Jeremiah 13: 1 – 27
Keep your pants on
1 Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I got a sash according to the word of the LORD and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6 Now it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD: ‘In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. 11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’ 12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.”?’ “And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’ 13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but will destroy them.” 15 Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. 16 Give glory to the LORD your God before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness. 17 But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive. 18 Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves; Sit down, for your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.” 19 The cities of the South shall be shut up, and no one shall open them; Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; It shall be wholly carried away captive. 20 Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep? 21 What will you say when He punishes you? For you have taught them to be chieftains, to be head over you. Will not pangs seize you, like a woman in labor? 22 And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?” For the greatness of your iniquity your skirts have been uncovered, your heels made bare. 23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil. 24 “Therefore I will scatter them like stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. 25 This is your lot, the portion of your measures from Me,” says the LORD,
“Because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood. 26 Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face, that your shame may appear. 27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighing, the lewdness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?”
Have you ever heard or used the term, ‘Ah keep your pants on.’? Why was the term used? Well, you see this comment is in response to someone else. In most situations someone wants to hurry you up. You are in fact asking them to calm down and not be so excited.
When you hear the words ‘Keep your pants on’ your thoughts go to the image that the guy needs a belt to hold them up. Our belly’s gain and loses width. So, to counter this condition you normally purchase a pair of pants that are not tight. Thus, we have the need for a belt.
In bible times men just wore a gown that reached down to the ankles. Each man would also add a sash or waist band which could be tightened when a man needed to run. He would lift the long garment and tighten the sash to free up his legs to be able to hold up the long garment.
YHWH calls on Jeremiah to illustrate the present state of His people by an experiment with a linen girdle (waist cloth). He is initially to purchase the linen girdle, and then, wear it, after which, without washing it, he is to hide it, burying it in the cleft of a rock near the River Euphrates. When he later recovers the girdle, it will be to discover that it has become moldy.
The girdle represents Israel/Judah, and especially its consecration to YHWH, and its clinging to the loins the closeness between YHWH and His people through the covenant. The fact that it becomes moldy when buried near the Euphrates is an indication of what has happened to His people through their association with Assyria and Babylon, and what will therefore also happen to them in the future. They too have become moldy. They have failed to walk as His consecrated people and have rejected the covenant. This is further emphasized by the fact that the girdle was not to be washed. The washing of the clothes was a symbol of sanctification (Exodus 19.10). As a result, they have become profitable for nothing.
There is a reminder here to us all that once we cease to walk with God and be obedient to His will our lives become marred and we become of no account.
1 Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.”
Just as YHWH had bought His people out of Egypt, and had consecrated them to Himself, so Jeremiah was to buy a linen girdle and put it around him. And just as YHWH had united His people with Himself within the covenant, so Jeremiah was to unite himself with the girdle. The command not to put it in water simply indicated that nothing was to be done to remove the effects of this union. There was to be no element of ‘sanctification’. It was to be allowed to become grubby and was not to be laundered, just as His people had been rendered ‘unclean’ and separated from YHWH by their rebellious behavior.
2 So I got a sash according to the word of the LORD and put it around my waist.
Jeremiah did what YHWH had said. He bought a girdle and wore it round his waist, clearly for some time. This would have been done in a way which gave the matter full publicity. He was doing it as the prophet of YHWH.
3 And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
Then in accordance with YHWH’s word Jeremiah was to take the girdle and hide it by burying it (it later had to be dug up) in a cleft of the rock near the River Euphrates. This was a deliberate attempt to link the girdle with the kingdoms to the north, Assyria and Babylon, and to indicate that it was such contact that was, and would be, responsible for the deterioration of the girdle.
This would have involved a considerable journey, we must recognize that in Judah’s eyes this physical representation of the situation would have been much more than just an illustration but as an action guaranteeing the fulfilment of what was being described. It was an acted-out prophecy, and the acting out would be guaranteeing its fulfilment, while the very knowledge of what Jeremiah had done, and the distance that he had to travel, would have brought home to all who knew of it the seriousness of what was being revealed.
6 Now it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
And when he did so he discovered that, as we might have expected, the girdle had become moldy. This was to be the inevitable result what YHWH will do to His people through the people who were linked with the Euphrates. It would result in the fact that their ‘pride’, their wealth, prosperity and national identity would be marred.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD: ‘In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
This experience was then made the subject of a word from YHWH.
For YHWH declared that just as the linen cloth had become moldy, so would the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. They would lose their wealth and prosperity, and their cherished independence, and would be humbled to the dust. They would no longer be able to see themselves as a proud and independent nation and would no longer glory in what was theirs.
The word for ‘pride’ when used in this way is regularly linked to the fruitfulness of the land (Leviticus 26.19) and in Amos 6.8 is paralleled with their palaces. In Isaiah 23.9 it has more to do with honor. Thus, it has reference to the glory of their fruitful fields, the glory of their palaces and of the court, and to glory of their honor.
