which it had contracted in wearing. So I got the girdle, according to the word of the Lord That is, according to Gods command. And put it on my loins Used it as God directed me, not disputing the reason why God commanded me to do such a thing.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 13:1. Get thee a linen girdle, or buy thee, as the Chaldaic reads; which this priest and prophet wore unwashed till it became offensive, and began to excite attention and talk. The priests girdle was the brightest ornament of his costume; and the soldiers girdle the first mark of honour. 2Sa 18:11.

Jer 13:4. Go to Euphrates, and hide it there. After three months he there found it, mildewed, rotten, and good for nothing. Just so were the people of Judah and of Jerusalem marred, and become incorrigible. Jeremiah was commanded to go to the Euphrates, (called in Hebrew perath, or fruitfulness, Gen 2:14) because the Chaldean army was coming in that direction to punish their sins. All these strong figures were wisely calculated to impress the more deeply, a scornful and brutish people.

Jer 13:12. Every bottle shall be filled with wine. This plain assertion, which from the advanced state of the vintage everyone knew to be correct, made way for the peoples reply, Do we not certainly know that every vessel shall be filled with new wine? This reply also made way for the prophets illustration to come with double force; viz. that he meant the more intoxicating wine, the wrath of Godthe invasion of the Chaldean army. This proves to us that the holy prophets often preached in the way of public disputation. So did our Saviour in the temple. Joh 7:8.

Jer 13:14. I will dash them one against another. The Chaldaic, the LXX, the Vulgate, and the Syriac read, I will disperse them, one from another: , virum a fratre suo, a man from his brother. I will break up and scatter their families.

Jer 13:16. Give glory to the Lord, by true repentance, before he cause darkness, by the cloud of war; and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, fleeing in vain from the Chaldeans. The word, stumble, often used, designates the action of the body after it receives a mortal wound. The prophet knew that by a fast of unfeigned repentance they might yet be saved.

Jer 13:18. Say unto the king and to the queen your principalities shall come down. Joachin and his mother are here intended, according to Jerome; and they were carried captives to Babylon at the first coming of Nebuchadnezzar. 2Ki 24:15.

Jer 13:19. The cities of the south shall be shut, to assume the state of a siege, and to stop the fugitives from flying into Egypt.

Jer 13:23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Hebrews the Cushite, descendants of Cush, the grandson of Noah in Hams line, whom it pleased God to cause to be born black, the better to distinguish the different nations of men. The LXX read, Ethiope, the Chaldaic, Hagarians, and the Syriac, Arabs. As we become more and more acquainted with the dialects and tongues of the Africans, we find that their language, as well as the Gothic and the Persic, abounds with Hebrew words, and their customs equally correspond. Language, more than monuments, demonstrates the unity of origin among all nations. It is therefore turpitude in Voltaire to say, that the man must be blind who doubts of the Whites, the Negroes, the Albinos, the Hottentots, the Lapponese, the Chinese, and the American Indians being races of men entirely different.Il n est permis qu a un aveugle de douter que les blancs, les Negres, les Albinos, les Hottentots, les Lappons, les Chinois, les Americains, soient des races entierement diffrentes.Ess. sur les Moeurs.

The Hebrew scriptures possess original excellence in calling all countries by the name of their first possessors; while the Greeks changed words to the fluency of their own tongue. Cicero eulogizes Pythagoras, whose extraordinary wisdom was the first, it would seem, to give names to all things. Aut quis primus, quod summae sapientiae Pythagorae visum est, omnibus rebus imposuit nomina.Tuscul. 1.

Or the leopard his spots. This metaphor represents the difficulty of converting habitual sinners, in hoary age. Our best critics send us to one of our Saviours metaphors for a solution. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.Happy is the adjection: but with God all things are possible.

REFLECTIONS.

When a minister has set his heart on winning a people, he will try a thousand efforts to attract attention, to gain the understanding, and warm the affections. Now, it is God who inspires him with this love to the souls of men; he prompted Jeremiah to a new method of preaching, by directing him to wear a linen girdle. Whether his girdle was of the superfluous robes of the priests, or a mark of nobility, or a badge of honour, we are not told. Be the object of girdles what it might, this which Jeremiah wore attracted the eyes and interested the curiosity of all Judah. Though it might appear genteel at first, they presently saw it grow very much sullied by constant wear. But when they learned that he had made two journeys to the Euphrates, a distance of five hundred miles, the first to hide, the second to uncover his girdle, the wits of the age would play off against the singular superstition of the prophet. Well, let them for a moment enjoy their triumph. And as a tall tree which spreads its branches high in the air, falls with the greatest crash when the axe is applied to the root, so Jeremiah, probably holding in his hand the rotten and mildewed fragments of his sash, dealt the severest blows against their swelling pride. He averred in the name of the Lord, that all their glory should be as that girdle; that their fine and superb dresses should be thus decayed when serving the Babylonians in the immense lines of cities, scattered on the shores of distant rivers. From the singular text of this perished girdle, he preached a sermon which struck the eye, and affected the ear. It was a declaration that God would mar the pride of Judah, as the rot had marred the girdle; and though they had been dear to him as a girdle is to a victorious general, yet he would now cast them off as men do a defiled garment.

