Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 13:27
I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, [and] thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?
27. thou wilt not, etc.] rather, How long will it be, ere thou be made clean?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And thine abominations – Even thy abominations. The prophet sums up the three charges against Judah, namely, spiritual adultery, inordinate eagerness after idolatry (see the note at Jer 5:7 note), and shameless participation in pagan orgies.
In the fields – in the field, the open, unenclosed country (see Jer 6:25; Jer 12:4).
Wilt thou not … once be? – Or, how long yet ere thou be made clean! These words explain the teaching of Jer 13:23. Repentance was not an actual, but a moral impossibility, and after a long time Judah was to be cleansed. It was to return from exile penitent and forgiven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 13:27
O Jerusalem I wilt thou not he made clean?
The necessity of holiness
I. The question.
1. It is of great importance to be cleansed from the filth of sin, and is what should be sought after with the utmost seriousness (Eze 36:25).
2. Cleansing the heart from sin is the work of God. He that cleanses from guilt, must also cleanse us from corruption; and Christ is made unto us sanctification, as well as righteousness and redemption (Tit 3:4-6).
3. God has much at heart the sanctification of His people (Isa 48:18).
4. Our own unwillingness is the great hindrance to our sanctification. When the will is gained, the man is gained; and those who will be made clean are in part made so already.
5. Yet the obstinacy of the will shall not prevent the purposes of grace: Gods design shall be accomplished, notwithstanding all.
II. The various answers which will be made.
1. Some are willing to be delivered from the punishment of sin, but not from its power. Those who would have the former without the latter, are likely to have neither.
2. Others would be cleansed outwardly, but not inwardly. No prayers, lastings, pilgrimages, penances, nor any other external performances, can supply the want of internal holiness. The sepulchre, however painted and adorned, is but a sepulchre still.
3. Some would be made partly clean, but not wholly so.
4. Some would be made clean, but they do not like Gods way of doing it, or the means He uses for this purpose.
5. There are some who would be made clean, but it must be hereafter. Like Saint Austin, who prayed to be delivered from his easily besetting sin, but added, Not yet, Lord!
6. More awful still: some speak out and say, they will not be cleansed at all. They prefer sin and hell to holiness and heaven.
7. Put this question to the real Christian, or the truly awakened sinner, whose conscience has been filled with remorse for his past transgressions, and who has found a compliance with the call of every lust to be the severest bondage Wilt thou be made clean? Yea, Lord, says he, with all my heart! When shall it once be? This very instant, if I might have my wish. It is what I pray for, wait for, and strive after; nor can I have a moments rest till I obtain it. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
God is desirous of saving men
I. The woes which impenitent sinners have reason to expect. The punishment that awaits sinners is most tremendous. The loss of heaven is one part of it: and who shall declare how great a loss this is?
II. How unwilling God is to inflict them. He complains of mens obstinacy in rejecting the overtures of His mercy. Long has He waited to no purpose: yet still He waiteth to be gracious unto us. He stands at the door of our hearts, and knocks. Address–
1. Those who imagine that they have no need of cleansing. Let none entertain such proud conceits. The best amongst us, no less than the worst, need to be washed in the blood of Christ and be renewed by His Spirit; and without this cleansing, must inevitably perish.
2. Those who are unwilling to be cleansed.
3. Those who desire the cleansing of their souls. It is the blood of Christ alone that can cleanse from the guilt of sin; and the Spirit of Christ alone that can cleanse from the power and pollution of sin. To apply these effectually, we must embrace the promises, and rest upon them, trusting in God to accomplish them to our souls. (Theological Sketchbook.)
Soul cleansing
1. The great need of the soul.
2. The great helplessness of the soul.
3. The great grace of God.
4. The great drawback on our part.
5. 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.)
