Fellowship With The Lord is Important
February 10, 2020
Commentary
The people were not responding to Jeremiah’s message, so God had him perform a symbolic act to get their attention (vv. 1-11). He commanded Jeremiah to buy a linen belt and wear it around his waist (vv. 1-2). The fact that it was made of “linen,” the material used for the priestly raiment (Lev. 16:4) would have aroused the curiosity and interest of this unresponsive audience.
After wearing the belt for a time, God commanded Jeremiah to hide it in the cleft of a rock by the Euphrates River. This would have meant a round-trip journey of over 500 miles. Many days after he returns home he was commanded to return to the Euphrates and retrieve the cloth (vv. 3-7). As he dug up the sash he found that its exposure to the elements had caused it to rot and become completely useless.
God interprets the sign of the loincloth (vv. 8-11). “This sash was tight around your waist, and that’s how tightly I held onto the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. I wanted them to be my people, but they refused to obey me” (v. 11). The white loincloth symbolizes the original purity of both Israel and Judah as they were in fellowship with the Lord. As long as the sash remained around the waist it occupied a position of renown and praise. However, when it was removed from his waist and buried it became completely useless. In the same way Israel and Judah had become ruined by departing from their God to serve false gods.
Application
Although the people had once been close to God, their pride had made them useless. The same thing can happen to me very quickly. Pride will rot my heart until I loose my usefulness for God.
Jeremiah 13:1– 11 (NET)
1 The Lord said to me, “Go and buy some linen shorts and put them on. Do not put them in water.” 2 So I bought the shorts in keeping with the Lord’s instructions and put them on. 3 Then the Lord’s message came to me again, 4 “Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing and go at once to Perath. Bury the shorts there in a crack in the rocks.” 5 So I went and buried them at Perath as the Lord had ordered me to do. 6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get the shorts I ordered you to bury there.” 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.
8 Then the Lord’s message came to me, 9 “I, the Lord, say: ‘This shows how I will ruin the highly exalted position in which Judah and Jerusalem take pride. 10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So they will become just like these linen shorts that are good for nothing. 11 For,’ I say, ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah tightly to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. But they would not obey me.