No empire, kingdom or nation has survived since the beginning of history up to and including today. However, the only nation to resurrect from the lost and gone is Israel. Autonomy lost in 620 B.C. and resurrected in 1920 but officially in 1948. I am attaching a brief history of how Israel came back into existence along with this study of Jeremiah 13. Why? Jeremiah saw a new Israel although during his life he only witnessed the existence of Judah; i.e. the Southern Kingdom of the former Nation of Israel under the reign of three kings: Saul, David, and Solomon.
Those who do not study history are bound to delete it. Others are called history revisionists. This website is dedicated to simply providing the facts, then, let the reader or student of the Word decide. Many fail to understand that the current Arab nations and the State of Israel were carved out of the Ottoman Empire after WWI (please read the appendix document per history as it really is).
Jeremiah 13 begins with God telling him to dress in the priestly order. He is told to buy a linen loin cloth (something like a pair of undershorts), put it on, wear it for a while, do NOT wash it. Then Jeremiah is told something that to us sounds odd. God said to wear these shorts for a while, then take them off and hide them in between rocks in Parah (Parath), an area near his home town of Anathoth but along the Euphrates River.
JIV NOTE – an aha-moment: In medicine we know of a disease called Parathyroid tumor. It is something that can easily be remedied by surgery but if not done, it will lead to death. There may be a parallel between the name of the place Jeremiah is told to hide his loin cloth, its relative ease in correction, and its fatality if not removed. http://www.parathyroid.com/
The stubbornness of the people of Judah was an abomination to God. Earlier we studied that the people were convinced that nothing could happen to them as did their northern cousins (Kingdom of Israel).
After all, they had the Temple, right [Jeremiah 7:1-7]? They wanted to believe that God would protect them because it is His Temple. Jeremiah knew better. He knew that the Temple structure was not the dwelling place of God but a place of sacrifices and worship of God. Their worship of other gods made God look upon Judah as useless loin cloth. Once very close to Him but now trashed.
Verse 4-6 of chapter 13 states (CEV): “Take off the shorts. Go to Para[t]h and hide the shorts in a crack between some large rocks.” And that’s what I did. Jer 13:6 Some time later [after many days] the LORD said, “Go back and get the shorts“ [loin cloth].
Jeremiah observes in verse 7 that the shorts (loin cloth) “…were spoiled and it [now] good for nothing” [ESV]. As God so often does in scripture, he uses object lessons. In the New Testament they are called parables. Jeremiah 13:9-11 is summarized in v9 regarding the spoiled linen loin cloth: “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem…”
We must note in v11 that once again God includes both Judah and Israel in his proclamation. A JIV thought… even today the Jews are looked upon in disdain as a people. Much of this self-serving attitude has been the plague they have lived with since originally entering Palestine, the Promised Land. In a very real sense, the loin cloth also depicts the sensitivity and personal closeness of his relationship with God’s Chosen People.
In 13:12, Jeremiah shifts gears. Now the comparison of [Israel and] Judah is to a jar of wine. Jeremiah tells them that “every jar will be filled with wine,” something symbolic of a good life. The people of Judah and their leadership laugh at him saying in their conceit and contempt that they are God’s Chosen. Of course they will live the good life, they say to Jeremiah. This is not just jars of wine God is comparing to their successes and good life, but that consumption of too much strong drink makes them symbolically drunk; a people possessing no reasonable sense due to too much wine often think they are invincible and infallible. Just like the drunk in a bar or at a party, s/he can whip anyone. Neither do they care what the neighbors think. Judah has no respect for Jeremiah and no concerns about their security. They also have to fear of their neighbors. It isn’t that God will make them drunk. He will allow them to have the same confidence of a drunk; father, sons, priests, rulers, (false) prophets, daughters and mothers. (Also see Isaiah 51:17 & 63:6)
God will NOT RESCUE them this time until the 70 dispersion to Babylon is compete. As we learned in our Daniel studies, when this 70 years is past the large majority will continue in their pious ways and NOT return to their homeland. PS: Hundreds of thousands of them still live in this area: Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Iraq. What is the difference today? Many former Judeans who still live there do not even realize they are of Israeli DNA.
Verse 16 is similar to a common phrase today… “it is the eleventh hour.” God is giving his 11th hour warning for Jeremiah to carry to the people of the Kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah states “If you are too proud to listen, I will weep alone. Tears will stream from my eyes when the LORD’s people are taken away as prisoners” [CEV]. Jeremiah truly loved his country and countrymen. It was a one-sided love, but love them he did.
Let no stone be left unturned. In verse 18, God says to Jeremiah, inform the king AND the queen-mother. It sounds like King Jehoiakim may listen to the queen-mother, but history tells us neither of them followed Jeremiah’s pleas. Neither did King Zedekiah. Recall that later Nebuchadnezzar removed Jehoiakim from the throne in Jerusalem replacing him with Zedekiah. Once again to solidify the pious attitude all Judah, even after the overthrow of Jehoiakim by Nebuchadnezzar, Judeans still believed they were safe. Sin can blind a person to actualities as they continue to live in the false environment of their personal realities. It can happen to them but not to me, right?
