Jeremiah 13
Barnes' Notes
The date of this prophecy Jeremiah 13 is fixed by the mention of the queen-mother Jeremiah 13:18 i. e., Nehushta, the mother of Jehoiachin. We have in it one of those symbolic acts by which great lessons were taught the people more impressively than by words Alter the burning of the scroll in the fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah disappeared from Jerusalem, and did not show himself there again for seven years. In the last few mournful days of Jehoiakim, he was once again seen in the streets of Jerusalem, with his prophetic robe of black camel's hair girt about with this girdle, mildewed and waterstained as the symbol of the pitiable estate of a nation which had rejected its God. His place of refuge may have been near the Euphrates. Many such acts alleged to have been performed by the prophets may have been allegories, but this we believe to have been literally true.

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.
A linen girdle - The appointed dress of the priestly order (Leviticus 16:4, ...).

Put it not in water - i. e., do not wash it, and so let it represent the deep-grained pollution of the people.

So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
In a hole of the rock - "In a cleft of the rock." As there are no fissured rocks in Babylonia, the place where Jeremiah hid the girdle must have been somewhere in the upper part of the river.

So I went, and 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 thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Many days - The seventy years' captivity.

Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
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 to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
This verse limits the application of the symbol. Only the ungodly and the idolatrous part of the people decayed at Babylon. The religious portion was strengthened and invigorated by the exile Jeremiah 24:5-7.

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.
The reason why the girdle was chosen as the symbol. Similarly, Israel was the people chosen and set apart that in and by them the Holy Spirit might work for the salvation of mankind.

Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Bottle - jar, the "potter's vessel" of Isaiah 30:14 : a new symbol, but with the same meaning, the approaching destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah 13:14.

Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, 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.
The kings ... - i. e., his successors in general. In the fall of Jerusalem four kings in succession were crushed.

And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
All orders and degrees of men in the state would be broken in indiscriminate destruction.

Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Be not proud - Both the symbols were of a nature very humiliating to the national self-respect.

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.
The dark mountains - Rather, "the mountains of twilight." Judah is not walking upon the safe highway, but upon dangerous mountains: and the dusk is closing round her. While then the light still serves let her return unto her God.

And, while ye look ... - Translate, "and ye wait for light, and He turn it (the light) into the shadow of death, yea change it into clouded 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.
The Lord's flock - The people carried away captive with Jeconiah formed the Jewish Church, as we are expressly told, whereas Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem possessed only the externals of the Church and not its reality. It is for this reason that the seventy years' exile counts from Jeconiah's captivity.

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 queen - i. e., "the queen-mother:" the word signifies literally "the great lady." The king's mother took precedence of his wives.

Sit down - The usual position of slaves.

For your principalities ... - Rather, "for the ornaments of your heads, even the crown of your majesty, shall come down."

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.
Shall be shut up - Rather, "are shut up, and no man openeth them." The cities of the Negeb, the southern district of Judah, are blockaded, with no one to raise the siege. The captivity was the inevitable result of the capture of the fortified towns. An army entering from the north would march along the Shefelah, or fertile plain near the seacoast, and would capture the outlying cities, before it attacked Jerusalem, almost inaccessible among the mountains.

Judah shall be ... - Translate, "Judah is ..."

Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
Jerusalem is asked where the cities, which once lay grouped round her, like a goodly flock of sheep, are gone? The question implies blame.

What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
Translate, "What wilt thou say, O Jerusalem, when He, Yahweh, shall set over thee for head those whom thou hast taught to be thy bosom friends?" The foreign powers, whose friendship she has been courting, will become her tyrants.

And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
Made bare - Rather, "ill-used, treated with violence." The long flowing robes worn by ladies of rank, are to be laid aside, that they might do menial work, bare-legged, like slaves. The ill-usage to the heels is the having to tramp barefoot, a thing very painful to women accustomed to the seclusion of the female apartments.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
This verse answers the question, May not Judah avert this calamity by repentance? No: because her sins are too inveterate. By the Ethiopian (Hebrew: Cushite) is meant not the Cushite of Arabia but of Africa, i. e., the negro.

Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
Stubble - Broken straw separated from the wheat after the grain had been trampled out by the oxen. Sometimes it was burned as useless; at other times left to be blown away by the wind from the desert.

This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
The portion of thy measures - i. e., "thy measured portion" Job 11:9. Others render it: "the portion of thy lap," the upper garment being constantly used for holding things Ruth 3:15.

In falsehood i. e - in idols (see the marginal reference).

Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.
Therefore will I-- literally, "And I also;" I also must have my turn, I too must retaliate. Compare Nahum 3:5.

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?
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 Jeremiah 5:7 note), and shameless participation in pagan orgies.

In the fields - "in the field," the open, unenclosed country (see Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 12:4).

Wilt thou not ... once be? - "Or, how long yet ere thou be made clean!" These words explain the teaching of Jeremiah 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.

Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes [1834].
Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive.

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