13:22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart, Why come these things upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity are thy skirts {l} uncovered, [and] thy heels made bare.(l) The cloak of hypocrisy will be pulled off, and your shame seen. read more
“ IN THE SWELLING OF JORDAN ” God told the prophet worse was to come. The Swelling of Jordan would be experienced later, and in the present lesson, especially towards the close, we have an illustration of it. There are things of interest to look at in the meantime, for example, an illustration of that symbolic teaching mentioned earlier. In chapter 13 we have what two symbols? See Jeremiah 13:1-11 for the first and Jeremiah 13:12-14 for the second. The prophet acted these out before the... read more
Jeremiah's Questions Jeremiah 13-14 The Book of Jeremiah is full of questions. They are questions indicative of bewilderment, amazement, ignorance, hopefulness; they stand often in place of that silence which is more eloquent than speech, as if the prophet would tempt the Lord himself into reply by asking questions. Thus we tempt little children, and thus we would tempt the wisest scholars with whom we come into momentary contact, and thus adoringly would we seek to lure God into audible... read more
I interrupt not the reading of those verses, because they are connected. They contain the solemn expostulation of the Lord, in the view of their sins. They point out also the utter impossibility of the sinner's recovery by any efforts of his own, under the strong figure of the black hue of the Ethiopian, and of the spots of the leopard. But here again precious Jesus, how unspeakably blessed is it to the soul of thy redeemed, that what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh;... read more
Defiled. Thou art exposed to the brutality of the soldiers. read more
18-27 Here is a message sent to king Jehoiakim, and his queen. Their sorrows would be great indeed. Do they ask, Wherefore come these things upon us? Let them know, it is for their obstinacy in sin. We cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so is it morally impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness of the soul; it is the discolouring of it; we were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear of it by any power of our own. But Almighty grace is able to change... read more
An Exhortation with Regard to the Impending Destruction v. 12. Therefore thou shall speak unto them this word, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine, the point of comparison in this instance being the fact that the purpose of the pitchers was fulfilled when they were filled with wine, but that they at the same time were very fragile. And they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? This statement, as their... read more
CHAPTER 13Since the foregoing discourse is complete in itself, it is not correct to say that Jeremiah 11-13 form “a whole, one prophetic discourse”(Graf, S. 174). Chap. 13. on the contrary is an independent portion, but contemporaneous with the preceding. For although the cleft in the rock by the river Euphrates involves an obscure intimation of the place of exile, the enemies from the North are still spoken of indefinitely (comp. on Jeremiah 13:20). This portion therefore belongs to the period... read more
The account of this time of communion between Jeremiah and Jehovah ends with the story of how Jehovah gave him two signs, one for himself and one for the people. That for himself was the sign of the girdle which he was to wear, then to hide by Euphrates, and then to seek in order to see its worthlessness. The significance of the sign was clearly stated to him. The girdle was the emblem of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah. The second sign was a spoken one in the form of a proverb,... read more
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Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Jeremiah 13:1-27
CHAPTER 13 Signs, Warnings, and Exhortations 1. The linen girdle and the filled bottles (Jeremiah 13:1-14 ) 2. Hear and give glory (Jeremiah 13:15-21 ) 3. The justice of the judgment (Jeremiah 13:22-27 ) Jeremiah 13:1-14 . The prophet enacts a sign, that of the linen girdle. After he had put on the girdle, he was told to hide it in a hole of the rock of the Euphrates. After many days, he was commanded to dig for the girdle. It was found marred and profitable for nothing. Was this only a... read more