Introduction
We could call Jeremiah 13, the five warnings to the nations. God’s chosen people should have been living happy with their creator. They should also have been teaching the other nations about this great God. On the contrary, they were allowing the ‘other nations’ to teach them the filth of those nations. These warnings were meant, even after all this time, to let God’s people see sense but they didn’t.
The five warnings were as follows.
1. The parable of the linen belt. Jeremiah 13:1-11.
2. The parable of the wineskins. Jeremiah 13:12-14.
3. The warning against pride towards God. Jeremiah 13:15-17.
4. Warning to the king and queen mother. Jeremiah 13:18-19.
5. The warning that identified nations as their conquerors. Jeremiah 13:20-27.
A LINEN BELT
‘This is what the LORD said to me: ‘Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.’ So, I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist. Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time: ‘Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.’ So, I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me.’ Jeremiah 13:1-5
Pride was certainly the downfall of God people, however, despite God always ready to forgive they were too full of pride to correct any faults, James 4:6. To explain this, we have the parable of the linen belt or waistcoat.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Why linen? Because this was the mark of the priesthood. Because this garment represented God’s people, it had to be linen to represent the nation of God’s priests.’
The Hebrew indicates that this wasn’t an outer garment. Jeremiah is to put this on but he’s not allowed to wash it, Jeremiah 13:1. He buys a belt and puts it around his waist, Jeremiah 13:2. He is then told to take it off and go and hide it in the ground near the Perath, that is, the River Euphrates Jeremiah 13:3-4, and Jeremiah did as God told him to do, Jeremiah 13:5.
Since Jeremiah by this time in his ministry was well-known among the people, it is probable that he actually made the 500-kilometre trip to the Euphrates River in order to bury the linen belt. The Euphrates is the river of Babylon, so, we see the significance of captivity here. Up until now, God hasn’t said who was going to do this attack, He has only said, ‘from the north’, Jeremiah 10:22 / Jeremiah 13:20.
‘Many days later the LORD said to me, ‘Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.’ So, I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.’ Jeremiah 13:6-7
It was necessary for the linen belt to be buried for some days to allow it to rot, some people believe that the ‘many days’, Jeremiah 13:6, refers to the seventy years in captivity. God now tells Jeremiah to go back and to Perath and retrieve the belt he hid there, Jeremiah 13:6.
The linen belt would already be dirty because Jeremiah had been wearing it and he had been told, ‘not to let it touch water’, Jeremiah 13:1. When he digs this waistcoat up, on God’s instructions, it’s completely ruined, it’s filthy, it’s so filthy it cannot be used, Jeremiah 13:7.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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.’
‘Then the word of the LORD came to me: ‘This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.’ Jeremiah 13:8-11
God spoke to Jeremiah and tells him that He will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 13:8-9. What God seems to hate the most about His people was the worship of other gods, of idols, Jeremiah 13:10. God’s people refuse to listen to Him and stubbornly follow their own heart, Jeremiah 13:10.
It’s interesting to note that when the ‘righteous remnant’ returned from Jerusalem from Babylon, they never resorted to idol worship again, so, I guess they learned that major lesson, serve God only. God likens this belt to Israel and Judah, Jeremiah 13:11. So, the symbol here is that just as the linen belt was already filthy and useless, God’s people will become completely useless, 1 Peter 5:5-7.
It seems from the wording of this section that Jeremiah showed the rotten linen belt to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. He would have explained the symbolism of it and the people would know that Jeremiah was talking about an attack coming from the north, Jeremiah 10:22 / Jeremiah 13:20. The symbolism of ‘Euphrates’ may have given them some idea that he was talking about Babylon.
WINESKINS
‘Say to them: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all those living in Jerusalem. I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’ Jeremiah 13:12-14
God now tells Jeremiah to tell the people that every wineskin should be filled with wine, Jeremiah 13:12. However, if God’s people arrogantly say that they already know this, Jeremiah 13:12, then Jeremiah is to tell them that God is going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem, Jeremiah 13:13. God says He’s going to knock their heads together, Jeremiah 13:14.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 13:14.
‘The intoxication of all the people, rendering them helpless against all their enemies, indicated the certainty of God’s impending punishment for the people’s headstrong continuation in their licentious idolatry.’
What they then learned was that God wasn’t talking about wineskins but people all of them, Jeremiah 13:14 / Luke 1:51-52. The wineskins are the people and the wine is the wrath of God.