The particulars of this declaration follow. God would intoxicate the drunken rulers, the wicked priests, and the lying prophets of Jerusalem with a cup of indignation and wrath. He would dash them one against another by the angry arm of the enemy. If they fled to the hills for a moments safety, these should prove to them dark mountains of trouble, and their feet should soon stumble by a pursuing arm. Thus the sinners hopes of safety shall soon prove to him the abyss of perdition.

This new revelation of Judahs misery, sad fruits of rejecting the ministry and despising correction, drew fresh tears from the prophets eyes. He saw the people blinded by their sins, and asking why these things were come upon them. He saw the glory was departed; and when the Holy Spirit is resumed, and the day of grace past, a man can no more repent than the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots. Thus Judahs long and inveterate course of sin led to an awful issue. God saw her adulteries in the worship of every idol, the feasting and dancing, and all the nocturnal impurities which followed. It was time therefore for their crimes to be purged; it was time to cry, woe unto thee, oh Jerusalem! The Lord sees in like manner the sins of the christian church, the sins of mens hearts, the sins of large towns, of capitals, and of vast resorts of wicked people. Base and degenerate age, wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be? Will no judgments milder than the sword avail to purge thy crimes?

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 13:1-11. The Symbol of the Waist-cloth, its removal signifying the rejection and ruin of Judah, as a consequence of her disobedience. The prophet buys and wears a linen waist-cloth, not yet put in water, as a declaration of Yahwehs adoption of His people into closest intimacy. The prophet then removes it, and buries it in a rocky cleft where it is spoilt by damp, the removal being a sign that Yahweh puts His people from Him into the ruin of exile. Such symbolism as this, so frequent on the part of Hebrew prophets (for Jeremiah, cf. Jer 16:5 ff., Jer 27:2 ff; Jer 28:10 ff., Jer 32:6 ff., Jer 43:8 ff., Jer 51:63), has still something of the symbolic magic of primitive peoples clinging to it; it has the force, and more, of the spoken word, and helps to secure the result it symbolises (2Ki 13:16 f.*). Such symbolism helps to explain the NT emphasis on baptism.

Jer 13:1. The object named is not the outer girdle, but a covering worn next the skin.

Jer 13:4. Euphrates: Hebrew Perath; Jer 13:10 is improbable, owing to the distance, that this was literally the place of the burial; perhaps Parah (Jos 18:23) near Anathoth is meant, this spot being chosen as suggestive of the Euphrates, and so, symbolical of the place of exile.

Jer 13:10. shall even be: lot it be.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

The linen waistband 13:1-11

This is the first of several symbolic acts that Jeremiah performed to communicate divine messages (cf. Jer 16:1-4; Jer 18:1-12; Jer 19:1-2; Jer 19:10-11; Jer 27:1 to Jer 28:17; Jer 32:1-15; Jer 43:8-13; Jer 51:59-64). Other prophets did the same thing (cf. Isa 20:2-6; Eze 4:1-13; Eze 5:1-4). This acted sermon confronted the Judahites with the polluting effect of their associations and the consequences.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Lord instructed Jeremiah to purchase a linen waistband (or sash, Heb. ’ezor) and to wear it without first washing it, which he did. Washing it would wear it out to some extent.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER VIII

THE FALL OF PRIDE

Jer 13:1-27

THIS discourse is a sort of appendix to the preceding; as is indicated by its abrupt and brief beginning with the words “Thus said Iahvah unto me,” without the addition of any mark of time, or other determining circumstance. It predicts captivity, in retribution for the pride and ingratitude of the people; and thus suitably follows the closing section of the last address, which announces the coming deportation of Judah and her evil neighbours. The recurrence here (Jer 13:9) of the peculiar term rendered “swelling” or “pride” in our English versions, {Jer 12:5} points to the same conclusion. We may subdivide it thus: It presents us with

(1) a symbolical action, or acted parable, with its moral and application (Jer 13:1-11);

(2) a parabolic saying and its interpretation, which leads up to a pathetic appeal for penitence (Jer 13:12-17);

(3) a message to the sovereigns (Jer 13:18-19); and

(4) a closing apostrophe to Jerusalem-the gay and guilty capital, so soon to be made desolate for her abounding sins (Jer 13:20-27).

