Hear ye, and give ear, be not lifted up; for Jehovah hath spoken.
The chapter opens with a sign — a linen sash, ruined and good for nothing. It stood for a people God had bound close to Himself, and verse 15 is the appeal that follows: listen, and drop the pride, because God has spoken.
God's own explanation of the sash names two things together: pride, and a refusal to hear.
"This is what Jehovah says: in this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people refuse to hear My words. They walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and go after other gods to serve them and worship them. They shall be like this sash, which is good for nothing. For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me, says Jehovah. They were to be to Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen."
after_note: DELETE
The reason to listen is not who Jeremiah is.
He deliberately refuses to claim the words as his own. He says they are the Lord's.
That claim puts the weight on the hearer.
Man is responsible for receiving the word, and then for understanding it. Only grace can enable him to receive it and understand it. But nothing sets that responsibility aside. And nothing removes the need for that grace, or cancels its effect... It was so in the days of all the prophets. "Hear and give ear," said Jeremiah; "be not proud, for the LORD has spoken. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride."
"Be not proud" is not a side remark. Pride is what stops a person from being taught at all.
Ignorance blinds the mind, and pride is a screen in front of that ignorance, so people never see it is there. They think so highly of themselves that they resent anyone suspecting them of pride. Of all people they are furthest from the way to knowledge. They are too good to learn from man, as they think, and too bad to be taught by God. The gate into Christ's school is low, and these cannot stoop: the Master Himself is so humble and lowly that He will not teach a proud scholar.
The appeal breaks into a chapter of announced ruin.
How patient and merciful is Jehovah! He interrupts His judgment message by calling on the people, whom He still loves, to give ear and to give glory to Jehovah. It is the utterance of the prophet, the outpouring of His love towards His people. The prophet addresses the king and the queen: "Humble yourselves."
Hearing is not finished when the message is understood.
The way to give glory to the Lord our God is to obey His word. The path of duty is a bright and blessed path; and the one who through grace treads that path will never stumble on the dark mountains. The truly humble, the lowly, those who distrust themselves will keep far away from those dark mountains. They walk in that blessed path, and it is always lit by the bright, cheering light of God's approving face.
The warning is not shouted from a distance. The man carrying it feels what he says.
The servant of Jehovah felt how serious the message was that he had to deliver. It is the same today with every true servant of Christ. God stirs their sympathies, and it shows in a way the cold-hearted person who only professes faith cannot imitate.
- Ruined sash — God made Israel and Judah cling to Him as a sash clings to a man's waist. They refused to hear, and became good for nothing.
- Spoken, not invented — Jeremiah claims nothing for himself. He says the words are the Lord's, and that is what makes the hearer responsible.
- Pride stoops or stays out — the gate into Christ's school is low, and the Master will not teach a proud scholar.
- Mercy interrupts — the call to listen breaks into a judgment message. God still loves this people, and even the king and queen hear "Humble yourselves."
- Hearing means obeying — giving glory to God means acting on His word. The humble walk in light instead of stumbling on dark mountains.
Give glory to Jehovah your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight; and ye shall look for light, but he will turn it into the shadow of death, and make [it] gross darkness.
God had just told Jeremiah to bury a linen belt until it rotted. It was a sign of what He would do with a people He had once held close. Verse 16 is the appeal built on that sign. It offers mercy, but with a deadline, to a nation whose pride had made it deaf.
The people treated the prophet's warning as old news.
The section ends with a symbolic action the prophet had to perform in Jeremiah 13. Then comes its meaning, and the moving appeal to Jerusalem built on it. The belt worn and kept safely, then completely ruined, showed what the Lord had been and what He would be to Judah. Did the people mock the prophet for telling them what they already knew? Then let them learn what they did not believe — their own destruction, now close at hand: kings, priests, prophets, all.
God named the fault the sign attacked.
And then the word of the Lord explains this sign. "This is what the Lord says: In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people refuse to hear My words. They walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and go after other gods to serve and worship them. They shall be like this belt, which is good for nothing." … "I meant them to be My people, a name, a praise, and a glory to Me. But they would not hear."
So what does it look like to give God glory? One writer answers in a single line. (Where the ESV says "the twilight mountains," the older wording quoted here is "the dark mountains.")
The way to give glory to the Lord our God is to obey His word. The path of duty is a bright and blessed path. The one who by grace walks that path will never stumble on the dark mountains. The truly humble, the lowly, the self-distrusting will keep far away from those dark mountains.
The whole weight of the verse rests on one small word: before.
God will always guide the obedient, humble soul. But if we do not walk by the light He gives, we shall get into darkness. Light not acted on becomes darkness, and how great is that darkness! Nothing is more dangerous than tampering with the light which God gives. Sooner or later it must lead to the most disastrous consequences.
God Himself causes this darkness. That is what makes the threat so serious. But there is a reverse side.
There is something very awful in the thought of God causing darkness and turning light into the shadow of death. And why does He? Because we did not act on the light He gave in grace. The contrast to all this is that lovely passage in Luke 11:34-36. When we act on the light God gives, we are full of light ourselves. More than that, we become light-bearers for others. This is very different from stumbling on dark mountains.