THREAT OF CAPTIVITY
‘Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom. If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive.’ Jeremiah 13:15-17
These are important words in this chapter because they indicate the pride of God’s people but also God’s grace in giving His people a chance to repent. Although this is Jeremiah showing his feelings, it could also be said of God. From Jeremiah 13:15, to the end, we have more verses about God’s long-suffering. God’s people are told to listen, pay attention and stop being arrogant, Jeremiah 13:15. He basically wants them to humble themselves, Micah 6:9.
Jeremiah encourages them to give glory to God before it’s too late and before there is no hope, Jeremiah 13:16. Notice he mentioned darkness, utter darkness and deep gloom, Jeremiah 13:16. We can almost feel the emotional plea from Jeremiah as he tells them if they refuse to listen, then he will weep in secret because of their pride and he will weep bitterly with many tears because God’s flock will be taken captive, Jeremiah 13:17.
‘Say to the king and to the queen mother, ‘Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.’ The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.’ Jeremiah 13:18-19
Jeremiah is now to speak to the king and the queen mother, Jeremiah 13:18. Why mention the queen’s mother?
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It indicates that the king’s mother held some kind of importance. 1 Kings 2:19, even suggests that she sat on the throne adjacent to the king. And this verse in Jeremiah suggests that she also wore a crown, Jeremiah 13:18.’
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The date of this prophecy is shown pretty clearly by the word queen-mother, namely, Nehushta, mother of Jehoiachin. The queen-mother always had a high position and, in Jehoiachin’s case, this would have been especially so, owing to the king’s young age.’
The prophet’s plea was in vain because the crown has gone, Jeremiah 13:18. The cities will be closed because all the people have gone, Jeremiah 13:19. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away Jeremiah 13:19.
‘Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted? What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labour?’ Jeremiah 13:20-21
Almost all the invaders came from the north, Jeremiah 13:20 / Jeremiah 10:22, as it was the best military entrance into Jerusalem. Hezekiah had invited the envoy from Babylon to look around his storerooms to see all the treasures of Jerusalem and in the temple, Jeremiah 13:20 / 2 Kings 20:12-19 / Isaiah 39:2-4. That’s like inviting a burglar into your home, showing him where your valuables are, telling him where you keep the front door key and also telling him you will be away on holiday next week.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 13:20.
‘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?’
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning ‘special allies’, Jeremiah 13:21.
‘The plural here indicates that both Egypt and Babylon are meant. Contrary to the warnings of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Judah’s kings had cultivated the friendship of foreign powers, seeking to make alliances with them from time to time. It will be remembered that Hezekiah had embraced Merodach-Baladan as his friend, showing him all of the treasures of the whole kingdom, Isaiah 39:1-2, and the question of this passage is, ‘What are you going to say when such a ‘friend’ becomes your king?’
Constable, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the third question in Jeremiah 13:21.
‘Jerusalem would be in agony over this situation, like a woman in labour pains.’
‘And if you ask yourself, ‘Why has this happened to me?’—it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated. Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. ‘I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.’ Jeremiah 13:22-24
This is God’s answer to the question as to why all of these things are going to happen to the nation, Jeremiah 13:22. Gods says your skirts have been torn off, which is a sign of total embarrassment and their bodies will be mistreated, which is a sign of physical punishment.
God asks, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Jeremiah 13:23. Both questions have negative answers. So, what is the meaning? It simply means the people will not change any more than a leopard can change its spots or a person of a different colour change the colour of his skin. It’s too late for them to change their ways. They have wallowed in sin all this time but now it’s too late to change, Isaiah 6:9-10 / Isaiah 55:6-8. They are going to be scattered in shame, Jeremiah 13:24.
‘This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods. I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen—your adulteries and lustful neighing’s, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?’ Jeremiah 13:25-27
What is described here is the shameful punishment of an adulterous woman, Jeremiah 13:25. Her skirts were lifted over her head to expose her nakedness, she would be smeared with filth, and driven through the city, Jeremiah 13:26 / Nahum 3:5 / Isaiah 47:2 / Ezekiel 16:37. The reason for this punishment is because of their idolatry and prostitution with false gods, Jeremiah 13:27. God saw everything that was happening on the hills and in the fields, Jeremiah 13:27
God asks, ‘How long will you be unclean?’ Jeremiah 13:27 / 2 Timothy 2:21. Some people have mixed opinions as to what this means. Some say that it means, ‘How long before Jerusalem is cleaned up?’ Others say, ‘How long before God judges His people?’
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jeremiah lived to see the actual fall of Jerusalem and He lived in the hope of what he wrote in Jeremiah 31:31-34. This concludes the five warnings that are given in this chapter. Did the nation show any indication of listening to these warnings? If they did, there are no records of this in Scripture.’