In the first of these four sections, we are told how the prophet was bidden of God to buy a linen girdle, and after wearing it for a time, to bury it in a cleft of the rock at a place whose very name might be taken to symbolise the doom awaiting his people. A long while afterwards he was ordered to go and dig it up again, and found it altogether spoiled and useless. The significance of these proceedings is clearly enough explained. The relation between Israel and the God of Israel had been of the closest kind. Iahvah had chosen this people, and bound it to Himself by a covenant, as a man might bind a girdle about his body; and as the girdle is an ornament of dress, so had the Lord intended Israel to display His glory among men (Jer 13:11). But now the girdle is rotten; and like that rotten girdle will He cause the pride of Judah to rot and perish (Jer 13:9-10).

It is natural to ask whether Jeremiah really did as he relates; or whether the narrative about the girdle be simply a literary device intended to carry a lesson home to the dullest apprehension. If the prophets activity had been confined to the pen; if he had not been wont to labour by word and deed for the attainment of his purposes; the latter alternative might be accepted. For mere readers, a parabolic narrative might suffice to enforce his meaning. But Jeremiah, who was all his life a man of action, probably did the thing he professes to have done, not in thought, nor in word only, but in deed and to the knowledge of certain competent witnesses. There was nothing novel in this method of attracting attention, and giving greater force and impressiveness to his prediction. The older prophets had often done the same kind of things, on the principle that deeds may be more effective than words. What could have conveyed a more vivid sense of the Divine intention, than the simple act of Ahijah the Shilonite, when he suddenly caught away the new mantle of Solomons officer, and rent it into twelve pieces, and said to the astonished courtier, “Take thee ten pieces! for thus saith Iahvah, the God of Israel, Behold I am about to rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give the ten tribes to thee?” {1Ki 11:29 sqq.} in like manner when Ahab and Jehoshaphat, dressed in their robes of state, sat enthroned in the gateway of Samaria, and “all the prophets were prophesying before them” about the issue of their joint expedition to Ramoth-gilead, Zedekiah, the son of a Canaanitess-as the writer is careful to add of this false prophet-“made him horns of iron, and said, Thus said Iahvah, With these shalt thou butt the Arameans, until thou make an end of them.” {1Ki 22:11} Isaiah, Hosea, and Ezekiel, record similar actions of symbolical import. Isaiah for a time walked half-clad and bare foot, as a sign that the Egyptians and Ethiopians, upon whom Judah was inclined to lean, would be led away captive, in this comfortless guise, by the king of Assyria. {Isa 20:1-6} Such actions may be regarded as a further development of those significant gestures, with which men in what is called a state of nature are wont to give emphasis and precision to their spoken ideas. They may also be compared with the symbolism of ancient law. “An ancient conveyance,” we are told, “was not written but acted. Gestures and words took the place of written technical phraseology, and any formula mispronounced, or symbolical act omitted, would have vitiated the proceeding as fatally as a material mistake in stating the uses or setting out the remainders would, two hundred years ago, have vitiated an English deed” (Maine, “Ancient Law,” p. 276) Actions of a purely symbolical nature surprise us, when we first encounter them in Religion or Law, but that is only because they are survivals. In the ages when they originated, they were familiar occurrences in all transactions between man and man. And this general consideration tends to prove that those expositors are wrong who maintain that the prophets did not really perform the symbolical actions of which they speak. Just as it is argued that the visions which they describe are merely a literary device; so the reality of these symbolical actions has needlessly enough been called in question. The learned Jews Abenezra and Maimonides in the twelfth century, and David Kimehi in the thirteenth, were the first to affirm this opinion. Maimonides held that all such actions passed in vision before the prophets; a view which has found a modern advocate in Hengstenberg: and Staudlin, in the last century, affirmed that they had neither an objective nor a subjective reality, but were simply a “literary device.” This, however, is only true, if true at all, of the declining period of prophecy, as in the case of the visions. In the earlier period, while the prophets were still accustomed to an oral delivery of their discourses, we may be quite sure that they suited the action to the word in the way that they have themselves recorded; in order to stir the popular imagination, and to create a more vivid and lasting impression. The narratives of the historical books leave no doubt about the matter. But in later times, when spoken addresses had for the most part become a thing of the past, and when prophets published their convictions in manuscript, it is possible that they were content with the description of symbolical doings, as a sort of parable, without any actual performance of them. Jeremiahs hiding his girdle in a cleft of the rock at “Euphrates” has been regarded by some writers as an instance of such purely ideal symbolism. And certainly it is difficult to suppose that the prophet made the long and arduous journey from Jerusalem to the Great River for such a purpose. It is, however, a highly probable conjecture that the place whither he was directed to repair was much nearer home; the addition of a single letter to the name rendered “Euphrates” gives the far preferable reading “Ephrath,” that is to say. Bethlehem in Judah. {Gen 48:7} Jeremiah may very well have buried his girdle at Bethlehem, a place only five miles or so to the south of Jerusalem; a place, moreover, where he would have no trouble in finding a “cleft of the rock,” which would hardly be the case upon the alluvial banks of the Euphrates. If not accidental, the difference may be due to the intentional employment of an unusual form of the name, by way of hinting at the source whence the ruin of Judah was to flow. The enemy “from the north” (Jer 13:20) is of course the Chaldeans.

