Jeremiah:13

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Verse 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 . * Verse 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 . * Verse 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 . **** Matthew Henry 's Commentary ****

---