Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 13:3

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A nation useless and disgraced (13:1-27)

In an effort to emphasize God’s warnings to Judah more forcefully, Jeremiah gave them an illustration that they could all see. He took a piece of clean new cloth, put it around his waist, then walked to a distant river where he buried the cloth in the river bank. Some time later he returned to the river and brought back the cloth for all to see. It was now rotten and useless (13:1-7). The meaning is that Judah, the nation that was supposed to be morally pure and tied closely to God, has now become rotten and useless. Because it has rebelled against Yahweh and served other gods, it too will be taken to a distant land (8-11).
God then instructed Jeremiah to give a second illustration of warning to the people of Judah. To them there was nothing unusual in the sight of wine jars filled with wine, for they liked to enjoy their wrongly gained prosperity to the full. Jeremiah explains that wine, instead of symbolizing pleasure, now symbolizes wrath, God’s wrath. The nation will drink that wrath till it becomes drunk and unable to save itself from disaster (12-14).
Jeremiah has a sincere love for his country and will be deeply grieved to see such a catastrophe occur. He urges the proud nation to humble itself and turn to God, otherwise judgment will overtake it, as darkness overtakes a frightened traveller in dangerous hill country (15-17). The king and others of the royal family will suffer the humiliation of being stripped of their royalty and taken to Babylon as common prisoners, along with citizens from the farthest areas of the kingdom (18-19).

Judah had once been friends with Babylon (2 Kings 20:12-19). How great, then, will be Judah’s surprise when it sees Babylon’s armies descending upon it from the north. They will attack Judah with the ruthlessness of wolves attacking sheep or a rapist attacking a woman (20-22). Judah’s sin is so deeply embedded that reform is now impossible. The nation will be driven off into captivity, just as chaff is driven away by the desert wind (23-25). It has acted like a prostitute, and will be punished with public disgrace like a prostitute (26-27).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"And the word of Jehovah came unto me the second time, saying, Take the girdle which thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as Jehovah commanded me."

"The word of Jehovah came to me the second time" The implication, though not clearly stated, is that some considerable time-lapse had occurred, at least ample time for the loincloth to have required washing had not God forbidden it.

"Go to the Euphrates, and hide it" This statement has precipitated a whole barrage of quibbles and denials by commentators. The problem is that the Euphrates river was almost four hundred miles from Anathoth; and the two journeys to that river by Jeremiah would have required his traveling a distance of some sixteen hundred miles.

We have no problem at all with this, because Jeremiah 13:5 flatly declares that, Jeremiah went and hid it as Jehovah had commanded him. Where is there any problem? Rationalistic critics, however, believe that such an extended amount of traveling, while not impossible, was certainly not very practical in those times. Therefore, other solutions are proposed. They are interesting, and we include these alternative understandings on the premise that they might even be correct, although we cannot be sure.

(1)    One alternative interpretation is that the Hebrew word rendered here as "Euphrates" may not be a reference to the "Euphrates River" at all but to a village three and one half miles north of Anathoth (where Jeremiah probably lived), which was also known locally as "Euphrates." This appears to be possible. It is principally upon the authority of the Septuagint (LXX) and the Vulgate that translators insist on making it refer to the Euphrates River. The Hebrew word is actually [~Phrath]; and there is no doubt that in many other Old Testament passages the word does refer to the Euphrates River. The word occurs fifteen times elsewhere in the Old Testament and four times in this chapter. Nevertheless, as Henderson noted: "In twelve of the other fifteen references another word is included with [~Phrath], a word that means river. It seems a little strange, therefore that the word [~Phrath] should occur no less than four times in this chapter without that qualifying term which means river.E. Henderson, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (London: Hamilton, Adams, and Company, 1851), p. 83. This is certainly enough to suggest the possibility of the word's being in this instance a reference to a local village. If this was indeed the case, the close identity of the name with the Great River would have had the same symbolical meaning that accrued to the Euphrates itself. Thus the meaning of the parable is not affected, no matter which view of the meaning of [~Phrath] is accepted.

And what is that meaning? The meaning is that the apostate nation, symbolized by the dirty, unwashed loincloth will be "hidden," that is, in captivity in Babylon on the Euphrates River.

