Jeremiah 13:15-27--Exile Threatened

Jeremiah 13:15-27
English Standard Version

Exile Threatened
15 Hear and give ear; be not proud,
    for the LORD has spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God
    before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
    on the twilight mountains,
and while you look for light
    he turns it into gloom
    and makes it deep darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
    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 the queen mother:
    “Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
    has come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negeb are shut up,
    with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
    wholly taken into exile.

20 “Lift up your eyes and see
    those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
    your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when they set as head over you
    those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
    like those of a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
    ‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
    that your skirts are lifted up
    and you suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
    or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
    who are accustomed to do evil.
24 I will scatter you like chaff
    driven by the wind from the desert.
25 This is your lot,
    the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD,
because you have forgotten me
    and trusted in lies.
26 I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
    and your shame will be seen.
27 I have seen your abominations,
    your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings,
    on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
    How long will it be before you are made clean?”

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Jeremiah calls the people to repent and be humble and contrite.  They are listen to the LORD and worship Him alone, even in these dark and difficult times.  Otherwise, He will increase that darkness and let them face the consequences of their evil desires and actions.  It will be as if the flock has been taken captive by those that wish to destroy it.

Even the royal family including the king and queen mother need to humble themselves and repent.  I don't like the word "threatened" in the passage heading so much because it is a promise, not a threat.  The "what" is determined, but the "when" is something that could change.  If nothing changes, then the discipline needs to be very soon, but if there is repentance, perhaps the punishment could be withheld for a generation or two.  It has happened before, and the LORD could do it again.

The accusation here is against those that were the leaders that were supposed to be the undershepherds to watch over the sheep.  They have been derelict in their duties.  The LORD asks through Jeremiah what those in power will think and do when another nation makes them a vassal state and sets up a puppet government over them.  They will act as if the LORD's discipline is unexpected and unwarranted, but Jeremiah tells them when they ask this question the answer is that they are being punished for their own iniquity.  The warnings have been given from the time of Moses.  There should be no surprise here as things are progressing exactly as the LORD said they would in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.  He laid it all out for them what the decline of the people of Israel would look like and what punishments He would give to try to correct them and bring them back, but nothing was going to work until He sent them into Exile.  Jeremiah says that this is just who they are and they cannot help but sin and rebel because they are sinners who doing exactly what is natural to them.  It would be like asking a leopard to change its spots or a dark-skinned Ethiopian to change the color of his skin.  They are immutable characteristics, and so it is with the sinner--they cannot help but sin.

The LORD will scatter them like chaff--the part that the wind blows away at the harvest.  They are not part of the good grain that farmer wants to gather and it is good for nothing other than maybe as fuel for the fire.  They will be driven asway as the wind drives the chaff away.  This is their lot--the portion the LORD has chosen for them.  He will not completely destroy them, but He will drive them away from the place that they associate with His presence and blessing (though His presence and blessing can be with them wherever they go, which is part of what they need to learn from this).  The people have instead traded the truth of God for a lie and taken on the abominable lifestyle of the pagans around them--engaging in all kinds of immoral, wicked, and vile acts that were in opposition to God's character, nature, and Law.  This is reason alone for the LORD to judge them, and they were guilty of offenses that were deserving of a death sentence, but the LORD decided to put to death their enemies, but only to drive them away for a time.

Jeremiah wonders how long it will be before Jerusalem and Judah will be made clean and be able to return.  Honestly, this can never happen apart from the gospel--we can never clean ourselves up, but Jeremiah is wondering if the people will ever be able to come back from exile.  The answer is that the LORD will eventually relent and return them to the Land for a time, though it is not because they have been perfected--it will be because the nations are disparaging Him and His great Name because they think He has broken covenant with His people.  They were the ones that broke the covenant, but He is being blamed for it.  For the sake of His own Name and reputation, He will once again save them from themselves and their enemies.  That message will eventually be given to Jeremiah as well.