Rick and Linda Reed

“For the sake of your name.”  That phrase, repeated twice in chapter 14 (7, 21) forms the basis of Jeremiah’s desperate prayer in a desperate time of Judah’s history.

The opening verses reveal a distressing situation:  a draught has devastated the countryside and impacted the cities.  The ground is cracked and dry because “there is no rain in the land” (4).  Farmers are dismayed, nobles in the city are despairing, even the animals (deer and donkey) are in dying (5, 6).

Jeremiah realizes that this draught is a divine discipline; he begins his prayer for help by saying, “Although our sins testify against us” (7).  And Jeremiah is right.  God is dealing with His disobedient people In verse 10, the Lord indicts His people for their wandering (“they greatly love to wander”) and wickedness (“they do not restrain their feet”).  Because of their waywardness, the Lord “does not accept them” (receive favorably) but will “now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins” (10). Justice will be served; judgment will come.

God tells Jeremiah to give up praying for the well being of the people (11).  No fasting or sacrifice will change His mind to “destroy them with the sword, famine and plague” (12).  The draught is the prelude to famine and plague. And the sword will be coming next.

But Jeremiah doesn’t stop praying.  He doesn’t give up.  Nor does God chastise him for continuing to plead for mercy and help. Jeremiah knows that God is not forbidding prayer as much as saying that judgment will not be averted because of it. But Jeremiah still sees the Lord as his only hope (“O Hope of Israel”—8), a hope based not on the power of his prayer or the worthiness of his people but on the Lord’s commitment to His own name.  This hope is not simply the “wishful” kind of hope the people had (“We hoped for peace…”—19) but a sturdy confidence in God based on His covenant (21) and character (22).

Part of the problem in Israel is the confusing messages the people are receiving from those who claim to speak for God. The Lord blasts those prophets who “are prophesying lies in my name” (14).  They claim to be giving God’s message when they tell the people, “You will not see the sword or suffer famine” but will enjoy “lasting peace in this place” (13).  However, they are speaking “lies” and giving false hope.  God indicts them for their “false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds” (14).  Here we see the source of false prophesy as demonic and/or psychological.  Either way it is false and fatal to both the prophets who speak (“Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine”—15) and the people who hear (16). This is why it so crucial that those who claim to speak for God get their message from Him.

One of the primary tension points in the book of Jeremiah (and this chapter) is reconciling the unfailing, covenantal faithfulness of God and his fierce, just judgment on his sinful people.  In this chapter, Jeremiah appeals to the covenantal relationship the nation has with the Lord (21) along with God’s own commitment to honour His great name (character, reputation).  But it’s clear that God’s covenant commitment is not a spiritual “get out of jail free” card.  In this chapter, God declares His intention to “destroy” His people with “the sword, famine and plague” (12).  He will inflict a “grievous wound, a crushing blow” on Judah (17).  His patience has run out; He’s intent on judgment.  No amount of praying, fasting or sacrificing will change His mind (11).

The false prophets had concluded that God would somehow keep the nation from great suffering (“no sword or famine will touch this land”—15).  They were sure of a brighter tomorrow—the draught would end, the nation would enjoy “lasting peace” (13). But God’s unfailing, covenantal love would not prevent or preclude His wounding, crushing judgment.  He would send famine, sword and plague.  Death would come on a wide scale level—not just to false prophets (15) but also to “wives, sons…daughters” (16).  Even righteous people (Jeremiah, Baruch, Ebed-melech) would be caught in the deluge of suffering (though these three would be individually protected by God).

So what does it mean that God’s love is unfailing (Lamentations 3:22)?  It doesn’t mean He is indifferent to “righteousness” and unconcerned about “justice.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24 says He delights in righteousness, justice as well as kindness (hesed).  His covenantal love doesn’t mean He has unlimited patience with petulant wickedness. It doesn’t mean He blesses disobedience. Rather, it means He will not “reject Judah completely” (19).  He will preserve among His people at least a remnant of faithful (not sinless) followers. He will see that there is a future and a hope for His people (29:11).  He will support those whose hearts are His but will not always shield them from the wide scale punishment that comes upon the disobedient.  Ultimately, His covenantal promises will be fulfilled—through not experienced by those break covenant with Him.  Later revelation about heaven would reveal that the future is bright for those who live in covenant with Him—not always in the near term, but eternally.

Pride goes before destruction–that’s the clear message that comes out in Jeremiah 13. In this chapter, God says He will punish the “pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem” (9).  Jeremiah warns the people of Israel, “Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant” (15).  He says that if they fail to obey and experience God’s judgment, he will “weep in secret because of your pride” (17).