The mention of the queen mother (Jer 13:18) along with the king appears to point unmistakably to the reign of Jehoiachin or Jechoniah. The allusion is compared with the threat of Jer 22:26 : “I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee into another country.” Like Josiah, this king was but eight years old when he began to reign (2Ch 36:9, after 2Ki 24:8 must be corrected); and he had enjoyed the name of king only for the brief period of three months, when the thunderbolt fell, and Nebuchadrezzar began his first siege of Jerusalem. The boy-king can hardly have had much to do with the issue of affairs, when “he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his eunuchs” surrendered the city, and were deported to Babylon, with ten thousand of the principal inhabitants. {2Ki 24:12 sqq.} The date of our discourse will thus be the beginning of the year B.C. 599, which was the eighth year of Nebuchadrezzar. {2Ki 24:12}

It is asserted, indeed, that the difficult Jer 13:21 refers to the revolt from Babylon as an accomplished fact; but this is by no means clear from the verse itself. “What wilt thou say (demands the prophet) when He shall appoint over thee-albeit, thou thyself hast instructed them against thyself; -lovers to be thy head?” The term “lovers” or “lemans” applies best to the foreign idols, who will one day repay the foolish attachment of Iahvahs people by enslaving it; {cf. Jer 3:4, where Iahvah Himself is called the “lover” of Judahs youthful days} and this question might as well have been asked in the days of Josiah, as at any later period. At various times in the past Israel and Judah had courted the favour of foreign deities. Ahaz had introduced Aramean and Assyrian novelties; Manasseh and Amon had revived and aggravated his apostasy. Even Hezekiah had had friendly dealings with Babylon, and we must remember that in those times friendly intercourse with a foreign people implied some recognition of their gods, which is probably the true account of Solomons chapels for Tyrian and other deities.

The queen of Jer 13:18 might conceivably be Jedidah, the mother of Josiah, for that king was only eight at his accession, and only thirty-nine at his 2Ki 22:1. And the message to the sovereigns (Jer 13:18) is not couched in terms of disrespect nor of reproach: it simply declares the imminence of overwhelming disaster, and bids them lay aside their royal pomp, and behave as mourners for the coming woe. Such words might perhaps have been addressed to Josiah and his mother, by way of deepening the impression produced by the Book of the Law, and the rumoured invasion of the Scythians. But the threat against “the kings that sit on Davids throne” (Jer 13:13) is hardly suitable on this supposition; and the ruthless tone of this part of the address-“I will dash them in pieces, one against another, both the fathers and the sons together: I will not pity, nor spare, nor relent from destroying them”-considered along with the emphatic prediction of an utter and entire captivity (Jer 13:19), seems to indicate a later period of the prophets ministry, when the obduracy of the people had revealed more fully the hopelessness of his enterprise for their salvation. The mention of the enemy “from the north” will then be a reference to present circumstances of peril, as triumphantly vindicating the prophets former menaces of destruction from that quarter. The carnage of conquest and the certainty of exile are here threatened in the plainest and most direct style; but nothing is said by way of heightening the popular terror of the coming destroyer. The prophet seems to take it for granted that the nature of the evil which hangs over their heads is well known to the people, and does not need to be dwelt upon or amplified with the lyric fervour of former utterances (see Jer 4:1-31, Jer 5:15 sqq., Jer 6:22 sqq.). This appears quite natural, if we suppose that the first invasion of the Chaldeans was now a thing of the past; and that the nation was awaiting in trembling uncertainty the consequences of Jehoiakims breach of faith with his Babylonian suzerain. {2Ki 24:10} The prophecy may therefore be assigned with some confidence to the short reign of Jehoiachin, to which perhaps the short section, Jer 10:17-25, also belongs; a date which harmonises better than any other with the play on the name Euphrates in the opening of the chapter. It agrees, too, with the emphatic “Iahvah hath spoken!” (Jer 13:15), which seems to be more than a mere assertion of the speakers veracity, and to point rather to the fact that the course of events had reached a crisis; that something had occurred in the political world which suggested imminent danger; that a black cloud was looming up on the national horizon, and signalling most unmistakably to the prophets eye the intention of Iahvah. What other view so well explains the solemn tone of warning, the vivid apprehension of danger, the beseeching tenderness, that give so peculiar a stamp to the three verses in which the address passes from narrative and parable to direct appeal? “Hear ye and give ear: be not proud: for Iahvah hath spoken! Give glory to Iahvah your God”-the glory of confession, of avowing your own guilt and His perfect righteousness; {Jos 7:19; St. Joh 9:24} of recognising the due reward of your deeds in the destruction that threatens you; the glory involved in the cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”-“Give glory to Iahvah your God before the darkness fall, and before your feet stumble upon the twilight mountains; and ye wait for dawn, and He make it deepest gloom, He turn it to utter darkness.” The day was declining; the evening shadows were descending and deepening; soon the hapless people would be wandering bewildered in the twilight, and lost in the darkness, unless, ere it had become too late, they would yield their pride, and throw themselves upon the pity of Him who “maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the deepest gloom into morning”. {Amo 5:8}