NOTE: To those who want to keep it somewhat straight per bible names of kings and others. Jehoiakim had a son named Jeconiah. He is also known as King Jehoiachin.
Jeremiah 13:20 puts it straight and on the line yet the king and queen-mother still fail to understand. “Where is your (lovely) flock [citizens of Judah] gone” is the question posed to them? Nebuchadnezzar has emptied the cities of Judah either by captivity or scattering them by fleeing his occupation of Judah. The king is told that those he has thought to be friends of his and the Kingdom will soon be in charge over him and the kingdom.
Verse 23 is a common phrase today but few realize it comes from Jeremiah 13:23. It is by comparison the odds that Judah will listen and avoid calamity. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you [who] can do good who are accustomed to do evil”. God gets very blunt at this point. He says that he will “show your shame by personally lifting up the skirt of Israel and its people. In other words, they no longer have a chance at being pious, stiff necked, ceremoniously religious; have the Temple to protect them, nose in the air attitudes. All things personal will now be exposed.
“I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighing; your lewd whoring on the hills [and] in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem!”
In this sense, even though I do not recommend the CEV (Contemporary English Version) for doctrine or deep bible study, they make it clear as to what the other translations seem to avoid saying flat out.
[CEV] v26, 27: You were married to me, but you were unfaithful. You even became a prostitute by worshiping disgusting gods on hilltops and in fields.
v27: So I’ll rip off your clothes and leave you naked and ashamed for everyone to see. You are doomed! Will you ever be worthy to worship me again?
This is far from the end of our Jeremiah study, but it is the end of both the Kingdom of Israel and Judah as recognized and independent territories. It is the reason the New Testament and Jesus the Messiah of Israel and the world is born into this world some 600 years later. Chapter 13 has three arguments against Judah.
- Spiritual adultery;
- An inordinate or excessive eagerness to worship idols;
- Shameless participation in pagan god-worship and orgies.
Chapter 14 discusses great and natural environmental issues design to drive Judah to the bended knee. In the meantime, read the attached that follows. It helps us to understand the issues of this world today and almost universally bad attitudes toward Israel/Judah. All is part of the End Time scenario.
Rev. Dr. Jstark
January 2017
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
PERMANENT MANDATES COMMISSION?
MINUTES OF THE FIFTEENTH SESSION
Held at Geneva from October 24th to November 11th, 1927.
Does Israel occupy Palestinian’s land on the West Bank? This is what those who did not take the time to study history want us to believe and precisely what Arabs want us to understand. Israel knows better.
He who does not know history is destined to DELETE IT. The desire of so many Middle Eastern (and other) States to “wipe Israel off the map” has little to nothing to do with borders. Prior to the end of WWI most of the Arab nations we know today did not exist. Arabs were wandering bands of Bedouins and city-states under the thumb of the Ottoman Turks prior to and up to the end of WWI. (Turks are not Arabs).
What about the assignment or appointment of Middle Eastern governments, kings, and rulers? This was not by popular vote by the League of Nations after WWI, but totally influenced by geo-political faithfulness to the victors of WWI. These areas were a mix of people, tribes, religions, and ethnicities. However, only one group was appointed ruler of each British and French mandated “new” countries at the expense of the other peoples’ living within these mandated country or national lines in the sand.. Israel was defined at the same time but it took time to develop as a country.
Let’s not leave out French-Indonesia/China? In the 16th Century through 1954 when it comes to occupation of other lands the French are a modern day example of this charge against Israel.
What about the Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and German occupations and dividing of the Americas amongst themselves?
After WWI and the defeat of the Turks who aligned themselves with the Germans, the British- French mandates “CREATED” the States of Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Iraq/Iran (Mesopotamia) and seven other nations in Africa. This was done under what was called the League of Nations Mandate. USA was NOT a member. The French and British literally drew lines in the sand, mostly to their benefit, identifying the territory within these lines “as countries.” All of the territories subject to League of Nations mandates were previously controlled by states defeated in World War I, principally Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire
Historical knowledge deleted: One of these post-WWI lines in the sand ran north and south along the Jordan River on the east and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. This land since bible times is called Palestine and designated by the same mandate as “Palestine,” the National Jewish homeland. This Jewish homeland is 1/630th the size of Arab territories established under these very same mandates defined as legal by the League of Nations and the Belfour Agreement. Just like each territorial mandate, people of mixed races, tribes, and religions lived within them. In each case and at the expense of the mix of people, ONE was selected the governing body. All but one, that being Palestine, were Arab-Muslims.
USA is a territory; Americans are a mix of people. Palestine is a territory. Palestinians are ANYONE living within Palestine todays Israel, just as anyone living in the USA is considered to be American. Jews of Israel are original Palestinians. See The Covenant of the League of Nations; Article 22. This has been true since 1456 B.C.; 3456 years ago.
AHA Bible Moments 