Jeremiah 13:16

Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. GIVE GLORY TO THE LORD - show by repentance and obedience to God that you revere His majesty. So Joshua exhorted Achan to "give glory to God" (Joshua 7:19) by confessing his crime, thereby showing he revered the all-knowing God. BEFORE HE CAUSE DARKNESS, AND BEFORE YOUR FEET STUMBLE UPON THE DARK MOUNTAINS - image from travelers stumbling into a fatal abyss when overtaken by nightfall (Isaiah 59:9; Amos 8:9). DARK MOUNTAINS - li...

Jeremiah pursues the subject, which we began to explain yesterday, for he saw that the Jews were but little moved by what he taught them. He bid them. to regard what he said as coming from God, and told them that they could by no means succeed by their pride. For the same purpose he now adds, _Give glory to Jehovah your God _To give glory to God is elsewhere taken for confessing the truth in his name; for when Joshua abjured Achan, he used these words, “Give glory to God, my son;” that is, As I have set God before you as a judge, beware lest you should think that if you lie you can escape his judgment. (Joshua 7:19) But here, to give glory to God, is the same as to ascribe to him what properly belongs to him, or to acknowledge his power so as to be submissive to his word: for if we deny faith to the prophets; we rob God of his glory, as we thus disown his power, and, as far as we can, di...

12-17 As the bottle was fitted to hold the wine, so the sins of the people made them vessels of wrath, fitted for the judgments of God; with which they should be filled till they caused each other's destruction. The prophet exhorts them to give glory to God, by confessing their sins, humbling themselves in repentance, and returning to his service. Otherwise they would be carried into other countries in all the darkness of idolatry and wickedness. All misery, witnessed or foreseen, will affect a feeling mind, but the pious heart must mourn most over the afflictions of the Lord's flock....

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 THE DARK MOUNTAINS_] Before you meet with those great _obstacles_, which, having no _light_ - no proper understanding in the matter, ye shall be utterly unable to surmount....

THE DARK MOUNTAINS - Rather, “the mountains of twilight.” Judah is not walking upon the safe highway, but upon dangerous mountains: and the dusk is closing round her. While then the light still serves let her return unto her God. AND, WHILE YE LOOK ... - Translate, “and ye wait for light, and He turn it (the light) into the shadow of death, yea change it into clouded darkness.”...

EXPOSITION The chapter falls into two parts—the one describing a divinely commanded action of the prophet, symbolical of the approaching rejection of the Jewish people, the other announcing in literal language the ruin especially of the king and the queen-mother, and emphasizing the inveterate corruption which rendered such a blow necessary. The mention of the queen-mother (see Jeremiah 13:18) renders it probable that Jehoiachin is the king under whom the prophecy was composed. It is true that other kings besides Jehoiachin ascended the throne in the lifetime of their mother; but the express and repeated mention of the queen-mother in the account of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:15; comp....

GIVE GLORY TO THE LORD YOUR GOD,.... By confessing sin unto him; by humiliation for it before him; by believing what he says, hearkening to his word, and obeying his commands, and living to his honour and glory; see Joshua 7:19, especially by believing in Christ, the true God, and true Messiah, embracing his Gospel, and his ordinances: BEFORE HE CAUSE DARKNESS; before the Lord brings on the dark dispensation threatened, the calamity before spoken of; repent while space is given, before it is too late; so the Targum, "before tribulation comes upon you, and ye be like to those that walk in darkness.'' The Babylonish captivity may be meant, which was a dark day with the Jews, as is their present case, and which may be included; and it is applicable to any dark state of the church of God, such as may be now apprehended as near, through the spread of Pope

CHAPTER 13 Signs, Warnings, and Exhortations _ 1. The linen girdle and the filled bottles (Jeremiah 13:1) _ 2. Hear and give glory (Jeremiah 13:15) 3. The justice of the judgment (Jeremiah 13:22) Jeremiah 13:1. 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 vision, or did the prophet actually make the long journey to the Euphrates and then repeat it after many

ISRAEL'S PRIDE. The prophet warns against the arrogancy that persistently refuses to obey (_i.e._ give glory to; _cf._ 1 Samuel 6:5) Yahweh, and compares the disobedient with travellers on mountain paths, who wait vainly in the twilight for light, until the night falls (Jeremiah 13:16 _mgg)._ He is filled with grief at their coming captivity....

DARKNESS. Hebrew. _nephesh._. _Homonym,_ with two meanings (darkness and daylight). See note on 1 Samuel 30:17....