Jeremiah 13

Jeremiah 13:1-27 . SYMBOLICAL PROPHECY ( Jeremiah 13:1-7 ).

Many of these figurative acts being either not possible, or not probable, or decorous, seem to have existed only in the mind of the prophet as part of his inward vision. [So CALVIN]. The world he moved in was not the sensible, but the spiritual, world. Inward acts were, however, when it was possible and proper, materialized by outward performance but not always, and necessarily so. The internal act made a naked statement more impressive and presented the subject when extending over long portions of space and time more concentrated. The interruption of Jeremiah's official duty by a journey of more than two hundred miles twice is not likely to have literally taken place.

1. put it upon thy loins, &c.--expressing the close intimacy wherewith Jehovah had joined Israel and Judah to Him ( Jeremiah 13:11 ).
linen--implying it was the inner garment next the skin, not the outer one.
put it not in water--signifying the moral filth of His people, like the literal filth of a garment worn constantly next the skin, without being washed ( Jeremiah 13:10 ). GROTIUS understands a garment not bleached, but left in its native roughness, just as Judah had no beauty, but was adopted by the sole grace of God ( Ezekiel 16:4-6 ). "Neither wast thou washed in water," &c.

4. Euphrates--In order to support the view that Jeremiah's act was outward, HENDERSON considers that the Hebrew Phrath here is Ephratha, the original name of Beth-lehem, six miles south of Jerusalem, a journey easy to be made by Jeremiah. The non-addition of the word "river," which usually precedes Phrath, when meaning Euphrates, favors this view. But I prefer English Version. The Euphrates is specified as being near Babylon, the Jews future place of exile.
hole--typical of the prisons in which the Jews were to be confined.
the rock--some well-known rock. A sterile region, such as was that to which the Jews were led away (compare Isaiah 7:19 ) [GROTIUS].

6. after many days--Time enough was given for the girdle to become unfit for use. So, in course of time, the Jews became corrupted by the heathen idolatries around, so as to cease to be witnesses of Jehovah; they must, therefore, be cast away as a "marred" or spoiled girdle.

9. ( Leviticus 26:19 ).

10. imagination--rather, "obstinacy."

11. ( Jeremiah 33:9 , Exodus 19:5 ).
glory--an ornament to glory in.

12. A new image.
Do we not . . . know . . . wine--The "bottles" are those used in the East, made of skins; our word "hogshead," originally "oxhide," alludes to the same custom. As they were used to hold water, milk, and other liquids, what the prophet said (namely, that they should be all filled with wine) was not, as the Jews' taunting reply implied, a truism even literally. The figurative sense which is what Jeremiah chiefly meant, they affected not to understand. As wine intoxicates, so God's wrath and judgments shall reduce them to that state of helpless distraction that they shall rush on to their own ruin ( Jeremiah 25:15 , 49:12 , Isaiah 51:17 Isaiah 51:21 Isaiah 51:22 , 63:6 ).

13. upon David's throne--literally, who sit for David on his throne; implying the succession of the Davidic family ( Jeremiah 22:4 ).
all--indiscriminately of every rank.

14. dash--( Psalms 2:9 ). As a potter's vessel ( Revelation 2:27 ).

15. be not proud--Pride was the cause of their contumacy, as humility is the first step to obedience ( Jeremiah 13:17 , Psalms 10:4 ).