Gods desire to bless the sinner
I. Mans uncleanness–
1. In heart;
2. In life;
3. In religion.
II. Gods desire that he should be clean.
III. His expostulation with s.
IV. Our refusal.
V. Gods condemnation. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
A hopeful question
It would seem as if the prophet were speaking the language of despair; but a little rearrangement of the translation will show that the prophet is really not giving up all hope: Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? Shall there not at the very end be a vital change in thee? When the day is drawing to a close shalt thou not feel the power of the Holy One, and respond to it? Shalt thou not be born as a child at eventide? So the spirit of the Bible is a spirit of hopefulness. It will not lose any man so long as it can keep hold of him. It is a mother-like book, it is a most shepherdly book, it will not let men die if they can be kept alive. Here is the Gospel appeal: Wilt thou not be made clean? Here is no urging upon Jerusalem to clean herself, to work out her own regeneration, to throw off her own skin, and to cleanse her own characteristic spots and taints and stains. These words convey an offer, point to a process, preach a Gospel. Hear the answer from the leper: Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. There is a river the streams whereof receive all our diseases, and still the river flows like crystal from the throne of God. We know what the great kind sea is. It receives all the nations, gives all the empires a tonic, and yet rolls round the world an untainted blessing. The question addressed to each heart is, Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? Shall it not be at once? Shall it not be at the very end? Shall not the angels have yet to report even concerning the worst, last of men, the festers of moral creation, Behold, he prayeth! The intelligence would vibrate throughout heaven, and give a new joy to eternity. (J. Parker, D. D.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. I have seen thine adulteries] Thy idolatries of different kinds, practised in various ways; no doubt often accompanied with gross debauchery.
Wo unto thee, O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean?] We see from this, that though the thing was difficult, yet it was not impossible, for these Ethiopians to change their skin, for these leopards to change their spots. It was only their obstinate refusal of the grace of God that rendered it impossible. Man cannot change himself; but he may pray to God to do it, and come to him through Christ, that he may do it. To enable him to pray and believe, the power is still at hand. If he will not use it, he must perish.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Some think the prophet here reflects upon them for their corporal adulteries, and their madness upon them, which he compareth to the
neighings of horses; but those words
on the hills in the fields in the next clause seem to inform us that he means here only their idolatries, which are in holy writ often compared to adulteries, which are the greatest sins in their kind, the greatest violations of the marriage covenant, and provocations of persons in conjugal relation, and the only cause of lawful divorce. He concludes with pathetical interrogations, intimating that yet there was hope if they would reform; and though. giving over their case almost as desperate, and not knowing what would not be, yet he leaves no means untried, but asks them if it was not yet time, or when such a thing might be hoped for at their hands.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. neighings (Jer5:8), image from the lust of horses; the lust after idolsdegrades to the level of the brute.
hillswhere, as beingnearer heaven, sacrifices were thought most acceptable to the gods.
wilt thou not . . . ?whenliterally, “thou wilt not be made clean afterhow long a time yet.” (So Jer13:23). Jeremiah denies the moral possibility of one solong hardened in sin becoming soon cleansed. But see Jer 32:17;Luk 18:27.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have seen thine adulteries,…. Not literally such, though they were greatly guilty of that sin; but figuratively, their idolatries:
thy neighings; expressive of their strong desires after other gods, like that of adulterers and adulteresses after one another; and both which are like the neighing of horses. Kimchi thinks this designs their rejoicing in their evil works:
the lewdness of thy whoredom; their sinful thoughts, and wicked desires, which were continually after their idols and idolatrous practices:
and thine abominations on the hills in the fields; their idols, which were abominable to God, and ought to have been so to them; and which they placed on high hills, and there worshipped them; all which were seen and known by the Lord, nor could it be denied by them; and this was the reason of their being carried captive, and therefore could not complain they had been hardly dealt with; yea, notwithstanding all this, the Lord expresses a tender and compassionate concern for them:
woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! sad will be thy case, dreadful are the calamities coming upon thee, unless thou repentest:
wilt thou not be made clean? wilt thou show no concern, land make use of no means to be cleansed, nor seek for it, where it is to be had? neither repent of sin, nor reform from it, nor seek to God for his grace, signified by clean water; or to the blood of Christ, the fountain opened, which cleanses from it:
when shall it once be? some instances there were of it in the times of Christ and his apostles; but it will not be completely done until they seek the Lord, and his Christ, and fear him, and his goodness, in the latter day; when they shall turn unto him, and all Israel shall be saved; or, “thou wilt not be cleansed after a long time” w; this the Lord foresaw, and therefore pronounces her case sad and miserable.
