Jeremiah 13:20-27

E. WARNING: Pride is Punished by Disgrace

Jeremiah 13:20-27

TRANSLATION

(20) Lift up your eyes and see them who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your glorious flock? (21) What will you say when He shall appoint over you for a head the ones you trained to be friends to you. Will not pains seize you like a woman in childbirth? (22) And if you say in your heart, Why do these things happen to me? In the multitude of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered, your heels treated with violence. (23) Can an Ethiopian change his skin? and a leopard his spots? Then also you shall be able to do good who are accustomed to evil. (24) And I will scatter them as the chaff that passes away before the wind of the wilderness. (25) This is your lot, the portion measured unto you from Me (oracle of the LORD); because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood. (26) And also I will lift up your skirts over your face and shame shall be seen. (27) I have seen your adulteries, your neighings, the lewdness of your harlotry, and your abominations upon the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! You will not be clean; how long shall it yet be?

COMMENTS

Jeremiah 13:20-27 are related topically if not chronologically with the preceding two verses. In Jeremiah 13:19 all the outlying districts of Judah are depicted as having fallen to the enemy; only Jerusalem remains. Jeremiah 13:20-27 are addressed to Jerusalem. The daughter of Zion[198] is urged to take note of the invading armies from the north. Then in a series of rhetorical questions the prophet tries to make Jerusalem see the folly of her past pride. Five such questions are asked. (1) Where is the glorious flock that was given to you? (Jeremiah 13:20). In this question Jerusalem, the capital, is regarded as the shepherd of the rest of the cities of the nation. God has placed His flock under the care of the rulers of Jerusalem. The question has, of course, already been answered in the preceding verse. All the cities of Judah have fallen under enemy control. (2) What will you say when He, i.e. God, shall appoint as your head those you had cultivated as friends? The word translated head can also mean poison. Perhaps a deliberate play on words is intended. Those you thought to be your friends and allies, those whose friendship you labored so hard to secure, will become your head, master, or perhaps, your poison. (3) At that time will you not experience the terror, pain and agony of a woman in childbirth? (Jeremiah 13:21). What a terrible and frightening thing it must be to see friends turn away or turn against one in an hour of need.

[198] The Hebrew has a feminine singular verb but a masculine plural suffix on the object. This seems to be a clear indication that the person addressed is a collection of people.

(4) The fourth rhetorical question is placed in the mouth of the astonished daughter of Zion. As she begins to taste of the bitter hemlock of divine judgment she shall cry out, Why has all this happened to me? Jeremiah can answer that question. He had been giving the answer to that question for many years. Jerusalem must suffer disgrace and humiliation because of her enormous iniquity. The skirts being uncovered is a figure taken from the public shaming of a woman caught in the act of harlotry (cf. Hosea 2:10). Before being executed an adulteress seems to have been stripped of her garments in order to shame her, Even the sandals of the daughter of Zion will be removed and she will be forced to walk barefoot into captivity (Jeremiah 13:22). What disgrace, what humiliation for the proud daughter of Zion!

(5) The fifth rhetorical question is intended to offer further reason for the impending humiliation of Jerusalem: Can an Ethiopian change his skin and a leopard[199] his spots? Obviously not! Just so it is impossible for the people of Judah to do good, to obey the commands of God. Men who are unwilling to humble themselves and submit to God can do nothing good (cf. Romans 8:7-8). The inhabitants of Judah were accustomed i.e., taught or trained in the ways of evil. They were in fact students of evil! It was impossible that they could do anything to please God so long as they were in rebellion against Him.

[199] As recently as the beginning of the present century there were still leopards in the mountains of Galilee, on Carmel, in the hills around Jerusalem, and in the Jordan valley. Only a few survive today in the Galilean hills. See Illustrated world of the Bible, op. cit., III, 109.

Because Judah will not submit to God so that they might be enabled to do that which is good, God must bring judgment upon His people. They would be scattered as the chaff or stubble blown by the wind. Broken straw had to be separated from the wheat after the grain had been trampled out by oxen. The wind was used to blow away the worthless particles of chaff (Jeremiah 13:24). Because they had forgotten God and trusted in falsehood, i.e., false gods, therefore God had measured out the appropriate amount of judgment to be poured out upon Judah (Jeremiah 13:25). Jerusalem's punishment is that of the adulteress caught in the act. She is stripped that her shame might be exposed to all. This judgment is the doing of God and that is emphasized by the emphatic position of the first person pronoun (Jeremiah 13:26). God knows of Jerusalem's adulteries. The people of Judah are noted for their neighings, their passionate cravings for illegitimate objects of worship. The lewdness of the pagan rites practiced on the hills of the land He has observed. In view of all this sin and corruption Jeremiah can only pronounce a woe on Jerusalem. God for years had been offering the scarlet daughter of Zion cleansing and pardon if she would but turn to Him in sincere repentance. But even after all this time Jerusalem still prefers her filthy ways to the purity which God offers (Jeremiah 13:27).