131 Thus the Lord said to me, "Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist , but do not put it in water ." 2 So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the Lord and put it around my waist . 3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time , saying , 4 "Take the waistband that you have bought , which is around your waist , and arise , go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock ." 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates , as the Lord had commanded me. 6 After many days the Lord said to me, "Arise , go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there ." 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug , and I took the waistband from the place where e I had hidden it; and lo , the waistband was ruined , it was totally worthless . 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying , 9 "Thus says the Lord , 'Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem . 10 'This wicked people , who refuse to listen to My words , who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless . 11 'For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man , so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,' declares the Lord , 'that they might be for Me a people , for renown , for praise and for glory ; but they did not listen .'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 13:1-11
Commentary on Jeremiah 13:1-11
(Read Jeremiah 13:1-11)
It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs. And we have the explanation, verses 9-11. The people of Israel had been to God as this girdle. He caused them to cleave to him by the law he gave them, the prophets he sent among them, and the favours he showed them. They had by their idolatries and sins buried themselves in foreign earth, mingled among the nations, and were so corrupted that they were good for nothing. If we are proud of learning, power, and outward privileges, it is just with God to wither them. The minds of men should be awakened to a sense of their guilt and danger; yet nothing will be effectual without the influences of the Spirit.