(2)    Another interpretation suggested by Dummelow is also plausible, perhaps even more so, than No. 1, cited above. "Jeremiah appears to have been absent from Jerusalem during a major part of Jehoiachin's brief three-year reign; and he may very well be supposed to have been during that time in or near the city of Babylon. This would account for the kindly feeling toward him by Nebuchadnezzar after his capture of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 39:11).J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 465. There is nothing at all unreasonable about this understanding of the passage, in which [~Phrath] would be understood as actually a reference to the Euphrates River itself.

(3)    Another school of commentators have suggested that, "We are here dealing with a visionary experience,"J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 365. an interpretation which does not appear to be in any manner reasonable to this writer. We believe that Jeremiah actually bought a clean, white, linen girdle, wore it until it became thoroughly dirty, then hid it in the earth until it was completely rotted, mined, and spoiled, that he also recovered it as God commanded him, and that he showed it to his fellow-Israelites, expounding the whole history of that girdle to them as a parable of what was going to happen to the apostate nation.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 13

Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go down and buy a linen girdle, and put it on, but don't wash it. So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and I put it on. And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, Take the girdle that you have purchased, which you have been wearing, and go to Euphrates, and hide it there under a rock. So I hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide. And I went to the river Euphrates, and digged, and I took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing ( Jeremiah 13:1-7 ).

As you can imagine, if you take a linen girdle and put it under a rock and you know, the whole thing when you go back later and get the thing, the bugs have eaten holes in it and the thing is just good for nothing as he said. Now God says, "Put it on and wear it back to the streets again and preach to the people." Now they saw him when he first had this beautiful linen girdle. "Oh wow, look at that." One to draw attention. But now as he wears the thing again, "Yuck, what's he wearing the holey, filthy thing for?" But this was an illustrated sermon.

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear. Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel ( Jeremiah 13:8-12 ),

So he goes into the next thing. But the idea with the girdle was that the nation was once bound to God. And as it was bound to God, it was a beautiful thing. A people worshipping God, serving God, bound to God. But when they have turned from God, that which was once beautiful and glorious has become ugly and repulsive. That same nation that once was the glory of the earth, as God's love and blessings were showered upon it, has now become the curse of the earth as they have removed themselves from that place of nearness to God and they've become good for nothing.

There's an interesting book called The Light and the Glory in which they trace the historic roots of the United States and show how that God had a very definite hand in the founding of this nation, even as He did in the founding of the nation of Israel. God's hand was upon the founding fathers. And it's a beautiful book, The Light and the Glory, giving you historic insights to our nation that you don't find in the public textbooks in your school system. Because they don't want you to know the spiritual roots of the nation. They like to hide that from you. But this nation was born of God as a light to the world and God's blessing is upon it. They wrote the song, "America, America, God shed His grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea." And songs that reflected the nation's relationship to God. And men were conscious that it was God that had blessed and made our nation great. But they're trying to hide that truth from the children today. And they're trying to hold up the god of capitalism, free enterprise. And they're saying it's free enterprise that has made us strong. Now fight for free enterprise. Fight for the capitalistic system. They can't inspire me to fight for free enterprise or the capitalistic system. I'll fight for the freedom that we have been given by God to worship Him, to serve Him. I love that.

But it's tragic that we've turned from the basic roots upon which the nation was founded. We were once beautiful before the world. God's blessing was upon our land. But we like the linen girdle are becoming good for nothing in the eyes of the world.

Even in... I was in Canada. I was in a radio talk show in Canada. You'll be amazed at how many called in and were angry at me just because I was from the United States. All of the bitterness that they have towards the U.S. Over in England we found a lot of bitterness just because I'm from the U.S. We were once the glory of the world, but now we're becoming hated throughout the world. We travel in some parts of the world where the people look at you and just spit at you. They don't even know you. But they recognize you as because the way you dress. Nobody dresses like Americans. And they can spot you a mile away. When they get near you they just spit at you, which is an oriental sign of disgust and disdain. Oh, it's sad when a nation turns from God to find its fulfillment and satisfaction in something other than God. Once a beautiful garment.