w “non mundaberis quousque adhuc, [vel] post quantum adhuc tempus”, Schmidt; “non mundaberis posthac aliquamdiu”; so some in Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here the Prophet explains at large what I have before stated, — that the people were justly punished by God, though very grievously, because they had provoked God, not at one time only, but for a long time, and had obstinately persisted in their evil courses. Moreover, as their sins were various, the Prophet does not mention them all here; for we have seen elsewhere, that they were not only given to superstitions, but also to whoredoms, drunkenness, plunders, and outrages; but here he only speaks of their superstitions, — that having rejected God, they followed their own idols. For by adulteries he no doubt means idolatries; and he does not speak here of whoredom, which yet prevailed greatly among the people; but he only condemns them for having fallen away into ungodly and false forms of worship. To the same thing must be referred what follows, thy neighings; for by this comparison, we know, is set forth elsewhere, by way of reproach, that furious ardor with which the Jews followed their own inventions. The word indeed sometimes means exultation; for the verb צהל, tsel, is to exult; but here, as in Jer 5:0 it signifies neighing.
He then says, Thy adulteries and thy neighings, etc. Now this is far more shameful than if he had said thy lusts, for by this comparison we know their crime was enhanced, because they were not merely inflamed by a violent natural lust, such as adulterers feel towards strumpets, but they were like horses or bulls: Thy adulteries then and thy neighings; and he adds, the thought of thy whoredom, etc. The word זמת, zamet, is to be taken here for thought, and this is its proper meaning. It is indeed taken sometimes in a bad sense; but the Prophet, I have no doubt, meant here to wipe off a color with which the Jews painted themselves; for they said that they intended to worship God, while they accumulated rites which were not. prescribed in the law. The Prophet therefore condemns them here as being within full of unchastity, as though he had said, “I do not only accuse you of open acts of wickedness, but ye burn also within with lust, for impiety has taken such hold on all your thoughts, that God has no place at all in you; ye are like an unchaste woman, who thinks of nothing but of her filthy lovers, and goes after her adulterers: ye are thus wholly given up to your whoredoms.
Some read the words by themselves and put them in the nominative case, “ Thy adulteries and thy neighings, and the thought of thy whoredom on the mountains;” and then they add, “In the field have I seen thine abominations.” But I prefer to take the whole together, and thus to include all as being governed by the verb ראיתי, I have seen; “Thy adulteries and thy neighings, the thought of thy whoredom on the mountains in the field have I seen, even thy abominations.” The last word is to be taken in apposition with the former words. But the Prophet introduces God here as the speaker, that the Jews might not seek evasions and excuse themselves. He therefore shews that God, whose proper office it is to examine and search the hearts of men, is the fit Judge. (101)
He mentions hills and field. Altars, we know, were then built on hills, for they thought that God would be better worshipped in groves; and hence there was no place, no wood, and even no tree, but that they imagined there was something divine in it. This is the reason why the Prophet says, that their abominations were seen by God on the hills as well as on the plains. And he adds fields, as though he had said, that the hills did not suffice them for their false worship, by which they profaned the true worship of God, but that the level fields were filled with their abominations.
We now then perceive the meaning of what is here said, that the Jews in vain tried to escape by evasions, since God declares that he had seen them; as though he had said, “Cease to produce your excuses, for I will allow nothing of what ye may bring forward, as the whole is already well known by me.” And he declares their doings to be abominations, and also adulteries and neighings.
At length he adds, Woe to thee, Jerusalem! The Prophet here confirms what we have before observed, that the Jews had no just ground of complaint, for they had provoked God extremely. Hence the particle woe intimates that they were now justly given up to destruction. And then he says, Will they never repent? But this last part is variously explained; and I know not whether it can today be fully expounded. I will however briefly glance at the meaning.
