12. A new image.
Do we not . . . know . . . wine--The "bottles" are those used in the
East, made of skins; our word "hogshead," originally "oxhide," alludes
to the same custom. As they were used to hold water, milk, and other
liquids, what the prophet said (namely, that they should be all filled
with wine) was not, as the Jews' taunting reply implied, a truism even
literally. The figurative sense which is what Jeremiah chiefly
meant, they affected not to understand. As wine intoxicates, so God's
wrath and judgments shall reduce them to that state of helpless
distraction that they shall rush on to their own ruin
(Jer 25:15; 49:12;
Isa 51:17, 21, 22; 63:6).
JFB.
Picture Study Bible