Jeremiah 13:27

Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. THEREFORE WILL I DISCOVER THY SKIRTS UPON THY FACE - rather, 'throw up thy skirts over thy face,' or head; done by way of ignominy to captive women and to prostitutes (). The Jews' punishment should answer to their crime. As their sin had been perpetrated in the most public places, so God would expose them to the contempt of other nations most openly (). NEIGHINGS - () image from the lust of horses; the lust after idols degrades to the level of the brute. THINE ABOMINATION ON THE HILLS - where, as being nearer heaven, sacrifices were thought most acceptable to the gods....

Here the Prophet explains at large what I have before stated, — that the people were justly punished by God, though very grievously, because they had provoked God, not at one time only, but for a long time, and had obstinately persisted in their evil courses. Moreover, as their sins were various, the Prophet does not mention them all here; for we have seen elsewhere, that they were not only given to superstitions, but also to whoredoms, drunkenness, plunders, and outrages; but here he only speaks of their superstitions, — that having rejected God, they followed their own idols. For by _adulteries _he no doubt means idolatries; and he does not speak here of whoredom, which yet prevailed greatly among the people; but he only condemns them for having fallen away into ungodly and false forms of worship. To the same thing must be referred what follows, _thy neighings; _for by this comparison,...

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 13:27. _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 _impossible_, for these _Ethiopians_ to change their _skin_, for these _leopards_ to change their _spots_. It was only their obstinate refusal of the grace of God that rendered it impossible. Man cannot change himself; but he may pray to God to do it, and come to him through Christ, that he may do it. To enable him to pray and believe, the power is still at hand. If he will not use it, he must perish....

AND THINE ABOMINATIONS - “Even thy abominations.” The prophet sums up the three charges against Judah, namely, spiritual adultery, inordinate eagerness after idolatry (see the note at Jeremiah 5:7 note), and shameless participation in pagan orgies. IN THE FIELDS - “in the field,” the open, unenclosed country (see Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 12:4). WILT THOU NOT ... ONCE BE? - “Or, how long yet ere thou be made clean!” These words explain the teaching of Jeremiah 13:23. Repentance was not an actual, but a moral impossibilit

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....

I HAVE SEEN THINE ADULTERIES,.... Not literally such, though they were greatly guilty of that sin; but figuratively, their idolatries: THY NEIGHINGS; expressive of their strong desires after other gods, like that of adulterers and adulteresses after one another; and both which are like the neighing of horses. Kimchi thinks this designs their rejoicing in their evil works: THE LEWDNESS OF THY WHOREDOM; their sinful thoughts, and wicked desires, which were continually after their idols and idolatrous practices: AND THINE ABOMINATIONS ON THE HILLS IN THE FIELDS; their idols, which were abominable to God, and ought to have been so to them; and which they placed on high hills, and there worshipped them; all which were seen and known by the Lord, nor could it be denied by them; and this was the reason of their being carried captive, and therefore could not complain they had been hardly deal...

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

JERUSALEM'S SHAME. This prophecy, as perhaps others in this chapter, would suit the position of affairs under Jehoiakim, after Carchemish (605). Jerusalem is asked concerning the welfare of her people, in the day of invasion by the foe from the north (Jeremiah 4:6, etc.: here of the Babylonians). Jeremiah 13:21 should read, When he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself taught to be friends unto thee, _i.e_. those who have been courted as friends are now become masters. Her anguish and shame are merited; a change seems hopeless, since habit has become second nature (Jeremiah 13:23). Ruin is inevitable (Jeremia

WHEN SHALL IT ONCE BE?. how long ere it yet be?...