The verbal allusiveness of the opening section does not, according to Oriental taste, diminish the solemnity of the speaker; on the contrary, it tends to deepen the impression produced by his words. And perhaps there is a psychological reason for the fact, beyond the peculiar partiality of Oriental peoples for such displays of ingenuity. It is, at all events, remarkable that the greatest of all masters of human feeling has not hesitated to make a dying prince express his bitter and desponding thoughts in what may seem an artificial toying and trifling with the suggestiveness of his own familiar name: and when the king asks: “Can sick men play so nicely with their names?” the answer is: “No; misery makes sport to mock itself” (Rich. #II, Act 2:1-47, Sc. 1:72 sqq.). The Greek tragedian, too, in the earnestness of bitter sport, can find a prophecy in a name. “Who was for naming her thus, with truth so entire? (Was it One whom we see not, wielding tongue happily with full foresight of what was to be?) the Bride of Battles, fiercely contested Helen: seeing that, in full accord with her name, haler of ships, haler of men, haler of cities, forth of the soft and precious tapestries away she sailed, under the gale of the giant West” (AEsch., “Ag.,” 68, sqq.). And so, to Jeremiahs ear, Ephrath is prophetic of Euphrates, upon whose distant banks the glory of his people is to languish and decay. “I to Ephrath, and you to Phrath!” is his melancholy cry. Their doom is as certain as if it were the mere fulfilment of an old world prophecy, crystallised long ages ago in a familiar name; a word of destiny fixed in this strange form, and bearing its solemn witness from the outset of their history until now concerning the inevitable goal.

There is nothing so very surprising, as Ewald seems to have thought, in the suggestion that the Perath of the Hebrew text may be the same as Ephrath. But perhaps the valley and spring now called Furah (or Furat) which lies at about the same distance N.E. of Jerusalem, is the place intended by the prophet. The name, which means fresh or sweet water, is identical with the Arabic name of the Euphrates (Furat), which again is philologically identical with the Hebrew Perath. It is obvious that this place would suit the requirements of the text quite as well as the other, while the coincidence of name enables us to dispense with the supposition of an unusual form or even a corruption of the original; but Furat or Forah is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. The old versions send the prophet to the river Euphrates, which Jeremiah calls simply “The River” in one place, {Jer 2:18} and “The river of Perath” in three others; {Jer 46:2; Jer 46:6; Jer 46:10} while the rare “Perath,” without any addition, is only found in the second account of the Creation, {Gen 2:14} in 2Ch 35:20, and in a passage of this book which does not belong, nor profess to belong, to Jeremiah. {Jer 51:63} We may, therefore, conclude that “Perath” in the present passage means not the great river of that name, but a place near Jerusalem, although that place was probably chosen with the intention, as above explained, of alluding to the Euphrates.

