Jeremiah 13.c. Who is in Charge?

13:20-22.  Lift up your eyes and see   

those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given you,   

your beautiful flock?

What will you say when they set as head over you   

those whom you have groomed to be your allies?

Will not pangs seize you   

like those of a woman in labor?

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 are violated.

 God through Jeremiah is constantly warning the people about the disaster coming from the north. That will happen in two waves. First, in 597 BC, Judah surrendered to Babylon and the elite were deported. The temple was pillaged, but it remained standing. A vassal king was put on the throne and Judah became a client state. Ten years later, Judah foolishly revolted. This time, the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem completely and marched the majority of the people to Babylon to be slaves. So, this is not an idle warning, nor is the prophet crying ‘wolf’. 

 While they are suffering in exile, the people may ask, ‘Why is this happening to us’? Jeremiah offers a metaphor that becomes a dominant theme in Jewish history. The leadership, the kings and priests, are supposed to be like shepherds of a wonderful flock of sheep, but they did not take care of them. Period. 

 Ezekiel, the prophet during the Exile, devoted a whole chapter developing this metaphor to explain to the people what happened. Go read Ezekiel Chapter 34. 

 When total defeat came, Judah had to suffer the shame of having leaders not of their choice appointed over them. Ironically enough, those will be the Babylonians whom they once cultivated as allies. The shepherds were asleep at the wheel. The kings and priests themselves put the wolves in charge of the sheep!  

 It was the leadership of Judah that first courted Assyria, then later wanted to be allies with Egypt. When the Babylonian army defeated Egypt at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, King Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Then, in 601, Babylon invaded but did not conquer Egypt. King Jehoiakim took this as a sign and switched back to courting Egypt. He paid the price for trying to keep up with international intrigues instead of trusting God. Babylon came back strong in 597 and defeated Judah, and Egypt.

 Jeremiah says, the ‘labor pains’ you feel now are the result of your own infidelity. If you lie down with bad company, you come away pregnant and diseased. You ask “Why have these things come upon me?” Look at your own refusal to live up to God’s covenant with Abraham. The consequence is that, along with the invading army comes the threat of being raped, figuratively and literally. 

13: 23-27. Can Cushites change their skin   

or leopards (change) their spots?

Then you can do good,   

who are accustomed to do evil.

I will scatter you like chaff   

driven by the wind from the desert.

This is your lot,   

the portion I have measured out to you, 

says the LORD,

because you have forgotten me   

and trusted in lies.

I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,   

and your shame will be seen.

I have seen your abominations,   

your adulteries and neighings, 

your shameless prostitutions   

on the hills of the countryside.

Woe to you, O Jerusalem!   

How long will it be   

before you are made clean?

 Jeremiah’s point here may be difficult to understand. First, he repeats a common saying intended to show that some things are not changeable; a Sudanese’s skin or a leopard’s spots. This saying does not shame black skin or spots, rather it is just a way of making the point. The question is this, ‘Have the people of Judah gone so far away from God that they, like these examples, cannot change?’ 

 The answer is ‘No, they haven’t.’ "You can do good, who are accustomed to do evil." Otherwise, why should Jeremiah preach? However, Judah will have to do something drastic and do it quickly. The elite and the commoners both are going to have to name their sin and beg for forgiveness. Then they must let God do the hard part of changing them. Nothing is hidden; God has seen abomination after abomination. The question is, ‘How long will they cling to their unfaithful ways; and when does ‘how long’ become ‘too late’? 

 God is bringing disaster. God can bring salvation. Which will it be? Will we continue to learn lies and thus forget God's truth? We all have to decide, as individuals and as nations, before it is too late.