Jerome seems to have read אחרי, achri, “after me,” “Wilt thou not then return after me?” as though God here intended to exhort the Jews to return at length to him, as he was ready to be reconciled to them. But as it is simply אחרי, achri, and he may have read without the points, I do not wish to depart from what is commonly received. There is further a difficulty in the words which follow, for interpreters vary as to the import of the words מתי עד, mati od, “how long yet?” In whatever sense we may take the words, they are sufficient to confute the opinion of Jerome, which I had forgotten to mention, because the malediction in that case would be improper and without meaning, “Woe to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me?” for what can this mean? It is therefore necessary so to read as to include all the words in the sentence, “Wilt thou not hereafter or at length be made clean?” Some, however, read the words affirmatively, “Thou shalt not be cleansed hereafter,” as though it was said, “Thou shalt not be cleansed until I first drive thee into exile.” But this meaning is too refined, as I think. I therefore take the words in their simple form, Wilt thou not at length be made clean? how long yet? as though God again reproved the hardness of the people, as indeed he did reprove it. Hence he says, “Wilt thou not at length be made clean?” for I take אחרי, achri, as meaning “at length.” Then follows an amplification, מתיעד, mati od, “how long yet?” (102) that is, “Wilt thou never make an end? and can I not at length obtain this from thee, since I have so often exhorted thee, and since thou seest that I make no end of exhorting thee? how long yet shall thy obstinacy continue, so that I cannot subdue thee by my salutary admonitions?” This is the meaning.
(101) In all the versions, as well as in the Targum, the words in the beginning of this verse, as far as “whoredom,” are read in apposition with “shame” in the preceding verse, and what follows as connected with the verb “I have seen,” in this manner, —
On hills in the field have I seen thy abominations.
Another arrangement, suggested by Gataker, is more consonant with the Hebrew style, by considering the substantive verb to be understood in the first clause, as follows, —
27. Thy adulteries and thy neighings, The scheming of thy fornication, Have been on hills in the field; I have seen thine abominations.
The word זמת, which I render “scheming,” is from a verb which means to devise, to contrive, to scheme, to plot. It is rendered “wickedness” by the Vulgate, “alienation” by the Septuagint, “fornication” by the Syriac, and “design” or counsel by the Targum. It never means “lewdness.” It seems to mean here the contrivances and devices formed by those given to fornication. Blayney considers it a verb in the second person: he connects the first line with the preceding verse, and renders thus what follows, —
Thou hast devised thy whoredom upon the hills, In the fields I have seen thine abominations.
The simplicity of this order recommends it, but the former seems preferable. — Ed.
(102) The meaning seems to be right, but it is better to construe אחרי, “after,” with these words, —
Woe to thee, Jerusalem! thou wilt not be cleansed After what time wilt it yet be?
Literally it may be rendered, “After when yet?” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) Thine adulteries.The words refer primarily to the spiritual adultery of the idolatries of Judah. The neighings, as in Jer. 2:24; Jer. 5:8, express the unbridled eagerness of animal passion transferred in this passage to the spiritual sin. The abominations on the hills are the orgiastic rites of the worship of the high places, which are further described as in the field to emphasise their publicity.
Wilt thou not be made clean?Better, thou wilt not be cleansed; after how long yet? Sad as the last words are, they in some measure soften the idea of irretrievable finality, Will the time ever come, and if so, when? Like the cry addressed to God, How long, O Lord . . . (Rev. 6:10), it implies a hope, though only just short of despair.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 13:27. Woe unto thee, &c. The prophet here expresses in the strongest manner his hopes and his desires for the repentance and reformation of this people. The original is remarkably emphatical, acharei mathai od, when once? The aposiopesis is peculiarly beautiful and expressive.
REFLECTIONS.1st, They who stopped their ears against the prophet’s words, have now a sign before their eyes, if any means might be found to fasten conviction upon their hearts. We have,
1. The sign. A linen girdle, or sash, which the prophet is commanded to procure and wear; and which would be the more taken notice of, as his rough garments were unused to be bound with such finery. No water must touch it; but when worn awhile, he must go to the river Euphrates, and hide it in a hole in the rock, where, by the rising and falling of the river, it would become wet and dry, and rot the sooner. After a while he is sent to fetch it thence, and found it spoiled and rotten. Interpreters are divided concerning this matter, whether it was only done in vision, as Eze 8:3; Eze 11:24 or real. The former seems more generally received, because of the length of the way, and the time required to be spent in the journey, when his presence at home was so necessary.
