Jeremiah 13:7

There is a gradation in the three last lines, — It shall not be thought of, much less mentioned or named, as given by the Septuagint, — still less be visited, — and much less still, be made. This gradation is destroyed by Blayney by rendering the first line, Nor shall it be the delight of their heart; literally it is, "And it shall not ascend on the heart." The "heart" means often in Hebrew the mind; and "to come to mind" is the idea; it would not be thought of. The phrase occurs in this book in two other places, Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 44:21; and, not to think, or, not to come to mind, is the most suitable meaning, as it is given in our version. The purpose of this kind of gradation is to render the thing more certain and indisputable, so that there might be no room for doubt. — Ed. This seems to be the best rendering. Blayney leaves out the word "Jerusalem;" but for no sufficient reason. The whole verse is as follows: — In that day call shall they Jerusalem, "The throne of Jehovah;" And gathered into it shall be all the nations, For the name of Jehovah, even to Jerusalem; And they shall no more walk after the resolutions of their wicked heart. — Ed. "Evil" is connected with "hardness;" but it belongs properly to "their heart." The word rendered "hardness" is srrvt a plural noun, found eight times in Jeremiah; here, and in Jeremiah 7:24; Jeremiah 9:14; Jeremiah 11:8; Jeremiah 13:10; Jeremiah 16:12; Jeremiah 18:12; Jeremiah 23:17; and twice elsewhere, Deuteronomy 29:19; Psalms 81:12.

13:1-11 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.

Then I went to Euphrates,.... In a vision; this is the second journey, of which See Gill on Jeremiah 13:5 , and digged; the hole, in process of time, being stopped up with soil or sand, that were thrown up over it; this digging was in a visionary way; see Ezekiel 8:8, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; which he knew again by some token or another: and, behold, the girdle was marred; or "corrupted" (q); it was become rotten by the washing of the water over it, and its long continuance in such a place: it was profitable for nothing; it could not be put upon a man's loins, or be wore any more; nor was it fit for any other use, it was so sadly spoiled and so thoroughly rotten. It is in the Hebrew text, "it shall not prosper to all" (r) things; that is, not "to anything" (s), as many render it. (q) "corruptum erat", Munster, Montanus, Schmidt; "computruerat", Pagninus. (r) "non proficiet omnibus", Vatablus. (s) "Non prosperabitur cuiquam", Montanus; "ad ullam rem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

(7) The girdle was marred. —The symbolism is explained in Jeremiah 13:9 . The girdle stained, decayed, worthless, was a parable of the state of Judah after the exile, stripped of all its outward greatness, losing the place which it had once occupied among the nations of the earth.

After the course of many days - these are the seventy years of the captivity - the prophet is to fetch the girdle again. He went, digged (חפר, whence we see that the hiding in the cleft of the rock was a burying in the rocky soil of the Euphrates bank), and found the girdle marred, fit for nothing. These words correspond to the effect which the exile was designed to have, which it has had, on the wicked, idolatrous race. The ungodly should as Moses' law, Leviticus 26:36 , Leviticus 26:39 , declared, perish in the land of their enemies; the land of their enemies will devour them, and they that remain shall pine or moulder away in their iniquities and in the iniquities of their fathers. This mouldering (ימּקּוּ) is well reproduced in the marring (נשׁחת) of the girdle. It is no contradiction to this, that a part of the people will be rescued from the captivity and brought back to the land of their fathers. For although the girdle which the prophet had put on his loins symbolized the people at large, yet the decay of the same at the Euphrates sets forth only the physical decay of the ungodly part of the people, as Jeremiah 13:10 intimates in clear words: "This evil people that refuses to hear the word of the Lord, etc., shall be as this girdle." The Lord will mar the גּאון of Judah and Jerusalem. The word means highness in both a good and in an evil sense, glory and self-glory. Here it is used with the latter force.

This is shown both by the context, and by a comparison of the passage Leviticus 26:19 , that God will break the נּאון of the people by sore judgments, which is the foundation of the present Jeremiah 13:9 . - In Jeremiah 13:11 the meaning of the girdle is given, in order to explain the threatening in Jeremiah 13:9 and Jeremiah 13:10 . As the girdle lies on the loins of a man, so the Lord hath laid Israel on Himself, that it may be to Him for a people and for a praise, for a glory and an adornment, inasmuch as He designed to set it above all other nations and to make it very glorious; cf. Deuteronomy 26:19 , whither these words point back.

19 . curse ] Rather oath , for it is on the strength of Jehovah’s oath to be Israel’s God and so to protect them, that this Israelite flatters himself he is secure, no matter how he may behave. In the history of religion such a delusion has been lamentably frequent, and believers in extreme doctrines of election have presumed on these and recklessly indulged in evil. bless himself in his heart ] Flatter himself! Found only here. stubbornness ] Heb. sherirûth , firmness but always in a bad sense; only here, Jeremiah 3:17 ; Jeremiah 7:24 ; Jeremiah 9:13 ; Jeremiah 11:8 ; Jeremiah 13:10 ; Jeremiah 16:12 ; Jeremiah 18:12 ; Jeremiah 23:17 , and in Psalm 81:12 (13). This of course is not the man’s own, but the writer’s, view of him. to destroy the moist with the dry ] An unmeaning translation. The construction is elliptic and we should render: so as to sweep away the moist (herbage?) with the dried up ; bring down a hurricane of destruction that would uproot the whole people, so fatal is the infectiousness, and so universal will be God’s punishment, of idolatry.