If the danger is delay, the answer is to act the moment the light comes.
Nothing can be more dangerous than to hesitate when divine light shines on the path. If you do not act on the light when you get it, thick darkness will certainly close in on you. So then, as another has said, "Never go before your faith, nor lag behind your conscience."
Centuries later the same city heard the same words from Christ Himself.
Like Jeremiah, the Lord had witnessed the backslidings of the daughter of Zion. Like him, He had warned her, and taught her, and would gladly have healed her. But like him, He had seen the stubbornness of her heart. He had suffered rebuke and rejection from her, and now had only to weep for her. Right to the end of His ministry (see John 12:35) He said to her, in Jeremiah's words: "Give glory to the Lord your God, before He causes darkness… But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride." Jer. 13:16-17.
- Pride is the disease the verse treats: a people who "would not hear," now as useless as the ruined belt.
- Glory — you give it to God by obeying His word. That is the whole ask of the verse.
- Before is the hinge: light not acted on becomes darkness, so hesitation is the real danger.
- Darkness here has a cause: God turns the light we refuse into the shadow of death.
- Light obeyed does the opposite. It fills you, and makes you a light-bearer for others.
And if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for [your] pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because Jehovah's flock is gone into captivity.
Jeremiah has just told Judah to give glory to God before darkness falls and their feet stumble. Verse 17 says what he will do if they refuse to listen: the messenger of judgment answers their pride with hidden tears, not with anger, over people God still calls His flock.
The chapter opens with a sash that Jeremiah wears and later finds ruined. Kelly reads that picture beside the message Judah refused to believe:
The sash worn and kept safely, then completely ruined, showed what Jehovah had been and what He would be to Judah. Did the people mock the prophet for telling them what they already knew? Then let them learn what they did not believe — their own destruction now close at hand, kings, priests, prophets, all.
Gaebelein reads this appeal as love breaking into a message of doom:
How patient and merciful is Jehovah! He interrupts His judgment message. He calls the people He still loves to listen and to give glory to Jehovah. It is the utterance of the prophet, the outpouring of His love towards His people. The prophet addresses the king and the queen: "Humble yourselves." And then his heart seems to break as he foresees their stubbornness.
The tears are for pride — the very thing verse 15 warned against. Darby uses this verse to show that each person answers for how they hear God's word:
Receiving the word, and then understanding that word, are things placed on man's responsibility. Grace alone can enable him to receive and understand it. But nothing can set aside this responsibility. Nothing can remove the need of this grace or destroy its effect... It was so in the days of all the prophets, Jeremiah among them.
When speaking no longer helps, Jeremiah does not fall silent — he changes the place where he speaks. Patterson describes the shift from pulpit to private grief:
He was the voice of God to His poor people as long as they had an ear to hear. Look at chapter 13. What does he say? If you do not listen to His words, I will go and weep for you before the Lord.
Hamilton Smith takes this as the pattern for anyone grieved by the state of things around them — argument stirs dust, prayer finds the door:
The way of controversy is dusty. Quarrelsome disputes raise this dust and blow it most into the eyes of those who gallop fastest in it. So they miss the truth, which humble souls find on their knees at the throne of grace... Times of sin have always been the saint's times of prayer: this is what sent Ezra with a heavy heart to confess the sin of his people. And Jeremiah tells the wicked of his corrupt age that his "soul should weep in secret places for their pride."
The tears are not for a ruined nation but for a flock that belongs to God. The Morrish Bible Dictionary shows how far that title reaches:
In the Old Testament this term describes Israel as sheep gathered by God as their Shepherd, and called Jehovah's flock... It also covers those of Israel whom Christ gathered when He was on earth. To these He added the Gentile believers. They all became one flock (not "one fold"), with Christ as the one Shepherd. John 10:16.
Bellett sees the Lord walking Jeremiah's road with Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion:
Like Jeremiah, the Lord had seen the backslidings of the daughter of Zion. Like him, He had warned her, and taught her, and would gladly have healed her. But, like him, He had seen the stubbornness of her heart, had suffered rebuke and rejection from her, and now had only to weep for her.
One writer sees this grief as the mark of a true servant, not a weakness:
The servant of Jehovah felt how serious the message was that he had to deliver. It is the same today with every true servant of Christ. Divine sympathies wake up in him and show themselves in a way no cold-hearted professing believer can imitate.
- Warning first. The ruined sash showed what God had been to Judah. The call to give Him glory came before the sentence fell.
- Mercy interrupts. The call to hear breaks into the middle of a judgment message, addressed to a people God still loved.
- Pride blocks it. Hearing God's word is a real responsibility. Pride stops the ear, and pride is what the tears are for.
- Secret places. When people refuse to listen, the faithful stop arguing and start weeping before God. Controversy raises dust; prayer finds the truth.
- His flock. The grief is not for a lost nation but for God's own sheep. The same Shepherd later gathered Jew and Gentile into one flock — and wept over Jerusalem.