2. The explanation. God had chosen Israel, and caused them to cleave unto him, as a girdle about the loins of a man; intimating how near and dear they were to him; brought into a state of most intimate communion with him, permitted to enter into the courts of his house, favoured with his presence, and engaged by innumerable favours to cleave to him in all fidelity and love, that they might be to him for a people, a peculiar people; for a name renowned in the earth, and to shew forth his praise and glory; and thus, like the curious girdle of the ephod, be ornamental to their profession, and an honour to their holy religion. But they would not hear; and therefore he threatens to mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem, especially elated with having the temple in the midst of her; but the higher their pride rose, the lower shall their fall be. Since they had corrupted their ways by wickedness, and refused to hear the words of God’s prophets, following their own vain imaginations, and sunk into abominable idolatries, God will utterly consume them, and make them vile as that girdle of rags. Note; (1.) The greater the mercies are that we enjoy, the greater are our obligations to be faithful. (2.) God’s service is the highest honour; and while we are most solicitous to glorify him, we at the same time gain for ourselves that great name which is worth our ambition. (3.) It is folly to pretend a relation to God as his people, if we are not to him for a praise. (4.) Whatever we are proud of, whether parts, gifts, station, wealth, or power, God regards such self-complacence with abhorrence; and what turned angels into devils, will make men who imitate their sins companions in their sufferings.
2nd, We have,
1. Another judgment threatened, under the figure of bottles filled with wine. They were filled with drunkenness, and they shall be filled with wrath: not understanding the prophet’s meaning, they seem to ridicule it; Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine; this is not such a strange thing that it need be ushered in with such pomp, as thus saith the Lord God of Israel; but let them wait the explanation, and it will be found momentous; for God threatens to fill all the inhabitants of the land, king, priests, prophets, and people, high and low, with drunkenness, with a spirit of infatuation, which will have the same effect upon them as wine; their counsels shall be confounded, they shall stagger, be weak as a drunken man, and be made sick with smiting; dashed one against another with intestine quarrels, they shall help forward their own ruin, even the fathers and the sons together; I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them with an utter destruction. Note; Drunkards are chief among those whose damnation slumbereth not.
2. An admonition given them of God, to humble themselves before it was too late. Be not proud, above being taught, or too stubborn to bend to reproof. Yea, the king and queen are called upon to set their subjects the example, and to sit down in the dust; and there, confessing their sins, and acknowledging the justice of their sufferings, to give glory to God before he come forth in judgment, and cause darkness, giving them up to the Babylonish captivity; and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, or the mountains of gloominess; referring to the afflictions which they should suffer; and while ye look for light, a gleam of prosperity, and assistance from their confederates, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness, overwhelming them with their calamities and disappointments, and sinking them in despair. For, unless they prevented their doom by a timely repentance, it is determined that your principalities shall come down, all the power and dignity in which they prided themselves and confided, even the crown of your glory, plucked from the king’s head with all the ensigns of royalty, and he, among the rest, led into an inglorious captivity. Note; (1.) They who are too proud to bend, are not too high to be broken. (2.) If sinners will not give God glory by their penitence, he will glorify himself in their perdition. (3.) There is no escaping God’s judgments by attempting to fly from them; the only door of hope is in humiliation to fly to him. (4.) The vain hopes of sinners will serve but to aggravate their misery, and to increase their confusion. (5.) It becomes those who are most exalted to set the gracious example; kings are not too great to sit in the dust, when God calls to weeping and mourning for the sins of the land.
3. The prophet expresses the unspeakable grief that it would give him to see them reject the divine admonitions. If ye will not hear it, and obey, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; to some lonely solitude he would retire, and pour out his griefs before God, since it was vain to expostulate with them. That pride and stubbornness of which they would not repent, he with tears would bewail, and weep sore for those desolations which they would not believe, nor seek to avert, because the Lord’s flock, for such they had once been, is carried away captive; and hereby God would be dishonoured and blasphemed, which especially affected the prophets heart. Note; (1.)They who know the terrors of the Lord themselves, cannot but tremble for those who appear insensible of their danger. (2.) The sins of their people cause many an aching heart to God’s ministers, and they mourn exceedingly over those whom they cannot reform.
