Jer 13:14 | KingComments | STEP | Jeremiah is instructed to speak a word from the LORD to the apostate people ( ). The word “therefore” makes it clear that this new word directly follows on from the previous one. This new word is a “picture word”. It is about jugs that will be filled with wine. The empty jug is a picture of their emptiness. When the jug is filled with wine, it is not a picture of being full of the joy of the LORD, but of being full of the anger of the LORD. The reaction of the people shows that they understand nothing of the picture. They think only of literal jugs and literal wine. Of course, they know that each jug will be filled with wine when the wine harvest has arrived. Then comes the sobering explanation ( ). Jeremiah is to tell them on behalf of the LORD that just as every jug is filled with wine, so all the inhabitants of the land, up to the highest placed and most privileged, will be filled with the wine of His judgment. The people are compared to empty jugs. The judgments coming on them through the Babylonians will render them so helpless and confused that they will feel and act like drunken people. The mention of “David on his throne” indicates how much his descendants have departed from this man of whom God can say, that he is “a man after My heart” ( ). The LORD Himself will dash the jugs, that is, the people ( ; cf. ). Relationships of confidence, such as those between fathers and children, will be broken in pieces. Judgment will be carried out without any mercy from the LORD. No one will be spared. It will be carried out without any act of mercy from the LORD. The whole people will be brought to ruin.

‏ Jeremiah 13:14

The Wine of God’s Anger

Jeremiah is instructed to speak a word from the LORD to the apostate people (Jer 13:12). The word “therefore” makes it clear that this new word directly follows on from the previous one. This new word is a “picture word”. It is about jugs that will be filled with wine. The empty jug is a picture of their emptiness. When the jug is filled with wine, it is not a picture of being full of the joy of the LORD, but of being full of the anger of the LORD. The reaction of the people shows that they understand nothing of the picture. They think only of literal jugs and literal wine. Of course, they know that each jug will be filled with wine when the wine harvest has arrived.

Then comes the sobering explanation (Jer 13:13). Jeremiah is to tell them on behalf of the LORD that just as every jug is filled with wine, so all the inhabitants of the land, up to the highest placed and most privileged, will be filled with the wine of His judgment. The people are compared to empty jugs. The judgments coming on them through the Babylonians will render them so helpless and confused that they will feel and act like drunken people. The mention of “David on his throne” indicates how much his descendants have departed from this man of whom God can say, that he is “a man after My heart” (Acts 13:22).

The LORD Himself will dash the jugs, that is, the people (Jer 13:14; cf. Isa 30:14). Relationships of confidence, such as those between fathers and children, will be broken in pieces. Judgment will be carried out without any mercy from the LORD. No one will be spared. It will be carried out without any act of mercy from the LORD. The whole people will be brought to ruin.