‏ Jeremiah 13

* The glory of the Jews should be marred. (1-11) All ranks

should suffer misery, An earnest exhortation to repentance.

(12-17) An awful message to Jerusalem and its king. (18-27)

1-11 It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs. And we

have the explanation, ver. #9-11|. The people of Israel had been

to God as this girdle. He caused them to cleave to him by the

law he gave them, the prophets he sent among them, and the

favours he showed them. They had by their idolatries and sins

buried themselves in foreign earth, mingled among the nations,

and were so corrupted that they were good for nothing. If we are

proud of learning, power, and outward privileges, it is just

with God to wither them. The minds of men should be awakened to

a sense of their guilt and danger; yet nothing will be effectual

without the influences of the Spirit. 12-17 As the bottle was fitted to hold the wine, so the sins of

the people made them vessels of wrath, fitted for the judgments

of God; with which they should be filled till they caused each

other's destruction. The prophet exhorts them to give glory to

God, by confessing their sins, humbling themselves in

repentance, and returning to his service. Otherwise they would

be carried into other countries in all the darkness of idolatry

and wickedness. All misery, witnessed or foreseen, will affect a

feeling mind, but the pious heart must mourn most over the

afflictions of the Lord's flock. 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 seek help from Him who is mighty to save.