Jeremiah 13:13

Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) The kings that sit upon David’s throne.—Literally, that sit for David (i.e., as his successors and representatives) on his throne. The plural is probably used in pointing to the four—Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah—who were all of them involved in the sufferings that fell on Judah.

With drunkenness.—The intoxication of the “strong drink”—here, probably, palm-wine—rather than that of the juice of the grape, involving more confusion and loss of power.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 13:13-14. Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants with drunkenness — There is a wine of astonishment and confusion, Psalm 60:3. With that wine, saith God, I will fill all orders of persons, kings, priests, prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will dash them one against another — I will permit an evil spirit of strife and division to arise among them, as Jdg 9:23, so that they shall be set one against another, fathers against their sons, and sons against their fathers, and family against family; so that, having no union among themselves, or friendly co- operation, they shall become an easy prey to their enemies. Thus I will confound and destroy them, as earthen vessels are broken to pieces when they are dashed one against another. The words allude to the earthen bottles which were to be filled with wine, Jeremiah 13:12. I will not pity nor spare, but destroy, &c. — For they will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy one another: see Habakkuk 2:15-16. Therefore let them not presume upon my mercy, for I am resolved to show them no mercy, but to bring them to utter ruin, unless a thorough reformation take place.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:12-17 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The kings ... - i. e., his successors in general. In the fall of Jerusalem four kings in succession were crushed.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. upon David's throne—literally, who sit for David on his throne; implying the succession of the Davidic family (Jer 22:4).

all—indiscriminately of every rank.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

There is a wine of astonishment and confusion, Psalm 60:3, a wine that intoxicateth, and inflameth, and stupifieth, as well as a wine that refresheth; saith God, With that wine I will fill all orders of persons,

kings, priests, prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nor shall the throne of David be a protection to your kings; I will have no regard to them upon that account, nor to the priests, though they be persons consecrated to me.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then shall thou say unto them,.... Explaining the above words:

thus saith the Lord, behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land; this is the application of the parable, and shows that by every bottle is meant every inhabitant of Judea:

even the kings that sit upon David's throne; or, "that sit for David on his throne" (w); that succeed him one after another; more kings may be meant than one, as Jehoiakim and Zedekiah; or the present reigning king, and the princes of the brood, are designed; who, though of David's family, and on his throne, yet this could not secure them from the calamity threatened:

and the priests; who ministered in holy things; their sacred office and function would not preserve them from ruin:

and the prophets; the false prophets, as the Targum, that prophesied smooth things, and prophesied them peace and safety, these should be involved in the common destruction:

and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness; with tribulation, as the Targum interprets it; and adds,

"and shall be like a drunken man;''

giddy, stupid, unable to help themselves, or to advise one another.

(w) "sedentes Davidi", Montanus, Schmidt, Cocceius; "pro David", Pagninus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius.

Geneva Study Bible

Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Jeremiah 13:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

How the Lord will destroy His degenerate people, and how they may yet escape the impending ruin. - Jeremiah 13:12. "And speak unto them this word: Thus hath Jahveh the God of Israel said, Every jar is filled with wine. And when they say to thee, Know we not that every jar is filled with wine? Jeremiah 13:13. Then say to them: Thus hath Jahve said: Behold, I fill all inhabitants of this land - the kings that sit for David upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem - with drunkenness, Jeremiah 13:14. And dash them one against another, the fathers and the sons together, saith Jahve; I will not spare, nor pity, nor have mercy, not to destroy them. - Jeremiah 13:15. Hear ye and give ear! Be not proud, for Jahveh speaketh. Jeremiah 13:16. Give to Jahveh, your God, honour, ere He bring darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of dusk, and ye look for light, but He turn it into the shadow of death and make it darkness. Jeremiah 13:17. But if ye hear it not, then in concealment shall my soul weep for the pride, and weep and run down shall mine eye with tears, because the flock of Jahve is carried away captive."

To give emphasis to the threatening conveyed in the symbolical action, the kind and manner of the destruction awaiting them is forcibly set before the various ranks in Judah and Jerusalem by the interpretation, in Jeremiah 13:12-14, of a proverbial saying and the application of it to them. The circumstantial way in which the figurative saying is brought in in Jeremiah 13:12, is designed to call attention to its import. נבל, an earthenware vessel, especially the wine jar (cf. Isaiah 30:24; Lamentations 4:2), is here the emblem of man; cf. Jeremiah 18:6; Isaiah 29:16. We must not, as Ng. does, suppose the similar to be used because such jars are an excellent emblem of that carnal aristocratic pride which lacked all substantial merit, by reason of their being of bulging shape, hollow within and without solidity, and of fragile material besides. No stress is laid on the bulging form and hollowness of the jars, but only on their fulness with wine and their brittleness. Nor can aristocratic haughtiness be predicated of all the inhabitants of the land. The saying: Every jar is filled with wine, seemed so plain and natural, that those addressed answer: Of that we are well aware. "The answer is that of the psychical man, who dreams of no deeper sense" (Hitz.). Just this very answer gives the prophet occasion to expound the deeper meaning of this word of God's. As one fills all wine jars, so must all inhabitants of the land be filled by God with wine of intoxication. Drunkenness is the effect of the intoxicating wine of God's wrath, Psalm 60:5. This wine Jahveh will give them (cf. Jeremiah 25:15; Isaiah 51:17, etc.), so that, filled with drunken frenzy, they shall helplessly destroy one another. This spirit will seize upon all ranks: upon the kings who sit upon the throne of David, not merely him who was reigning at the time; upon the priests and prophets as leaders of the people; and upon all inhabitants of Jerusalem, the metropolis, the spirit and temper of which exercises an unlimited influence upon the temper and destiny of the kingdom at large. I dash them one against the other, as jars are shivered when knocked together. Here Hitz. finds a foreshadowing of civil war, by which they should exterminate one another. Jeremiah was indeed thinking of the staggering against one another of drunken men, but in "dash them," etc., adhered simply to the figure of jars or pots. But what can be meant by the shivering of pots knocked together, other than mutual destruction? The kingdom of Judah did not indeed fall by civil war; but who can deny that the fury of the various factions in Judah and Jerusalem did really contribute to the fall of the realm? The shattering of the pots does not mean directly civil war; it is given as the result of the drunkenness of the inhabitants, under which they, no longer capable of self-control, dash against and so destroy one another. But besides, the breaking of jars reminds us of the stratagem of Gideon and his 300 warriors, who, by the sound of trumpets and the smashing of jars, threw the whole Midianite camp into such panic, that these foes turned their swords against one another and fled in wild confusion: Judges 7:19., cf. too 1 Samuel 14:20. Thus shall Judah be broken without mercy or pity. To increase the emphasis, there is a cumulation of expressions, as in Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 15:5, cf. Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 7:4, Ezekiel 7:9, etc.