_Thus saith the Lord unto me_ The prophet here begins a new discourse. _Go and get thee a girdle_, &c. “God explains, at Jeremiah 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... [ Continue Reading ]
_Arise, go to Euphrates_ God commanded the prophet to go and hide the girdle on the bank of the Euphrates, to signify that the Jews should be carried captive over that river, called _the waters of Babylon, Psalms 137:1_. In the margin of our ancient English Bibles, it is observed, that, “because thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah_, &c. Or, as some translate the verse, “Will I mar the glory of Judah, and the great honour of Jerusalem.” I will bring down their pride and stubbornness, by making them slaves and vassals to strangers, Lamentations 5:8; Lamentations 5:13. Or, alludin... [ Continue Reading ]
_For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man_ Here God shows the prophet why he commanded him to put the girdle about his loins. _So have I caused_ Rather, _had I caused; to cleave unto me the house of Israel_ I had betrothed them to myself in righteousness, and entered into a marriage covenant... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ Because the end intended by my goodness has not been answered upon them; _thou shall speak unto them this word_ Thou shall show them the destruction coming upon them by another emblem. _Thus saith the Lord, Every bottle shall be filled with wine_ God's judgments are often represented und... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants with drunkenness_ There is a wine of astonishment and confusion, Psalms 60:3. With that wine, saith God, I will fill all orders of persons, _kings, priests, prophets_, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. _And I will dash them one against another_ I will per... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear ye_, &c. The prophet proceeds to give them good counsel, which, if it had been taken, the desolation and destruction threatened would have been prevented. _Be not proud_ Pride was one of the sins for which God had a controversy with them, Jeremiah 13:9. Let them mortify and forsake this and th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Say unto the king and queen_ That is, to _Jehoiachin_, called also _Coniah_, and his mother, who were carried captives to Babylon at the first coming of Nebuchadnezzar; see Jeremiah 22:26; 2 Kings 24:12. Some indeed suppose that Zedekiah and his mother are intended, which does not appear so probabl... [ Continue Reading ]
_The cities of the south_, &c. The cities of Judah, which lay in the southern part of Canaan, shall be straitly besieged by the enemy, so that there shall be no going in and out; or shall be deserted by the inhabitants. Or, as some think, the cities of Egypt are intended, from whence the Jews expect... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou say, Wherefore come these things upon me?_ Hypocrites will rarely confess their own shame and God's righteousness, but are ready to expostulate with him, and to inquire why he hath dealt so with them, as if he had treated them unjustly. But, saith God, _For the greatness of thine iniquity a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Can the Ethiopian change his skin_, &c. The word _Cushi_, here rendered _Ethiopian_, often signifies _Arabian_, in the Scriptures; Ethiopia being, by ancient writers, distinguished into _Eastern_ (the same with Arabia) and _Western_ Ethiopia. But here an inhabitant of the latter, that is, of Ethiop... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore will I scatter them_ Separate them from one another, and disperse them abroad in that strange and remote country to which they are carried captive; _as the stubble_, or _chaff_, rather, _that passeth away by the wind_ That is dissipated and carried far away by a fierce wind: he adds, _of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore will I discover thy skirts_ Lay thee open to shame and disgrace. See on Jeremiah 13:22. _I have seen thine adulteries_ Thy idolatries; thy inordinate desire after strange gods, which thou hast been impatient to gratify: _thy neighings_ A metaphorical expression taken from horses neighing... [ Continue Reading ]