Jeremiah addresses the king and queen mother about the devastation that is coming to the nation, the “sheep of which you boasted” (20).  The rulers had worn “glorious crowns” (18) but, like the rest of the nation, had not listened to the call to “Give glory to the Lord” (16). Rather than seeking their own glory, the nation was to live for God’s “renown and praise and honour” (11).   Because of their pride and self-glory (which led them to follow their own inclinations and pursue other gods), destruction would come from God without pity, mercy or compassion (14).

In this chapter we have the second “acted parable” in the book:  the lesson of the ruined linen belt (1-11).  Throughout the chapter runs the theme of God’s punishment of His people’s pride. The Hebrew word pride speaks of “majesty, glory and pride”.  God had brought the people of Israel close to him (like a linen belt) so they could add to His majesty—his  “renown (literally, “name”) and praise and honour (or glory)”.  But they had become dirty, ugly and useless—like the linen belt that had been buried in the dirt.

The point of the ruined linen belt is to show the ruin that God will bring on Judah because of their pride and, specifically on Jerusalem because of its “great pride” (9).

The great pride of the nation was evidenced in three ways:  1) they refused to listen (hear) God’s words, 2) they followed the stubbornness of their own hearts, and 3) they went after other gods with the purpose of serving and worshiping (literally, bowing down to) them.  Here is an exposé of a proud heart:  We stop listening to/obeying God’s word; instead, we stubbornly follow the wayward inclinations of our own hearts/desires.  As a result, we wind up serving and worshiping false gods.

We will all follow something—either God’s Word or our desires. We all will be worshipers—either of the one, true God or of the many false ones.  We will all receive the consequences of our choices—closeness to God or ruin for our pride.

I’m struck by the way the Lord (and Jeremiah) link a refusal to listen and then obey is an evidence of a stubbornly proud heart. We’ve already seen that in the Lord’s word through Jeremiah in verse 10 (see above). The same message is restated in verse 17; Jeremiah says, “But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride.”  Pride causes us to favour our own ideas and inclinations over God’s.  Pride prompts us to elevate ourselves to God’s place. No wonder pride is so abhorrent to God. No wonder God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6).  No wonder pride arouses the wrath of God and leads us into captivity.

After the acted parable of the linen belt, Jeremiah records a proverb in verses 12-14.  He is directed by the Lord to tell the people something that seems obvious:  “Every wineskin (or clay jar) should be filled with wine” (12).  If they respond by saying they already knew this, Jeremiah is to tell them that God is going to “fill the land [kings, priests, prophets] with drunkenness” (13).  The result will be that all of them will be smashed against one another, destroyed by the Lord without “pity or mercy or compassion” (14).

Jeremiah quotes what seems to be a popular proverb that may have come to speak of prosperous times—when the wine brims to the top of the storage jars.  But Jeremiah is using the picture to speak of judgment not prosperity.  The jars represent the people (starting with their leaders); they will be filled with drunkenness and smashed together. The picture is of a violent disruption that crashes the earthen jars (see 2 Cor. 4:7) together and shatters them.  Like drunken men, the leaders and people will stagger and fall; like clay jars they will be shattered and broken.  Here is a dire prediction of the destruction of the city and people that will come “from the north” (20)—from the Babylonian armies.

The coming destruction of Judah and Jerusalem is pictured in a graphic, shocking way.  The king and queen mother (some think this could be Jehoiachin and his mother who were carried into exile—2 Kings 24:15) are pictured as having to leave their thrones and lose their crowns (18) as they join those from Judah “taken captive” (17).  Their flock (20) will be decimated by the Babylonians who had been formerly approached as “special allies” (21).  Jeremiah proceeds to describe the devastation in terms of sexual humiliation for a spiritually promiscuous people.  They will be stripped naked (“skirts . . .torn off”—22) and their bodies “mistreated” (literally your “heels treated violently”—either a reference to the public exposure of a prostitute or women walking barefoot into exile).  Again, in verse 26, the Lord says He will “pull your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen—your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution.” Their spiritual harlotry would result in painful, public disgrace.

An interesting stylistic feature of the chapter is the use of trio’s of words or thoughts. We see a trio of phrases explaining the nature of pride (refuse to listen to my words, follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods—10).  There is also a series of three words/phrases to emphasize certain concepts:  “renown, praise and honour” (11); pity, mercy and compassion (14); darkness, darkening hills and thick darkness (16); shut up, no one to open, carried completely away (19); Ethiopian, leopard, you (23); adulteries, lustful neighings and shameless prostitution (27).