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Herman Veldkamp's Commentary on Jeremiah←⤒🔗

The conclusion of the thirteenth chapter, starting at verse 18, is an address to the king and queen-mother. Its tone is unusual. Royalty is generally favored with more flattering speech. Not many orators would be misled into using Jeremiah's address as a model for their own. A brief summary of his speech can be found in a quote from the New Testament: "he who does sin is a servant to sin."

Without hemming and hawing, Jeremiah began by saying that both king and queen-mother might as well descend from their thrones because their royal crowns would soon be made to fall from their heads. Actually, he worded it somewhat differently: "for your beautiful crown has come down from your head" (verse 18). This was perhaps a little disconcerting because, although both king and queen were still enthroned in august majesty, this man was suddenly telling them that their glory had already passed away. The oddity of it all may have saved Jeremiah's life. Had he said that their crowns would be cast into the dust, Jehoiachin and Nehushta might have jumped up and taken immediate revenge against Jeremiah for threatening their royal person; but since he had said the event had already occurred, his message probably elicited no more than a pitiful smile from them.

And yet, the prophet was right. Jeremiah was so certain of God's revelation that to him future events had already been fulfilled. The use of the past tense here might be called the "prophetic perfect." What do prophets care about the difference between future and perfect? The Lord has spoken, after all, and that's enough of a guarantee that it will come to be. Prophets are therefore completely indifferent to whether the fulfillment of God's promised wrath comes sooner or later. 2 Kings 24 bears out the truth of Jeremiah's message; Jehoiachin, together with his mother, the nobility, and the craftsmen were later deported to Babylon in total ignominy.

Riches can lead to a nation's downfall. The same applies to individuals. It is, no doubt, easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, so to speak. Similarly, Judah literally gorged itself to death on Babylon. Let me explain. It actually sucked up and absorbed into its system the spirit of Babylon and thus became Babylon's victim. The love Judah had for Babylon became its self-inflicted judgment. Jeremiah used the analogy of the promiscuous woman. The figure of speech was both plastic and terribly real.

The relationship between God and His people is always one of troth or marriage. Every violation, every break of this relationship amounts to adultery. When Jerusalem gestured to Babylon for help and support it roused God's jealousy. And when Jerusalem imported a foreign god, the Lord again became envious and enraged. To Him, Jerusalem was being promiscuous. Jerusalem then had to bear the consequences. Those who seek their salvation outside of the Lord will find destruction. And those who flirt with the world will become the discredited rather than the desired.

There is an iron law that says sin always delivers the exact opposite of what it promises and tyranizes everyone who becomes infatuated with it. Whoever commits sin falls under its dominion and becomes its slave. The most demonic power in the world is sin. The idea of sin's tyranny is illustrated in the comparison with the Ethiopian and the leopard. Jeremiah pointed out that it was just as unlikely for an Ethiopian to change his skin and for a leopard to change his spots as for the people of Jerusalem to do any good, since they had grown accustomed to doing evil.

The emphasis falls on "growing accustomed." Jeremiah didn't say that the "corrupt nature of man," was like an Ethiopian who is naturally brown or a leopard that naturally has spots. This was not the point of his comparison. The point was that the people had so long revelled in sin and had grown so accustomed to it that sin had become second nature to them. They could not step out of their skins even if they wanted to! This would have been fatal. Jeremiah first spoke of a judgment that was to come from without: the exile! Then he proclaimed a judgment that was to come from within: growing callousness. Inevitably, there will come a time in every sinner's life when he can no longer return, just as one cannot change the color of his skin. The pathetic part is that there was once a time when change was still possible, but it was not desired. Once they could have changed but would not; later they wanted to change but could not. There is an enormous vitality in sin. It can proliferate rapidly through a person's life like a malignant cancer can spread through the body almost overnight. First man trifles with sin until it toys with him and brings him to his doom. At first he will not repent and later cannot. God escalates this process by converting unwillingness into impotence, a process similar to Pharaoh of whom it was said that he hardened his heart until there was no going back. Ultimately God sanctioned what Pharaoh originally wanted.

Of course, this applies only to someone who has made a habit of sin, who revels in sin without making any attempt to escape from it. Scripture and the confessions distinguish very clearly between living in sin and falling into sin. Neither Scripture nor confession claim that falling into sin is not bad, but those who fall into sin are comforted with the promise of an "eternal covenant" if they do not doubt God's grace or remain in sin (Baptismal form).

Jeremiah asked the callous and hardened inhabitants of Jerusalem how long it would be before they would repent (verse 27). He apparently did not have high hopes for a conversion, but he kept trying. Humanly speaking, conversion did not seem likely but with God everything is possible. The possibility thus existed but would not be realized if the people of Jerusalem continued to think that they still had plenty of time.

For us there also still exists the possibility of conversions, but it too will be undone if we fall into habitual sinning, pretend that we're not so bad and think that, in any event, there's plenty of time to repent.