4. Their ruin was inevitable. Their cities (which lay south of Babylon) shall be shut up, either besieged, or left without inhabitant, and their captivity be complete. In Jehoiakim’s time some were carried away, but in Zedekiah’s none shall be left. The terrible army of invaders is already in view, coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? once so distinguished with every mark of God’s favour and regard, and the glory of the whole earth, now dispersed and scattered, and their place is no more found. What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? how speechless would they be found before God, when by the Chaldean sword he should arise to visit their iniquities? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee; having invited them into their country formerly, and thereby opened a door for their conquests, 2Ki 16:7. Shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail? sorrows, sudden, terrible, and unavoidable, would then seize on this devoted Judea. Note; (1.) They who have the charge of others committed to them, parents, magistrates, and especially ministers, should often think of the solemn account which they must one day give before the great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls. (2.) They who have rejected God’s admonitions will be speechless in the day of their visitation.
3rdly, It is here foretold, as before, that captivity awaited them, when naked and barefoot they should be led away, confounded and ashamed before their conquerors. In this miserable case,
1. They are represented as inquiring into the cause of their calamities: If thou say in thine heart, for God knows what passes there, Wherefore come these things upon me? either quarrelling with their afflictions and fretting against the Lord, or driven by the severity of their sufferings penitently to inquire into their cause.
2. God answers them, For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. God had not laid on them more than they had deserved; for their iniquities were great and numberless, and they utterly incorrigible: the black Ethiopian as soon might change his skin, or the leopard his spots, as they be reclaimed from their abominations, which habit and custom had ingrained, and made a second nature; or learn that good which their prophets inculcated. God had been forgotten by them, and their confidence placed on falsehood, the broken reed of Egyptian aid. Their idolatries and adulteries had been multiplied on every hill, in every field, openly and without a blush; therefore they might easily perceive the cause of their ruin. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem: for these things they are scattered as stubble before the wind of the wilderness, the Chaldean army; and this is their lot, and the portion assigned them of God, in just judgment for such impieties and impenitence. Note; (1.) God never lays upon sinners more than they deserve, but in all his judgments will be justified. (2.) Every man by nature is born like the sooty Ethiopian, black in original sin; and by practice and habit the stain is still deeper fixed in the soul. Not all the waters of the ocean can change the hue; no labours or attempts of man to cleanse himself by natural means are of any avail; the fountain of a Redeemer’s blood alone can wash this Ethiopian white, and change this leopard’s spots. (3.) Inveterate habits are very difficult to be conquered; but if we sincerely seek for divine grace, we shall find it all-sufficient.
3. The prophet expostulates once more with them; dangerous as their case was, it might not be yet utterly desperate; wilt thou not be made clean? shall no intreaty prevail, when the fountain is yet open, and God’s patience waits; when shall it once be? surely it was now high time to bethink themselves, when ruin was almost at the door. Note; (1.) The reason why sinners perish is, because they will not come to Christ that they may have life. (2.) We must be made clean, or we can never enter God’s holy place in heaven. (3.) God waits long upon sinners, and expostulates with them on their delays; and they who disappoint his patience will be left without excuse. (4.) Most men resolve sometime or other to repent; but, putting it off to a distant day, death surprises them in their sins.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1050
GOD IS DESIROUS OF SAVING MEN
Jer 13:27. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?
THROUGHOUT all the sacred writings we behold the goodness and severity of God: sometimes the one attracts our notice, and sometimes the other; and in many places, as in that before us, we are struck with the union and combination of them both. Jerusalem was the city of the living God, the residence of his peculiar people; yet he denounces woe against them: but at the same time he declares, in very pathetic language, the ardent desires of his soul to exercise mercy towards them.
From these most affecting words we shall take occasion to shew,
I.
The woes which impenitent sinners have reason to expect
This is a painful, but necessary, subject of our inquiries
The punishment that awaits sinners is most tremendous
[The loss of heaven is one part of it: and who shall declare how great a loss this is? The miseries of hell (which is the other part) are equally beyond the powers of language to describe, or of imagination to conceive ]
This, however, the impenitent have but too much reason to expect
[Woe unto thee! says my text: and this is the voice of reason [Note: There must be a difference between the righteous and the wicked.] of Scripture [Note: Against ten thousand passages to this effect, there is not one syllable that has an opposite aspect.] of experience [Note: The union of sin and misery is felt by all. Where is there a sinner that is truly happy? See Isa 57:20-21.] of the compassionate Saviour himself [Note: See how often woe is denounced, Mat 23:13-16; Mat 23:23; Mat 23:25; Mat 23:27; Mat 23:29; Mat 23:33.] What stronger evidence can any man wish for? and how blind must he be that is not convinced by it!]