I cannot assent to the opinion which regards this narrative of the spoiled girdle as founded upon some accidental experience of the prophets life, in which he afterwards recognised a Divine lesson. The precision of statement, and the nice adaptation of the details of the story to the moral which the prophet wished to convey, rather indicate a symbolical course of action, or what may be called an acted parable. The whole proceeding appears to have been carefully thought out beforehand. The intimate connection between Iahvah and Israel is well symbolised by a girdle-that part of an Easter dress which “cleaves to the loins of a man,” that is, fits closest to the body, and is most securely attached thereto. And if the nations be represented by the rest of the apparel, as the girdle secures and keeps that in its place, we may see an implication that Israel was intended to be the chain that bound mankind to God. The girdle was of linen, the material of the priestly dress, not only because Jeremiah was a priest, but because Israel was called to be “a kingdom of priests,” or the Priest among nations. {Exo 19:6} The significance of the command to wear the girdle, but not to put it into water, seems to be clear enough. The unwashed garment which the prophet continues to wear for a time represents the foulness of Israel; just as the order to bury it at Perath indicates what Iahvah is about to do with His polluted people.

1. The exposition begins with the words, “Thus will I mar the great pride of Judah and of Jerusalem!” The spiritual uncleanness of the nation consisted in the proud selfwill which turned a deaf ear to the warnings of Iahvahs prophets, and obstinately persisted in idolatry (Jer 13:10). It continues: “For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so made I the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cleave unto Me, saith Iahvah; that they might become to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for an ornament”. {Exo 28:2} Then their becoming morally unclean, through the defilements of sin, is briefly implied in the words, “And they obeyed not” (Jer 13:11).

It is not the pride of the tyrant king Jehoiakim that is here threatened with destruction. It is the national pride which had all along evinced itself in rebellion against its heavenly King “the great pride of Judah and Jerusalem”; and this pride, inasmuch as it “trusted in man and made flesh its arm,” {Jer 17:5} and boasted in a carnal wisdom, and material strength and riches, {Jer 9:23; Jer 21:13} was to be brought low by the complete extinction of the national autonomy, and the reduction of a high-spirited and haughty race to the status of humble dependents upon a heathen power.

2. A parabolic saying follows, with its interpretation. “And say thou unto them this word: Thus saith Iahvah, the God of Israel: Every jar is wont to be filled (or shall be filled) with wine. And if they say unto thee, Are we really not aware that every jar is wont to be filled with wine? say thou unto them, Thus saith Iahvah, Lo, I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings that sit for David upon his throne, and the priests and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness; and I will dash them in pieces against one another, and the fathers and the sons together, saith Iahvah: I will not forbear nor spare nor pity, so as not to mar them” (cf. Jer 13:7, Jer 13:9).

The individual members of the nation, of all ranks and classes, are compared to earthenware jars, not “skins,” as the LXX gives it, for they are to be “dashed in pieces,” “like a potters vessel” (Psa 2:9; cf. Jer 13:14). Regarding them all as ripe for destruction, Jeremiah exclaims, “Every jar is filled with wine,” in the ordinary course of things; that is its destiny. His hearers answer with the mocking question, “Do you suppose that we dont know that?” They would, of course, be aware that a prophets figure, however homely, covered an inner meaning of serious import; but derision was their favourite retort against unpopular truths. {Jer 17:15; Jer 20:7-8} They would take it for granted that the thing suggested was unfavourable, from their past experience of Jeremiah. Their ill-timed banter is met by the instant application of the figure. They, and the kings then sitting on Davids throne, i.e., the young Jehoiachin and the queen mother Nehushta (who probably had all the authority if not the title of a regent), and the priests and prophets who fatally misled them by false teachings and false counsels, are the wine jars intended, and the wine that is to fill them is the wine of the wrath of God. {Psa 75:8; Jer 25:15; cf. Jer 51:7; Rev 16:19; Isa 19:14-15} The effect is intoxication-a fatal bewilderment, a helpless lack of decision, an utter confusion and stupefaction of the faculties of wisdom and foresight, in the very moment of supreme peril. {cf. Isa 28:7; Psa 60:5} Like drunkards, they will reel against and overthrow each other. The strong term, “I will dash them in pieces,” is used to indicate the deadly nature of their fall, and because the prophet has still in his mind the figure of the wine jars, which were probably amphorae, pointed at the end, like those depicted in Egyptian mural paintings so that they could not stand upright without support. By their fall they are to be utterly “marred” (the term used of the girdle, Jer 13:9).