10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.
They would be profitable for nothing. And this would be because of their evil doings in that they had refused to hear His words but had rather walked in the stubbornness of their hearts, going after other gods to worship them. Like the moldy girdle they had revealed themselves as useless and profitable for nothing and would therefore become that.
11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’
This was the very opposite of what He had intended for them, for what He had intended was that the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah would be united with Him in the covenant, being His united people who brought honor and worship to His Name and were to His praise and glory. They were to be His witness to the nations. However, it had not happened because they simply would not listen.
Next, we will see in a vivid metaphor YHWH now likens the people of Judah to wine jars which will be filled with wine, indicating excess and drunkenness, who will consequently smash against each other, leading up to their destruction. In the choice between flesh and spirit, worldliness and YHWH, they have chosen the flesh, and will reap what they have sown. The world ever must face the choice between self-indulgence or true response towards God.
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.”?’ “And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’
YHWH likens ‘all the inhabitants of the land’ to wine jars which will be filled with wine, indicating their participation in excess and drunkenness, a picture which those inhabitants then naively misinterpret, taking YHWH’s words as mundane signifying reference to a storage situation.
The words may have been a well-known proverb indicating that everything finds its proper use, but with YHWH here deliberately giving it a deeper meaning. Others see it as a proverb guaranteeing prosperity, the harvests will be such that all jars made to contain it will be filled. But YHWH intends it to be used in a different way from normal as a symbol of their drunkenness and levity, and of the judgment coming on them.
13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!
Their misinterpretation is then brought out as YHWH makes His position clear. What He has been indicating was that the whole nation, including the Davidic king, the priests and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of the land would be filled with drunkenness, both physical and spiritual (compare Isaiah 29.9). It is describing a nation, together with both its political and religious advisers, living on the edge and to excess, and drunk in idolatry. The result will be that the pressures of the times, probably combined with the over-confidence of the people in the face of falsely optimistic prophecy, or possibly their fears in the face of Babylonian oppression, are leading to excessive and uncontrolled behavior. They have sowed to themselves in wine, they will reap in drunkenness. We might see here a repeating of the idea found in Isaiah 22.13 of, ‘Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die’.
Another idea may be in mind is that of the receiving of YHWH’s judgments, something which is often depicted in terms of drinking wine in that it symbolizes the anger of YHWH (Isaiah 52.17). That also may be the idea here. It may be expressing the truth that ‘in the hand of YHWH there is a cup and the wine foams, it is full of mixture, and YHWH pours out of the same’ (Revelation 14.10).
14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy but will destroy them.”
The idea here would appear to be that of wine jars clashing together and breaking (Isaiah 30.14) and is presumably a picture of their over indulgence being such that it leads to extreme and careless behavior and attitudes, to in-fighting amongst themselves and to in-family quarrelling affecting the relationship between a father and his adult sons. Their living is seen as being like a riotous party in which all restraint has been removed. It may also signify political differences as the fathers recommend prudence and the sons are all out for taking up a position of proud independence in the face of Babylonian pressure. The consequence will, however, be destruction. Note the threefold assurance that YHWH will not step in and help. ‘I will not pity, I will not spare, I will not have compassion’. They have made their choice and their rebellion has gone too far.
The people are called on to look to YHWH while there is still a glimmer of light, because if they do not gross darkness will descend upon them, something which causes Jeremiah to weep at what is coming. The assumption then being made that they will refuse to respond, it results in advice being given to the monarchy to divest themselves of their signs of authority, an indication of subjugation, and the warning being given that the whole land even down to the Negeb will shortly be deserted. This is because those to whom they have cozied up (both their neighbor’s and especially Babylon) will take possession of them, with the result that they will be embarrassed and ashamed, something pictured in graphic terms based on their lascivious behavior in the hills.
15 Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. 16 Give glory to the LORD your God before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.
If only they will turn and give glory to YHWH while there is still a glimmer of light all could be well. But if they refuse to turn then He will cause darkness to surround them, and the mountains on which they live, and move will become dark mountains in the same way as day becomes night, and while they are looking for some glimmer of light He will turn it into deep darkness and make it gross darkness.
The words ‘Give glory to YHWH your God’ may have been a regular way of calling on men to recognize and admit their sin.
17 But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
But what if they do not hear and repent? Then Jeremiah will weep for them in secret because of their proud obstinacy. His eyes will weep until they are sore and will run down with tears. He is trying to bring home to them the seriousness of the situation. And why will he weep like this? Because they, YHWH’s flock, have been taken captive. They have been carried off into exile. The idea was almost incomprehensible. YHWH’s flock taken captive by others! But they had observed it happening to Israel. Now it would happen to them. YHWH’s favor was dependent on their response.
