4 'Take the girdle that thou hast got, that 'is' on thy loins, and rise, go to Phrat, and hide it there in a hole of the rock; 5 and I go and hide it by Phrat, as Jehovah commanded me. 6 And it cometh to pass, at the end of many days, that Jehovah saith unto me, 'Rise, go to Phrat, and take thence the girdle, that I commanded thee to hide there;' 7 and I go to Phrat, and dig, and take the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and lo, the girdle hath been marred, it is not profitable for anything. 8 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'Thus said Jehovah: 9 Thus do I mar the excellency of Judah, And the great excellency of Jerusalem.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 13:4-9
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.