But even yet one way of escape lies open. It is to sacrifice their pride, and yield to the will of Iahvah. “Hear ye and give ear, be not haughty! for Iahvah hath spoken: give ye to Iahvah your God the glory, before it grow dark (or He cause darkness), and before your feet stumble upon mountains of twilight; and ye wait for the dawn, and He make it gloom, turning it to cloudiness!”. {Isa 5:30; Isa 8:20; Isa 8:22; Amo 8:9} It is very remarkable that even now, when the Chaldeans are actually in the country, and blockading the strong places of southern Judah (Jer 13:19), which was the usual preliminary to an advance upon Jerusalem itself, {2Ch 12:4; 2Ch 32:9; Isa 36:1-2} Jeremiah should still speak thus; assuring his fellow citizens that confession and self-humiliation before their offended God might yet deliver them from the bitterest consequences of past misdoing. Iahvah had indeed spoken audibly enough, as it seemed to the prophet, in the calamities that had already befallen the country; these were an indication of more and worse to follow, unless they should prove efficacious in leading the people to repentance. If they failed, nothing would be left for the prophet but to mourn in solitude over his countrys ruin (Jer 13:17). But Jeremiah was fully persuaded that the Hand that had stricken could heal; the Power that had brought the invaders into Judah, could cause them to “return by the way that they had come”. {Isa 37:34} Of course such a view was unintelligible from the standpoint of unbelief; but then the standpoint of the prophets is faith.

3. After this general appeal for penitence, the discourse turns to the two exalted persons whose position and interest in the country were the highest of all: the youthful king, and the empress or queen mother. They are addressed in a tone which, though not disrespectful, is certainly despairing. They are called upon, not so much to set the example of penitence, {cf. Jon 3:6} as to take up the attitude of mourners {Job 2:13; Isa 3:26; Lam 2:10; Eze 26:16} in presence of the public disasters. “Say thou to the king and to the empress, Sit ye low on the ground! (lit. make low your seat; cf. Isa 7:1-25 for the construction) for it is fallen from your heads-your beautiful crown! {Lam 5:16} The cities of the south are shut fast, and there is none that openeth: {Jos 6:1} Judah is carried away captive all of her, she is wholly carried away.” There is no hope; it is in vain to expect help; nothing is left but to bemoan the irreparable. The siege of the great fortresses of the south country and the sweeping away of the rural population were sure signs of what was coming upon Jerusalem. The embattled cities themselves may be suggested by the fallen crown of beauty; Isaiah calls Samaria “the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,” {Isa 28:1} and cities are commonly represented in ancient art by female figures wearing mural crowns. In that case, both verses are addressed to the sovereigns, and the second is exegetical of the first.

As already observed, there is here no censure, but only sorrowful despair over the dark outlook. In the same way, Jeremiahs utterance {Jer 22:20 sqq.} about the fate of Jehoiachin is less a malediction than a lament. And when we further consider his favourable judgment of the first body of exiles, who were carried away with this monarch soon after the time of the present oracle (chapter 24), we may perhaps see reason to conclude that the surrender of Jerusalem to the Chaldeans on this occasion was partly due to his advice. The narrative of Kings, however, is too brief to enable us to come to any certain decision about the circumstances of Jehoiachins submission. {2Ki 24:10-12}

4. From the sovereigns the prophet turns to Jerusalem. “Lift up thine eyes (O Jerusalem), and behold them that came from the north! Where is the flock that was given to thee, thy beautiful sheep? What wilt thou say when He shall appoint over thee-nay, thou thyself hast spurred them against thyself!-lovers {Jer 3:4; Jer 11:19} for head? Will not pangs take thee, as a woman in travail?” Jerusalem sits upon her hills, as a beautiful shepherdess. The country towns and unwalled villages lay about her, like a fair flock of sheep and goats entrusted to her care and keeping. But now these have been destroyed and their pastures are made a silent solitude, and the destroyer is advancing against herself. What pangs of shame and terror will be hers, when she recognises in the enemy triumphing over her grievous downfall the heathen “friends” whose love she had courted so long! Her sin is to be her scourge. She shall be made the thrall of her foreign lovers. Iahvah will “appoint them over her”; {Jer 15:3; Jer 51:27} they will become the “head,” and she the “tail.” {Deu 28:44} Yet this will, in truth, be her own doing, not Iahvahs; she has herself “accustomed them to herself,” {Jer 10:2} or “instructed” or “spurred them on” against herself. {Jer 2:33; Jer 4:18} The revolt of Jehoiakim, his wicked breach of faith with Nebuchadrezzar, had turned friends to enemies. {Jer 4:30} But the chief reference seems to be more general-the continual craving of Judah for foreign alliances and foreign worships. “And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore did these things befall me? through the greatness of thy guilt were thy skirts uncovered, thine heels violated {Nah 3:5} or exposed. Will a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? ye, too, are ye able to do good, O ye that are wont to do evil? If, amid the sharp throes of suffering, Jerusalem should still fail to recognise the moral cause of them, {Jer 5:19} she may be assured beforehand that her unspeakable dishonour is the reward of her sins; that is why “the virgin daughter of Sion” is surprised and ravished by the foe (a common figure: Isa 47:1-3). Sin has become so ingrained in her that it can no more be eradicated than the blackness of an African skin, or the spots of a leopards hide. The habit of sinning has become a second nature,” and, like nature, is not to be expelled. {cf. Jer 8:4-7}