But however merited and awful these woes are, we see from the text,
II.
How unwilling God is to inflict them
He complains of mens obstinacy in rejecting the overtures of his mercy
[It is their sin only that exposes them to his displeasure: were that once removed, he would rejoice over them to do them good. And whence is it that they are not cleansed from it? Has not God provided such means for their cleansing, us should certainly be effectual, if only they were applied? Has he not opened a fountain to cleanse them from guilt [Note: Zec 13:1. 1Jn 1:7. ]? Has he not promised to sprinkle them with water that should purify and renew their very inmost souls [Note: Eze 36:25-27.]? Yes: but they are averse to that purification: they hate the very means by which it is to be attained, and the regimen whereby it is to be preserved God would gladly effect the work for them, if only they would submit to it; but they will not [Note: Eze 33:11.]. Hence those complaints so often uttered by the prophets [Note: Psa 81:11-13. Jer 7:23-26.], and by Christ himself [Note: Joh 5:40. Mat 23:37.] ]
He expresses also an impatient longing for an opportunity to bless their souls
[Long has he waited to no purpose: yet still he waiteth to be gracious unto us: he stands at the door of our hearts, and knocks. His address to us is, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways i for why will we die, O house of Israel? Every day appears to him an age [Note: Hos 8:5. Jer 15:6. I am weary with repenting.]: he is at a loss, as it were, what to do, whether to give us up, or to use any further means [Note: Hos 6:4; Hos 11:8. Jer 3:4; Jer 3:19.]. The complaint in the text is scarcely less the language of despondency than of compassion; When shall it once be? It is us though he said, My patience is almost exhausted: your return to me is the most earnest desire of my soul: but I fear I shall be forced, in spite of all my efforts to save you, to abandon you at last, and to execute the judgments which you so obstinately provoke.]
Address
1.
Those who imagine that they have no need of cleansing
[What child of man has not need to be cleansed from that taint which we inherit from our first parents [Note: Job 14:4; Job 15:14; Job 25:4.]? And who has not contracted much moral defilement by means of actual transgression? Let none entertain such proud conceits. The best amongst us, no less than the worst, need to be washed in the blood of Christ, and be renewed by his Spirit; and, without this cleansing, must inevitably perish.]
2.
Those who are unwilling to be cleansed
[Many are unwilling to part with even the grossest lusts. What then must we say to them? Must we speak peace to them, instead of denouncing woes? If we were to do so, God would not confirm our word: so that we should only delude them to their ruin. But indeed they themselves would not be deluded by any such assertions: for, with whatever confidence they utter them themselves, they would not endure to hear them if uttered from the pulpit.
But it is not gross sin only that must be put away: we must be cleansed also from secret faults: whatever stops short of this, is ineffectual. The right hand, the right eye, must be sacrificed; and the whole heart be turned unto God ]
3.
Those who desire the cleansing of their souls
[It is of infinite importance that you seek this blessing aright. It is not in floods of tears that you are to be cleansed; though floods of tears are proper and desirable: it is the blood of Christ alone that can cleanse from the guilt of sin; and the Spirit of Christ alone that can cleanse from the power and pollution of sin. To apply these effectually, we must embrace the promises, and rest upon them, trusting in God to accomplish them to our souls. We must not first cleanse ourselves, and then embrace Gods promises of mercy; but first lay hold on the promises, and then, by virtue derived from them, proceed to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit [Note: 2Co 7:1. with Act 15:9.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! while reading the sad history of the Church, in this period of it, and beholding Jerusalem as a marred girdle and a bottle spoiled; oh learn from hence what nature is in itself in all ages; when the preventing and restraining grace of God is withheld! How poor, and weak, and blind, and wretched! Oh! thou who alone canst keep from falling; give me Lord I pray thee grace, that darkness come not, and my feet stumble not upon the dark mountains!
