An Odd Act

Jeremiah 13

There are a number of times in this book we will see Jeremiah perform odd acts that serve as signs to the people. Chapter 13 opens with one of those acts.

1. The Garment (1-11).

A. The loin cloth (1-2).

Jeremiah is commanded to buy a linen loincloth. A loin cloth was an undergarment that was worn directly on the skin. It was an undergarment. It would fit like a skirt. It was like a slip that a lady wears covering from the waist to just above the knees.

He is told not to dip it in water. He is not to wash it. This would be a difficult thing for anyone. It implies that Jeremiah would want to wash it. Jeremiah obeyed the Lord. We don’t know how long Jeremiah wore this undergarment, but we can assume it was long enough that it became uncomfortable to Jeremiah.

B. The long trip (3-5).

Jeremiah is told to take the loincloth off and go put it in a crevice of rock beside the Euphrates River. The Euphrates was very far. At a minimum it was 350 miles from Jerusalem. This trip would have taken a long time. The significance of the Euphrates is its nearness to Babylon. Taking the undergarment to the Euphrates symbolized the exile of the people to Babylon. Jeremiah’s obedience to God shows how committed he was to the Lord.

C. The return (6-7).

We don’t how long it was before Jeremiah returned. It was “many days”. The trip itself would have taken months. The undergarment was not just placed in a crevice. It was buried in a rocky area. Jeremiah dug it up. Jeremiah discovered what we would all imagine. The garment was ruined. It was good for nothing. We can imagine what a pair of underwear would look like if we wore them a while then buried them near a river and dug them up.

D. The meaning (8-11).

This was an object lesson. The Lord wanted to teach the people of Judah something through this symbolic act. Let’s look at the meaning.

1) The nation had at one time been near God. Look at verse 11. God says the nation had once clung to God. They had been near Him. Just as the undergarment clung to the skin of Jeremiah, the nation had clung to God. The undergarment symbolizes closeness.

God made them a people. They were special.

He made them a name. They had a testimony.

He made them a praise and a glory. They glorified God.

2) The people were removed because they forsook God. They would not listen to Him. Just as Jeremiah removed the undergarment, God removed Himself from the nation.

3) The people would be spoiled. The nation would be removed to beyond the Euphrates in Babylon. They would be buried in slavery and judgment. This once beautiful and proud nation would become ugly and tattered. They would be as useful as the undergarments Jeremiah left buried for months.

2. The wine jars (12-14).

A. The proverb (12).

The phrase “Every jar shall be filled with wine” was a well-known proverb. This is probably why the Lord had Jeremiah

use it. It wasn’t something you would expect to hear a man like Jeremiah say. Jeremiah had been preaching that judgment was coming. This proverb described hope and prosperity. In fact, this was what the false prophets had been preaching. “Peace! Peace!” was their message.

Notice how they reply to Jeremiah. They say, “We know!” In fact, they would likely be the ones filling the wine jars with wine. Of course the jars will be filled with wine. I think Jeremiah used this to get the people’s attention. Maybe they had grown deaf to his preaching. So here he says something that they don’t expect, and it gets their attention. Just as the undergarment message would have shocked the people and gained their attention, the proverb he used here would as well.

B. The interpretation (13-14).

The proverb did not mean what they thought it meant. God was not telling them days of prosperity and celebration were coming.

They were the jars.

The wine they would be filled with is the judgment of God.

The drunkenness symbolizes their inability to help themselves, their loss of control. They would stumble and fall as drunk people do. Notice all the people who would experience this:

The kings

The priests

The prophets

The people

All the inhabitants of Jerusalem

No one would escape. Every class would be included in the judgment. There would be no pity from the Lord. The smashing against one another could symbolize the people fleeing in every direction as Babylon invades. It could also symbolize the turning against one another that we see after Babylon invades.

Listen to how Jeremiah describes the aftermath of the Babylonian invasion in Lamentations 4:9-11:

Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.

Look at verse 14. It says the Lord will dash the people against one another. They are described as wine jars. When wine jars are smashed together, they break. The symbolism here is the people will turn against one another and begin destroying their own selves.

C. The certainty (14).

God says, “I will not pity or spare or have compassion.” The people may think the Lord would not allow things to get as bad as Jeremiah is saying. The Lord assures them He will.

3. The promise of exile (15-19).

A. Jeremiah tells them to abandon their pride (15).

No sin keeps people from God like pride does. Judah was a proud nation. They thought their rich heritage assured a rich future. They saw themselves as the chosen people of God. This truth should have humbled them, instead they chose to be proud of it and conducted themselves as entitled brats.