The effect of use and wont in the moral sphere could hardly be expressed more forcibly, and Jeremiahs comparison has become a proverb. Custom binds us all in every department of life; it is only by enlisting this strange influence upon the side of virtue, that we become virtuous. Neither virtue nor vice can be pronounced perfect, until the habit of either has become fixed and invariable. It is the tendency of habitual action of any kind to become automatic, and it is certain that sin may attain such a mastery over the active powers of a man that its indulgence may become almost an unconserous exercise of his will, and quite a matter of course. But this fearful result of evil habits does not excuse them at the bar of common sense, much less at the tribunal of God. The inveterate sinner, the man totally devoid of scruple, whose conscience is, as it were, “seared with a hot iron,” is not on that account excused by the common judgment of his kind; the feeling he excites is not forbearance, but abhorrence; he is regarded not as a poor victim of circumstances over which he has no control, but as a monster of iniquity. And justly so; for if he has lost control of his passions, if he is no longer master of himself, but the slave of vice, he is responsible for the long course of self-indulgence which has made him what he is. The prophets comparison cannot be applied in support of a doctrine of immoral fatalism. The very fact that he makes use of it, implies that he did not intend to be understood in such a sense. “Will a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? Ye also (supposing such a change as that) will be able to do good, O ye that are taught (trained, accustomed) to do evil!” (perhaps the preferable rendering).

Not only must we abstain from treating a rhetorical figure as a colourless and rigorous proposition of mathematical science; not only must we allow for the irony and the exaggeration of the preacher: we must also remember his object, which is, if possible, to shock his hearers into a sense of their condition, and to awaken remorse and repentance even at the eleventh hour. His last words (Jer 13:27) prove that he did not believe this result, improbable as it was, to be altogether impossible. Unless some sense of sin had survived in their hearts, unless the terms “good” and “evil,” had still retained a meaning for his countrymen, Jeremiah would hardly have laboured still so strenuously to convince them of their sins.

For the present, when retribution is already at the doors, when already the Divine wrath has visibly broken forth, his prevailing purpose is not so much to suggest a way of escape as to bring home to the heart and conscience of the nation the true meaning of the public calamities. They are the consequence of habitual rebellion against God. “And I will scatter them like stubble passing away to before: {cf. Jer 19:10} the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot (fem. thine, O Jerusalem), the portion of thy measures (others: lap) from Me, saith Iahvah; because thou forgattest Me, and didst trust in the Lie. And I also-I will surely strip thy skirts to thy face, and thy shame shall be seen! {Nah 3:5} Thine adulteries and thy neighings, the foulness of thy fornications upon the hills in the field {Jer 3:2-6}-I have seen thine abominations. For the construction, compare Isa 1:13. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! After how long yet wilt thou not become clean?”. {2Ki 5:12-13} That which lies before the citizens in the near future is not deliverance, but dispersion in foreign lands. The onset of the foe will sweep them away, as the blast from the desert drives before it the dry stubble of the cornfields. {Jer 4:11-12} This is no chance calamity, but a recompense allotted and meted out by Iahvah to the city that forgot Him and “trusted in the Lie” of Baal worship and the associated superstitions. The city that dealt shamefully in departing from her God, and dallying with foul idols, shall be put to shame by Him before all the world (Jer 13:26 recurring to the thought of Jer 13:22, but ascribing the exposure directly to Iahvah). Woe-certain woe-awaits Jerusalem; and it is but a faint and far off glimmer of hope that is reflected in the final question, which is like a weary sigh: “After how long yet wilt thou not become clean?” How long must the fiery process of cleansing go on, ere thou be purged of thine inveterate sins? It is a recognition that the punishment will not be exterminative; that Gods chastisements of His people can no more fail at last than His promises; that the triumph of a heathen power and the disappearance of Iahvahs Israel from under His heaven cannot be the final phase of that long eventful history which begins with the call of Abraham.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary