Jeremiah 13:12-14

The spoken symbol of the bottles

A parable to indicate approaching overthrow. For intoxication as expressive of bewildered confusion and helplessness in the presence of calamity, cp. Jeremiah 25:15 f., Jeremiah 48:26; Psalms 60:3; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:21-23. Through Jehovah's judicial action they are paralysed mentally, as with strong drink, and thus made to collide to their destruction. Cp. Psalms 2:9. The date is uncertain, but a connexion in point of time with Nebuchadnezzar's victory at Carchemish (b.c. 605) is not improbable.