Jeremias 13:23

Can the Ethiopian...? — Literally, the Cushite. The meaning of the question is obvious. The evil of Judah was too deep-ingrained to be capable of spontaneous reformation. There remained nothing but the sharp discipline of the exile. The invasion of Tirhakah and Pharaoh-nechoh, the presence of Ethiopians among the servants of the royal household (Jeremias 38:10), the intercourse with the upper valley of the Nile implied in Sofonias 3:10 and Salmos 68:31; Salmos 87:4, had made the swarthy forms of Africa familiar objects. Possibly the use of leopard-skins by Ethiopian princes and warriors, as seen on Egyptian monuments and described by Herodotus (vii. 69), had associated the two thoughts together in the prophet’s mind. If the king’s household were present (as in Jeremias 13:18), he may have pointed to such an one, Ebedmelech (Jeremias 38:10), or another so arrayed, in illustration of his words.