Pride will cause us not to listen. If you think you know it all you will never learn anything. The people were deaf to Jeremiah’s preaching because they thought they knew all they needed to know about God. The Bible doesn’t say anything about boring preachers. But it says a lot about people who will not listen to preaching. The Lord has spoken in His Word and the people should listen with humble hearts.

B. Jeremiah Tells the people to repent while there is time (16-17).

The phrase “Give glory to the Lord your God” implies repentance. They were not glorifying God with the sinful lifestyle they were living. Jeremiah likens their opportunity for repentance to the fading light of day. He says they need to repent before the Lord brings darkness. When darkness came the people would not be able to see. They would stumble and fall. Once twilight faded and darkness came it would only get darker. They could look for light, but they wouldn’t find it.

Jeremiah could not repent for them. All he could do was weep for them. He says in verse 17 that he would weep for their pride. Notice that he would weep in a secluded place. In other words, he was genuinely broken over them. When he was alone, he wept for them. Jeremiah had a heart for the lost. He didn’t just preach to the people. He wept for their soul. Even after they were taken captive, Jeremiah would continue to weep for them.

C. Even the most powerful would be taken captive (18-19).

The king mentioned here is Jehoiachin. He was only 18 when he began his rule (2 Kings 24:8). His mother’s name was Nehushta. 2 Kings 24 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar took both king and mother as captives. Jeremiah mentions this two more times in the book (22:26 & 29:2). The invaders would snatch the crown from the head of the young king and his mother. If the most powerful in the nation were taken then certainly no one was safe.

In verse 19 we see the cities of Negeb mentioned. These are mentioned because they were far south. The invasion would come from the North and extend even to the southernmost cities. This symbolizes a total destruction of the nation.

4. The Shame (20-27).

A. The people will be taken (20-21).

Jerusalem is being addressed here. We see that in verse 27. Jerusalem is the Holy City. This is where the powerful leaders of the nation met. Jerusalem has failed her people as a negligent shepherd might fail its flock. Jerusalem is to look and see that her people have been taken. The land has been depopulated.

Instead of ruling themselves they will be ruled by those they thought were their friends. Verse 21 is important. It shows the foolishness of the alliances the nation had made through the years. They believed they could be friends with nations such as Assyria, Babylon and Egypt. They thought these alliances would strengthen them. Now Babylon would rule over them. The question asked in verse 21 is meant to show Judah how foolish their decisions to make alliances with ungodly nations had been. Instead of trusting God, Judah trusted pagan nations. Now they will pay the price. The price will be their own people and their own freedom. The suddenness of the attack will be as scary as a woman who suddenly finds herself in labor.

B. Their sin led to shame (22-23).

Sinners will often ask why terrible things have happened to them. God gives Judah the answer to that question. Babylon would invade because of the sins of the nation. Their iniquity was great. They had fallen to such a depth of immorality that there was nothing they could do about it.

The likelihood of their repenting was the same as an Ethiopian changing the color of his skin or a leopard changing its spots. The people were accustomed to doing evil.

The language used at the end of verse 22 is strong. It refers to violent and shameful acts such as rape that occur during times of war. The land of Judah would be violently taken and treated shamefully before all. This language is used to show how terrible it would be on the land and the people when Babylon invaded.

C. The Lord is the One who is humbling the people (24-27).

Babylon is the tool, but this tool is in God’s hand. Look at what God says:

I will scatter you like chaff. Chaff is the useless part of the wheat. It is easily blown away by the wind. The nation would be blown away into exile.

This is the punishment God has chosen to give them because they have forgotten Him and trusted in the lies of the false prophets.

I will lift up your skirts over your face. The lifting up of a skirt symbolizes complete exposure. It is also symbolic of shame. God is exposing the nation of Judah. He is humiliating them before the world. The world will see who they really are. They are a sinful people who deserve judgment.

Why such a strong response from God? Verse 27 tells us. Look at what the Lord says:

I have seen your abominations & your adulteries. God watched as Judah participated in the worship of false gods.

Neighings, your lewd whorings. Much of Baal worship involved sexual immorality. Judah is described as a horse in heat that can’t control its passions. It is seeking to breed with others. The hills in the field were where the altars to these gods would be found. Ungodly acts were committed in these places.

God pronounces a Woe on the nation. He asks when will they change. This chapter is filled with lots of pictures of how dirty the people had become.

Dirty undergarments

Drunken fools

Prostitutes.

The people should have been ashamed of who they had become. They were not. Through the invasion of Babylon God would allow the people to see themselves in the mirror. This chapter reminds us of how terrible sin is. It corrupts. We are an unclean people. The only hope we have for cleansing is through the blood of Jesus. Christ promises to cleanse us if we repent and place our faith in Him (1 John 1:9).