And shall not my soul take occasion from the review of this solemn Chapter, to look up to Jesus with encreasing earnestness, and beg of him for Zion in the present day? Dost thou say Lord now as thou didst by thy servant the Prophet then; where is the flock that was given, the beautiful flock? Behold it Lord, I would say, let thine eye pity and compassionate it. It is indeed scattered in this dark and cloudy day. But wilt thou not gather it, and bring it home, and build it up, and command pastors after thine own heart, to feed it with true understanding and knowledge? Oh! precious Lord Jesus, thou great Shepherd of thy sheep; be not wrath very sore, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold! see we are all thy people.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 13:27 I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, [and] thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?
Ver. 27. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? ] He closeth with this emphatic and most affectionate contestation, pressing them to hearty and speedy repentance, as he had done oft before, but with little good success. The cock crowed, though Peter still denied his Master. Peter knocked still, though Rhoda opened not to him. He launched out into the deep, though he had laboured all night for nothing. So did good Jeremiah here, in obedience to God, and goodwill to his unworthy countrymen.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
when shall it once be? = how long ere it yet be?
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thine adulteries: Jer 2:20-24, Jer 3:1, Jer 3:2, Jer 5:7, Jer 5:8, Eze 16:15-22, Eze 23:2-21, Hos 1:2, Hos 4:2, 2Co 12:21, Jam 4:4
abominations: Jer 2:20, Jer 3:2, Jer 3:6, Isa 57:7, Isa 65:7, Eze 6:13, Eze 20:28
Woe: Jer 4:13, Eze 2:10, Eze 24:6, Zep 3:1, Mat 11:21, Rev 8:13
wilt: Jer 4:14, Psa 94:4, Psa 94:8, Eze 24:13, Eze 36:25, Eze 36:37, Luk 11:9-13, 2Co 7:1
when: etc. Heb. after when yet
shall: Pro 1:22, Hos 8:5
Reciprocal: Gen 35:2 – clean Exo 32:9 – I have seen Deu 9:13 – I have Psa 51:10 – clean Jer 23:25 – heard Jer 23:26 – How Jer 29:23 – even I Jer 31:22 – How Lam 1:9 – filthiness Eze 14:6 – turn Eze 16:23 – woe Mat 23:26 – cleanse Joh 5:6 – Wilt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 13:27. Neighings is from mat shaiah, which Strong defines as follows; A whinnying (through impatience for battle or lust).’ The mild; est form of evil desire should be condemned, but this unfaithful wife was so eager for the sinful indulgence that she manifested her impatience for it by whining for her desired partner in lust. The same thought of increased extent in sin Is expressed by the words lewdness of thy whoredoms. The first is from zammah and Strong defines it, “A plan, especially a bad one.” To commit adultery on the occasion of the temptation that comes up unexpectedly wouid be bad enough, but this unfaithful wife planned to commit the act. A corrupt woman would accept her evil partner anywhere in the open areas, whether it be in the fields or on the hills. Likewise the people of Judah committed idolatry in the various spots where they could And or build an altar to their falBe gods. The questions in the end of the verse are for the information of the reader especially, It is an implied reminder of the thing that has often been predicted as to the cure from their idolatry. That prediction is to the effect that the nation had to be sent into captivity to be cured of the gr eat national iniquity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
13:27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy {n} neighings, the lewdness of thy harlotry, [and] thy abominations on the hills in {o} the fields. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?
(n) He compares idolaters to horses inflamed after mares.
(o) There is no place so high nor low, where the marks and signs of your idolatry do not appear.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Her citizens had behaved like adulterers and like copulating horses (cf. Jer 5:8). The Lord had seen their unfaithful, lewd behavior toward Him when they worshipped idols and practiced sacred prostitution in the open-air shrines across the land. Jerusalem was in deep trouble. How long would she continue in her wicked ways and remain unclean?! The question was expressing frustration, not requesting information.
Laments during a drought and a national defeat 14:1-15:9
Evidently droughts coincided with the Babylonian invasions from the north. Many commentators believe that the droughts and the defeat that this section describes took place at about the same time, because of what Jeremiah wrote.