JER 13Jeremiah 13

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NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

Jeremiah’s Linen Loincloth

13 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” 2 So I bought the loincloth as the LORD directed me, and I put it on. 3 Then the LORD gave me another message: 4 “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD had instructed me. 6 A long time afterward the LORD said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing. 8 Then I received this message from the LORD: 9 “This is what the LORD says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing! 11 As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the LORD. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me. 12 “So tell them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: May all your jars be filled with wine.’ And they will reply, ‘Of course! Jars are made to be filled with wine!’ 13 “Then tell them, ‘No, this is what the LORD means: I will fill everyone in this land with drunkenness—from the king sitting on David’s throne to the priests and the prophets, right down to the common people of Jerusalem. 14 I will smash them against each other, even parents against children, says the LORD. I will not let my pity or mercy or compassion keep me from destroying them.’” 15 Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken. 16 Give glory to the LORD your God you will find only terrible darkness and gloom. 17 And if you still refuse to listen, because the LORD’s flock will be led away into exile. 18 Say to the king and his mother, will soon be snatched from your heads.” 19 The towns of the Negev will close their gates, All will be carried into exile. 20 Open up your eyes and see that he gave you to care for? 21 What will you say when the LORD takes the allies you have cultivated like those of a woman in labor! 22 You may ask yourself, and raped by invading armies. 23 Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? for you have always done evil. 24 “I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the desert winds. 25 This is your allotment, putting your trust in false gods. 26 I myself will strip you and expose you to shame. 27 I have seen your adultery and lust, How long before you are pure?”

Introduction to Jeremiah

Background of Jeremiah

What Is the Book of Jeremiah About?

Time: 3 Minutes

Have you ever wished you could see into the future? What if you saw disaster coming, and no one would believe you? Imagine trying to save your friends, but instead of listening to you they only laugh. After a while, your “negativity” gets old and your friends abandon you, or worse, they seek to silence you. This was Jeremiah’s story.

Jeremiah was chosen by God before he was born (Jeremiah 1:5) to be a prophet to God’s people in the southern kingdom of Israel called Judah, which included the city of Jerusalem. God called him while he was still young (1:6-7) to warn his friends and neighbors about coming judgment and war. The great and powerful Babylonian army would soon destroy Jerusalem and take its citizens captive because of Judah’s sin against God.

The book of Jeremiah uncovers widespread corruption in society and in the religious institutions. The people had abandoned God for idols, they were imitating other nations, and they were lining their own pockets at the expense of the poor and the weak. God would not let this go on forever.

Jeremiah saw tragedy and reckoning on the horizon. He warned the people, but instead of recognizing truth, they recommitted to lies. Judah’s leaders beat him (20:2), threatened him with death (26:11), banned him from the temple (36:5), imprisoned him (37:15), left him for dead in a storage pit (38:6), and finally took him by force into Egypt (43:6). Through all of this, Jeremiah never stopped obeying God’s call to speak what was true.

Jeremiah has been called the “weeping prophet” because he wept for the fate of Israel (8:18), but he did not lose hope in God’s goodness. He prophesied that although God would punish his people, he would not make a “full end” of them (5:10, 16 ESV).

Through Jeremiah, God declared that one day he would gather his people back to their homeland (29:13-14). He renewed his promise to raise up a good king or a “righteous branch” from the family tree of David (33:15), and he declared that although the people had forgotten him, he would not forget his “everlasting covenant” with them (50:5, 32:40). God would give his people “one heart and one way” so that they would remain faithful to him and enjoy God’s goodness forever (32:39).

In other words, Jeremiah speaks a message of hope. God would punish Judah for their sin and fulfilled his promise to send them into exile, but that does not mean that sin’s consequences have the final word in Judah’s history.

Even today the book of Jeremiah pulls back the curtain to show us what the future holds.

Ironically, to find our future hope, Jeremiah encourages us to look back at what God has done in the past.

Just as God brought justice to Judah, God will not allow evil and suffering among the nations today to continue forever. A day of justice is coming. Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1).

Jeremiah warns those who are religious but not truly worshiping God. He still blows the whistle on those who are living for their own pleasure and profit, calling them to repent before that day of justice comes.

Jeremiah also still speaks to anyone looking for hope, who feels discouraged by the rampant unrepentant sin throughout the world, and who feels afraid of coming judgment. Ironically, to find our future hope, Jeremiah encourages us to look back at what God has done in the past, what he promised long ago.

Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16 ESV)

Open Jeremiah and learn to hold tight to the promises and the hand of God in the tears, in the tragedy, and when you feel all alone, so that you can look to the future with hope.

What Is the Background of Jeremiah?

Time: 20 Minutes

The Background of Jeremiah

1

Author and Date

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet c. 627 BC, when he was young (Jeremiah 1:6). He served for more than 40 years (Jeremiah 1:2–3). Jeremiah had a difficult life. His messages of repentance delivered at the temple were not well received (Jeremiah 7:1–8:3; 26:1–11). His hometown plotted against him (Jeremiah 11:18–23), and he endured much persecution (Jeremiah 20:1–6; 37:11–38:13; 43:1–7). At God’s command, he never married (Jeremiah 16:1–4). Although he preached God’s Word faithfully, he apparently had only two converts: Baruch, his scribe (Jeremiah 32:12; 36:1–4; 45:1–5); and Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch who served the king (Jeremiah 38:7–13; 39:15–18). Though the book does not reveal the time or place of Jeremiah’s death, he probably died in Egypt, where he had been taken by his countrymen against his will after the fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 43:1–7). He most likely did not live to see the devastation he mentions in ch. 46–51.

2

Purpose

Jeremiah and Baruch left a record of the difficult times in which they lived, God’s message for those times, and God’s message for the future of Israel and the nations.

3

Key Themes

1. God and Humanity

God alone is a living God. God alone made the world. All other so-called gods are mere idols (Jeremiah 10:1–16). This Creator God called Israel to a special relationship (ch. 2–6), gave her his holy Word, and promised to bless her temple with his name and presence (Jeremiah 7:1–8:3). God rules both the present and the future (Jeremiah 1:4–16; 29:1–10), protects his chosen ones (Jeremiah 1:17–19; 29:11–14; 39:15–18; 45:1–5), and saves those who turn to him (Jeremiah 12:14–17). Because God is absolutely trustworthy and always keeps his promises, his grace triumphs over sin and judgment when people repent and turn to him.

The human heart is sick, and no one except God can cure it (Jeremiah 17:9–10). The nations worship idols instead of their Creator (Jeremiah 10:1–16). Israel, God’s covenant people, went after other gods (ch. 2–6), defiled the temple by their unwillingness to repent (Jeremiah 7:1–8:3; 26:1–11), and oppressed one another (Jeremiah 34:8–16). Since Israel and the nations have sinned against God (Jeremiah 25:1–26), God the Creator is also the Judge of every nation on the earth he created (ch. 46–51).

2. Old Covenant, Messiah, and New Covenant

God made a covenant with Israel, based on his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12–50). As time passed, God’s covenant with Israel included his promise to David of an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17). God used Jeremiah to deliver the good news that, sometime in the future, God would “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). This covenant would be different in one major way. The new covenant partners will not break the covenant, as most of the old partners did even though God was completely faithful (Jeremiah 31:32). Instead, the new covenant partners will have the Word of God so ingrained in their hearts through God’s power that they will know and follow God all their lives (Jeremiah 31:33–34).

Thus, all the new covenant partners will be believers who are forgiven and empowered by God; he will “remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Hebrews 8:8–12 quotes Jeremiah 31:31–34 as evidence that the new covenant has come through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The coming of Jesus the Messiah fulfills God’s promises to Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets.

4

Outline

I. Introduction (1:1–19)
II. Israel’s Covenantal Adultery (2:1–6:30)
III. False Religion and an Idolatrous People (7:1–10:25)
IV. Jeremiah’s Struggles with God and Judah (11:1–20:18)
V. Jeremiah’s Confrontations (21:1–29:32)
VI. Restoration for Judah and Israel (30:1–33:26)
VII. God Judges Judah (34:1–45:5)
VIII. God’s Judgment on the Nations (46:1–51:64)
IX. Conclusion: The Fall of Jerusalem (52:1–34)

5

Israel and Judah at the Time of Jeremiah

Background to Jeremiah

The Global Message of Jeremiah

1

Jeremiah in Redemptive History

Jeremiah lived and prophesied in the sixth century BC, in the days leading up to the exile of Judah to Babylon, and then in the wake of that tragic event. Jeremiah’s prophecy exposes the rebellious hearts of God’s own people, which has led to their impending exile to a foreign land. This rebelliousness goes all the way back to Eden, where the first human couple likewise rebelled against their Maker and Lord. Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden when they rebelled, and the same fate is falling on God’s corporate people as they are exiled from the Promised Land.