In a seemingly absurd way the people may still have prided themselves on the fact that they were ‘YHWH’s flock’. People are very good at assuming that they are special, and that God looks down on them benevolently no matter what they do. But they are to recognize that far from that being, so they will soon be a captive flock in the hands of strangers. It is not, however, something that Jeremiah is complacent about. It grieves him to his heart. This should not be happening to the flock of YHWH and is only doing so because of their intransigence and obstinacy.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves; Sit down, for your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
Jeremiah now seeks to bring home the implications of his message. The king and queen mother will have to step down from their thrones in acts of humiliation. Their crowns and head ornaments will come down from their heads as they are divested of their glorious crowns which indicate their status. They will become subjects and humble suppliants. If they will not humble themselves before YHWH, they will be humbled before another who has no good intentions towards them.
19 The cities of the South shall be shut up, and no one shall open them; Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; It shall be wholly carried away captive.
A further consequence is indicated. The ‘cities of the south’ are the cities of the far south, the Negeb, the semi-desert pastureland which was the southern border of Judah. Even those remote cities on the farthest borders away from the north will be affected. They will be closed because there will be no one available to open their gates. They will be cities of the dead. In other words, they will be desolate, and all of Judah will have gone into captivity. The rape of Judah is in mind. Few will be left in the land.
20 Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep?
And who will do this to them? Let them lift their eyes and look to the north. It is the invaders who come from there who will do it. Where then will be the flock that YHWH gave to the leaders of Judah to watch over, their beautiful flock? It refers to those who lived around it which is in mind.
21 What will you say when He punishes you? For you have taught them to be chieftains, to be head over you. Will not pangs seize you, like a woman in labor?
The greatest ignominy will be found in that their conqueror will set over them rulers from among those with whom they have at one time or another been in alliance. They had ‘taught them to be their friends’ and now they would have been set over them. It would cause them grief of heart and anguish like that of a woman bearing a child, used as an illustration because it was the worst kind of experience that men came across in their daily lives.
22 And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things come upon me?” For the greatness of your iniquity your skirts have been uncovered, your heels made bare.
At some stage they will begin to question in their why all this has happened to them. It will be the first stage in possible repentance.
The answer is already provided for them. It is because of the greatness of their iniquity. This is a reminder, as so much of Jeremiah is a reminder, of the seriousness with which God views sin and disobedience to His commandments. We must never think that because forgiveness is so freely offered by God that it means that our sins are not important. We have only to look at the blood-stained and awful history of the world to see what devastation sin has wrought. And it is our sin. Some ask why God allows these things? The answer is clear. It is because if He once interfered ‘ALL’ of us to the very last man and woman would perish.
It was because of their indwelling sin that they would be humiliated before the nations. The uncovering of the skirts was, outside the privacy of marriage, an act of contempt and shame. The ‘heels suffering violence’ refers to men and women who were used to being properly shod being forced to march barefoot. They were used to allowing their heels to hit the ground first, and being unused to walking barefoot, would, once they were led away as captives, soon experience the consequences.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” was a well-known proverb. In the Ancient Near East, the North African was noted for his darker than normal skin. Rather than being olive skinned he was black. As was also the case with the leopard. It could not disguise itself by removing its spots. It was stuck with them. Both were facts of life. So was it also a fact of life that those who were hardened in sin did not ‘do good’. They might appear to do so, but it would be from a wrong motive. They were hardened sinners. Judah’s judgment was coming on them because they were so hardened in sin that there was no hope of repentance.
24 “Therefore I will scatter them like stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
It was because they were so hardened in sin that YHWH would scatter them in the same way as the stubble left in the fields is picked up by the wind and scattered. The wind from the wilderness was the fierce east wind which was so often used as a picture of judgment.
25 This is your lot, the portion of your measures from Me,” says the LORD, “Because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.
YHWH makes it clear that while they have brought it on themselves it is His hand that is at work in what is happening. It is the lot that He has chosen for them, the portion that He is measuring out to them, because they have forgotten Him and put their trust in lies. And this is the prophetic word of YHWH, guaranteed and certain.
Notice the twofold emphasis. On the one hand YHWH is carrying out His will in accordance with His own determination. On the other it is man in his extreme sinfulness who must bear the responsibility. He brings his judgments on himself.
26 Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face, that your shame may appear.
It is because of their evil behavior in forgetting God and listening to palatable lies that they are to be exposed to shame. They will be treated with the contempt with which a common prostitute was treated in those days, as a thing of naught, to be exposed and humiliated without a thought. They will be laid bare before the nations.
27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighing, the lewdness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?”
It will be very much a case of reaping what they have sowed. They have revealed themselves as no better than common harlot by their lewd behavior on the open hills. Their neighing (cries of lust and passion) and their willingness to engage in free sex at their hilltop sanctuaries will rebound upon them.
And because they have now gone too far there is no opportunity of cleansing for the present generation. Their behaviour and attitudes have negated all their ritual activity in the Temple, which is no longer acceptable. All that they can expect to face is ‘WOE’.
