Jeremiah 13:19

The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. CITIES OF THE SOUTH - namely, south of Judea; farthest off from the enemy, who advanced from the north. SHUT UP - i:e., deserted (), so that none shall he left to open the gates to travelers and merchants again (Henderson). Rather, shut up so closely by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, sent on before (2 Kings 24:10), that none shall be allowed by the enemy to get out (cf. , "them from the North," i:e., the Babylonians"). WHOLLY - literally, fully, completely....

By the _cities of the south, _almost all understand the cities of the tribe of Judah, whose portion was towards the south; and by the cities being shut up, they consider that what is meant is, that they would be forsaken; for they say, that cities are open when they are frequented. But I am con- strained here also to take another view. I take the cities of the south to have been those of Egypt; for we know that the Jews looked there for a refuge, whenever they were attacked by the Assyrians or the Chaldeans. Since then they thought that Egypt would be to them a sort of an asylum, the Prophet declares that all these cities would be closed against them, and that there would be no one to open them; as though he had said, “The Lord will drive you out, and will prevent you to take refuge there.” He would doubtless have spoken more clearly had he meant the cities of Judah; and besides, as he w...

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 the Ethiopian's skin. Neither natural depravity, nor strong habits of sin, form an obstacle to the working of God, the new-creating Spirit. The Lord asks of Jerusalem, whether she is determined not be made clean. If any poor slave of sin feels that he could as soon change his nature as master his headstrong lusts, let him not despair; for things impossible to men are possible with God. Let us then se...

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 the inhabitants....

SHALL BE SHUT UP - Rather, “are shut up, and no man openeth them.” The cities of the Negeb, the southern district of Judah, are blockaded, with no one to raise the siege. The captivity was the inevitable result of the capture of the fortified towns. An army entering from the north would march along the Shefelah, or fertile plain near the seacoast, and would capture the outlying cities, before it attacked Jerusalem, almost inaccessible among the mountains. JUDAH SHALL BE ... - Translate, “Judah is ...”...

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....

THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH SHALL BE SHUT UP, AND NONE SHALL OPEN THEM,.... Meaning the cities of Judah, which lay in the southern part of the land of Israel, and to the south of Babylon; which might be said to be shut up, and not in the power of any to open, when besieged by the Chaldean army; or rather when destroyed, that there were none to go in and out; though some think the cities of Egypt are intended, which lay south of Judea, from whence the Jews should not have the relief they expected, and where they should find no refuge; but the former sense seems best: JUDAH SHALL BE CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE ALL OF IT; it was in part carried away in Jehoiachin's time, and wholly in Zedekiah's; which seems to be here respected: IT SHALL BE WHOLLY CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE; or, in perfections e; most perfectly and completely; the same thing is meant as before, only in different words repeated, to expres...

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

CITIES. So in Codex "Mugah"; but Codex "Hallel" (both quoted in the _Massorah)_ reads "eyes". THE SOUTH. the Negeb. See note on Psalms 126:4. Compare Genesis 12:9; Genesis 13:3....

Address to the king and the queen-mother The highest shall be brought low, and the land with its cities emptied by universal captivity. Graf and Du. make the king to be Jehoiakim and thus the queen-mother Zebidah (2 Kings 23:36). Most however take the utterance as belonging to the three months" reign of his successor, Jehoiachin, whose mother, Nehushta, is referred to in 2 Kings 24:8; 2Ki 24:12; 2 Kings 24:15. The prominence attached to the queen-mother by Eastern custom would be in that case enhanced by the king's youth. Cp. Jeremiah 22:26....