God’s Covenant Promises

The reason this exile is so devastating is that at the heart of God’s covenant promises to Abraham was the promise of the land of Canaan. When God’s people are driven out of this land, it seems as though God’s own promises are coming unraveled. Yet throughout Jeremiah we find that God’s strong statements of judgment are surpassed by his pledge of mercy. He will not abandon his people, no matter how sinful they remain. Indeed, the radical problem of sin requires a radical solution—nothing less than the Lord himself writing his law not on tablets of stone but on the very hearts of his people (Jeremiah 31:33–34; compare 2 Corinthians 3:6). So it is that, at the climax of Jeremiah, we are reassured of God’s determination to restore his people to himself (Jeremiah 30–33).

God’s Final Answer

This restoration includes a promise of causing “a righteous Branch to spring up for David” who “shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (Jeremiah 33:15). Ultimately, the tension between the people’s stubborn waywardness and God’s unbreakable covenant promises is resolved only in Jesus Christ. In Christ, God’s promise of a permanent Davidic heir is fulfilled (2 Samuel 7:12–16; Jeremiah 33:14–26). Christ is the true and final “righteous Branch” who proves fruitful where Israel proved fruitless (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; John 15:1). Only through his atoning work is God able to extend mercy to his people in spite of their sin.

God’s Worldwide Redemption

Jeremiah looks forward not only to the coming of Jesus Christ, the true heir of David, but also to the worldwide extension of grace through Jesus far beyond the national borders of Israel. Through Christ and the fulfillment of God’s promises, God’s promise to Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” begins to be fulfilled (Genesis 12:3). God will judge the nations for their sin, as he must (Jeremiah 46:1–51:64). Indeed, he will also judge Judah, who has proven to be as wicked as the nations surrounding her (Jeremiah 21:1–29:32). Yet through and despite such judgment God will not be deterred from his ultimate purpose of calling to himself a people from every tribe and language and race and nation (Revelation 5:9; see Jeremiah 3:16–17).

2

Universal Themes in Jeremiah

The Promise-Keeping God

Jeremiah’s prophecy resounds with the theme of God as the great keeper of promises. When God makes a covenant with the nation of Israel, he will not let that relationship be thwarted, even when his people are faithless. The pledge “I will be your God, and you shall be my people” is the constant promise of God to wayward Israel throughout the book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; 30:22). This is great encouragement to God’s people around the world today, for they have become the heirs of God’s covenant promises to ethnic Israel. No matter how others identify us socially, ethnically, or racially, believers today can know that, through Christ, the God of the Bible will be our God, and we will be his people.

Sin as Hard-Heartedness

Throughout the book of Jeremiah the focus shifts back and forth from God’s own covenant people to the nations. In both cases, however, the same fundamental problem persists. Both are sinful. Both have hard, stubborn hearts (Jeremiah 5:23; 11:8; 18:12). While the nations may be uncircumcised physically, Judah is uncircumcised spiritually (Jeremiah 9:25–26; see also 4:4; 6:10). This hard-heartedness is seen in Jeremiah especially through the hypocrisy of Israel’s leaders—the artificial service and hollow religiosity of the prophets, priests, and other officials (Jeremiah 3:10; 5:2; 7:1–4).

The Inclusion of Gentiles in the People of God

Jeremiah’s prophecy helps to advance God’s promise to Abraham that he would be a blessing, and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:1–3). Jeremiah was to go to the nations both “to destroy and to overthrow” as well as “to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). Israel will multiply and increase in the land (Jeremiah 3:16; compare God’s original call to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28) and “Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord” (Jeremiah 3:17). To God “shall the nations come from the ends of the earth” (Jeremiah 16:19). This inclusion of the nations is one reason God shows mercy to Judah: if they return to the Lord, “then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory” (Jeremiah 4:2).

3

The Global Message of Jeremiah for Today

Global Justice

The hard-heartedness of God’s people manifests itself not only vertically (toward God) but also horizontally (toward other people). “This people has a stubborn and rebellious heart,” and as a result “they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless . . . and they do not defend the rights of the needy” (Jeremiah 5:23, 28). The church can learn from the book of Jeremiah about God’s tender heart toward the oppressed. We also learn of his desire for his own people to be mediators of mercy to those who are marginalized and disadvantaged. Indeed, knowing God includes, by definition, the defense of “the cause of the poor and needy” (Jeremiah 22:16).

