13:20 The Lord called Jerusalem to look north and she would see people coming.238The city was about to lose the flock of special people over whom the Lord had made her responsible, namely, His people of Judah.
13:21 What would the city say when the Lord appointed other rulers over her whom the leaders of Jerusalem had cultivated, namely, the Mesopotamians? This may be a reference to King Ahaz's earlier request for Assyrian help against Israel and Aramea (2 Kings 16:7; Isa. 8:5-8).239However, there were many times when Judah had relied on and courted Mesopotamian powers in the past (cf. 4:30). Jerusalem would be in agony over this situation, like a woman in labor pains.
13:22 If the people of the city asked themselves why such a state of affairs had overtaken them, they should remember that it was due to the greatness of their sins. The Lord would humiliate the city because it had humiliated Him. Lifting the skirt is a euphemism for sexual attack (cf. Lev. 18:6-19; 20:17; Deut. 22:30; 27:20; Isa. 47:3; Nah. 3:5), and exposing the heels seems to have been another one (cf. Deut. 28:57; 1 Sam. 24:3; Isa. 6:2).
13:23 The Jerusalemites were so steeped in evil that it was impossible for them to change. They could no more change then than the dark Ethiopian could change the color of his skin or the leopard his spots. They had passed the point of no return; repentance was now impossible for them (cf. Heb. 6:4-6).
"Here is a classic example of loss of freedom of the will through persistent sinning. Sin becomes natural. Jeremiah is speaking of the force of habit, not denying freedom of choice (cf. John 8:34)."240
13:24 Because of their inveterate sinning the Lord would scatter the people from their land, like straw blown by the wind. Like the straw, they would end up in desert lands, namely, Babylonia.
13:25 This was the fate that Yahweh assigned the capital of Judah because she had forsaken Him and trusted in false gods.
13:26 Yahweh Himself would be the one responsible for Jerusalem's humiliation (cf. v. 22).
13:27 Her citizens had behaved like adulterers and like copulating horses (cf. 5:8). The Lord had seen their unfaithful, lewd behavior toward Him when they worshipped idols and practiced sacred prostitution in the open-air shrines across the land. Jerusalem was in big trouble. How long would she continue in her wicked ways and remain unclean?! The question expresses frustration more than it is a request for information.
