CHAPTER XIII _This chapter contains an entire prophecy. The symbol of the_ _linen girdle, left to rot for a considerable time, was a type_ _of the manner in which the glory of the Jews should be marred_ _during the course of their long captivity_, 1-11. _The scene of hiding the girdle being lai... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:4. _GO TO EUPHRATES, AND HIDE IT THERE_] Intending to point out, by this distant place, the _country_ into which they were to be carried away captive.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:7. _AND BEHOLD, THE GIRDLE WAS MARRED; IT WAS PROFITABLE_ _FOR NOTHING._] This symbolically represented the state of the Jews: they were corrupt and abominable; and God, by sending them into captivity, "marred the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem," Jeremiah 13:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:12. _EVERY BOTTLE SHALL BE FILLED WITH WINE?_] The bottles were made for the purpose of being filled with wine; and it is likely, from the promising appearance of the _season_ and the _grapes_, that there was a great likelihood of a _copious_ _vintage_; and this made them say, "Do... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:13. _BEHOLD, I WILL FILL ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THIS_ _LAND - WITH DRUNKENNESS._] You pretend to take this _literally_, but it is a _symbol_. _You_, and your _kings_, and _priests_, and _prophets_, are represented by these bottles. The _wine_ is God's _wrath_ against you, which sha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:16. _GIVE GLORY TO - GOD_] Confess your sins and turn to him, that these sore evils may be averted. _WHILE YE LOOK FOR LIGHT_] While ye expect _prosperity_, he turned it into the _shadow of death_ - sent you adversity of the most _distressing_ and _ruinous kind_. _STUMBLE UPON TH... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:17. _MY SOUL SHALT WEEP IN SECRET PLACES_] If you will not hearken to the Lord, there is no remedy: destruction must come; and there is nothing left for me, but to go in secret, and mourn and bewail your wretched lot.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:18. _SAY UNTO THE KING AND TO THE QUEEN_] Probably Jeconiah and his mother, under whose tutelage, being young when he began to reign, he was left, as is very likely. _SIT DOWN_] Show that ye have _humbled_ yourselves; for your state will be destroyed, and your glorious crown taken... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:19. _THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH SHALL BE SHUT UP_] Not only the cities of the _north_, the quarter at which the Chaldeans entered, but the cities of the _south_ also; for he shall proceed from one extremity of the land to the other, spreading devastation every where, and carrying off... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:20. _WHERE_ IS _THE FLOCK - THY BEAUTIFUL FLOCK?_] Jerusalem is addressed. Where are the prosperous multitudes of men, women, and children? Alas! are they not driven before the Babylonians, who have taken them captive?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:21. _THOU HAST TAUGHT THEM_ TO BE _CAPTAINS_, AND _AS CHIEF_ _OVER THEE_] This is said of their enemies, whether Assyrians or Chaldeans: for ever since Ahaz submitted himself to the king of Assyria, the kings of Judah never regained their _independence_. Their enemies were thus tau... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:22. _ARE THY SKIRTS DISCOVERED_] Thy defenceless state is every where known; thou art not only _weak_, but ignominiously so. It is thy _scandal_ to be in so depressed a condition; thou art lower than the basest of thy adversaries, and thou art so because of thy sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:23. _CAN THE ETHIOPIAN CHANGE HIS SKIN_] Can a _black_, at his own pleasure, change the _colour_ of his _skin_? Can the _leopard_ at will change the _variety_ of his _spots_? These things are natural to them, and they cannot be altered; so sin, and especially your attachment to id... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:24. _THE WIND OF THE WILDERNESS._] Some strong tempestuous wind, proverbially severe, coming from the desert to the south of Judea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:25. _TRUSTED IN FALSEHOOD._] In _idols_, and in _lying_ _prophets_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:26. _THEREFORE WILL I DISCOVER THY SKIRTS UPON THY FACE_] It was the custom to punish lewd women by stripping them naked, and exposing them to public view; or by throwing their clothes over their heads, as here intimated. Was this the way to correct the evil?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 13:27. _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 _im... [ Continue Reading ]