New Hearts

As the global church labors on gladly in its great mission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18–20), we must recognize the need for God to do a deep, cleansing work of the heart in creating new people for himself. When people profess faith in Christ, they must be taught as well about the divine cleansing of the heart that is effected through his indwelling Holy Spirit. In the new covenant that has dawned in Christ (Hebrews 8:8–13; 9:15) we find that forgiveness of sins and the writing of God’s law on the heart are closely connected. The gospel saves men and women of all ethnicities by wiping away their sins and by implanting within them new desires for God and holiness. The sinful hard-heartedness of all people cannot be altered in any humanly manufactured way (Jeremiah 13:23). A new internal work on the heart by God is required (Jeremiah 31:31–34). As global Christians speak the good news to those in their own neighborhoods and around the world, we do so in utter dependence on God, knowing that only he can soften hearts—and that he loves to do so.

13:1-13:2 God instructed Jeremiah to leave a linen loincloth unwashed to symbolize Judah’s unrighteousness (cp. Isa 64:5; Rev 19:8). This piece of clothing is comparable to modern-day underwear.

13:1-13:14 The Lord told Jeremiah to act out a parable (see also chs 18, 19, 27; see “Prophetic Sign Acts” Theme Note). The parable joined action with words to reinforce and illustrate special aspects of the Lord’s response to Judah’s rebellion. Jeremiah seemed unable to fully grasp the evil consequences of rejecting the Lord’s demand that the people worship him as the one true God. The direct relationship between Jeremiah and the Lord was the framework for this event.

13:3-13:5 The Euphrates River is 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Jeremiah probably joined a merchant caravan for protection as he walked or rode a donkey for the 600-mile round trip. Jeremiah did not know the purpose of the trip, but he obeyed God’s instructions.

13:6-13:7 The safest time to travel was during the dry season, from June to September. The most likely time for cloth to rot was during the wet season, October to May. • A long time afterward was probably between six and ten months.

13:8-13:9 The parable was the Lord’s way of expressing how disgusting the pride of Judah and Jerusalem had become and how he was allowing the consequences of sin to take their course.

13:10-13:11 The rotten loincloth represented the people of Judah and Israel, whose wicked rebellion had corrupted them and made them worthless. • clings: The same Hebrew word can be translated “joins” and is used to describe marital faithfulness (Gen 2:24). • my people . . . an honor to my name: See also Exod 19:5, 6; Deut 32:10-12; Eph 2:7; 3:10.

13:12-13:14 Of course! The people assumed that the Lord would continue to bless them as he had in the past (Ps 104:15; Prov 9:2-5). However, the wine was not a symbol of blessing; in this case, drunkenness symbolized God’s wrath (cp. Rev 14:10).

13:15-13:16 Jeremiah pled with the people to listen and not be arrogant, but to change their attitude. If they refused to acknowledge the Lord as the one true God of Israel, a terrible darkness would fall upon the nation.

13:17 Jeremiah had learned that if the people did not acknowledge the Lord, they would be led away into exile. The thought of it filled him with grief.

13:18-13:19 The king was probably Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin, who was crowned in 597 bc after the death of his father; his mother was Nehushta (see 2 Kgs 24:1-9). Jehoiachin was eighteen years old and reigned for just three months; this message was probably delivered during his short reign. His glorious crowns would soon be taken from him by the Babylonians (see 2 Kgs 24:11-16). The treasures of the Temple and palace would be given to the Babylonians, and the royalty and elite of Judah would be carried into exile. At the same time, Judah’s southern neighbors would take over the towns of the Negev, the desert area from the city of Beersheba to the Gulf of Aqaba.

13:20-13:22 King Jehoiachin did not seem concerned about the well-being of his beautiful flock, the people of Judah. Judah suffered abuse at the hands of its supposed allies as a result of the king’s many sins.

13:23 an Ethiopian: People have no choice about the color of their skin, just as a leopard has no choice about being spotted. In the same way, God’s people were born trapped by evil. They had no ability to change on their own, and they refused to allow the Lord to change them.

13:24 I will scatter you like chaff: This word-picture represented the exile of the people of Judah. Cp. Ps 1:4-5.

13:24-13:27 The divine Judge decreed condemnation.

13:25 The people of Judah could not escape their assigned punishment. They had forgotten God and had turned to false gods.

13:26 God allowed the Babylonians to strip Judah of all its treasures and take the people captive.

13:27 Judah’s idol worship included ritual sex acts in the fields and on the hills. The Lord wanted his people to be spiritually and sexually pure in relation to him.

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