Now in verse Jeremiah 13:12 , the second thing. Speak this to them, the proverb sort of. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,

Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they will say unto you, Don't we know that every bottle is going to be filled with wine? ( Jeremiah 13:12 )

Because they were preaching a message of prosperity, two cars in every garage.

Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of the land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. And I will dash them one against another, even as the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive ( Jeremiah 13:13-17 ).

Now Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, and this is one of his references to his weeping. God is giving them a message of warning, "If you won't hear it," then he said, "in the secret place my eye will weep sore and run down with tears." You know, this is an interesting thing. We look at a minister and we're prone to just say, "He's just a hell-fire-damnation, fire-brimstone preacher." And we're prone to just... if a man comes and pronounces the judgment of God that is coming, we're prone to just sort of say, "Ah, he's filled with hatred and everything else." Well, that may be the case in some. But here with Jeremiah, here he's pronouncing the horrible judgment of God but he's weeping. He's not smacking his lips and saying, "Boy, God's going to smack you, brother! Hardly wait." But he's going and weeping over the condition of the people because they will not respond to the message of God.

Say to the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none of them will be open ( Jeremiah 13:18-19 ):

That is, they'll be shut up into a siege.

Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? What will you say when he will punish you? for you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman who is in travail? And if you say in your heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil ( Jeremiah 13:19-23 ).

No, a man cannot change his nature. Only God can change a man's nature by the Holy Spirit. A leopard can't change his spots. You are what you are by nature. And if you have not received Jesus Christ, you're a sinner by nature. You can't be righteous even though you try. It's impossible. You need a new nature. I don't care. You can take a pig out of the pigsty, give him a bath with deodorant soap, spray him with perfume, put a bow around his neck and let him go and he will go right back to the mud. He'll just roll over and wallow in it. That's his environment. He loves it. That's his nature. Loving to just wallow in the mud. And that's the nature of some people. You can clean them up, give them a new act, and you can say, "Oh, it's their environment, you know. Let's bring them out of that environment and let's clean them up and all." Hey, but it's their nature. Let them go, they'll go right back. You need a change of nature.

That's why Jesus said, "Don't be surprised when I say don't marvel when I say you've got to be born again." That's the answer. A change of nature, that's what's accomplished by the Spirit of God. He changes my nature. People say, "I could never be a Christian. I don't want to be... I don't want to be hypocrite, but I can never live that life." They don't accept the Lord because they say, "I could never do it." Of course you can't do it. And no one expects you to do it. You can't do it apart from the power and the work of the Holy Spirit in giving you a new nature. But God, that's what He does. He gives me a whole new nature. A nature that is after Him.

So God speaks about the fact that a man is what he is by nature. He cannot change except by God's power.

Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because you have forgotten me ( Jeremiah 13:24-25 ),

This is what's going to happen because you've forgotten me.

and trusted in a lie. Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. I have seen your adulteries, the neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredoms, and the abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? ( Jeremiah 13:25-27 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The linen waistband 13:1-11

This is the first of several symbolic acts that Jeremiah performed to communicate divine messages (cf. Jeremiah 16:1-4; Jeremiah 18:1-12; Jeremiah 19:1-2; Jeremiah 19:10-11; Jeremiah 27:1 to Jeremiah 28:17; Jeremiah 32:1-15; Jeremiah 43:8-13; Jeremiah 51:59-64). Other prophets did the same thing (cf. Isaiah 20:2-6; Ezekiel 4:1-13; Ezekiel 5:1-4). This acted sermon confronted the Judahites with the polluting effect of their associations and the consequences.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Sometime later, the Lord told Jeremiah to take his waistband and go to perathah, and hide it in a crevice in the rock there, which he did.

The Hebrew word perath describes the Euphrates River elsewhere in the Old Testament, and that may be its meaning here (cf. Jeremiah 46:2; Jeremiah 46:6; Jeremiah 51:63; Genesis 2:14; Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 11:24; 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Kings 24:7). [Note: Leon Wood, p. 72; Keil, 1:231-33.] If so, Jeremiah traveled at least 500 miles each way four times. Such a destination is plausible, since the Euphrates was the source of the coming invasion of Judah, and the destination of the Judahite exiles.

However, several commentators have suggested that the Hebrew word should be read differently, as parah, which refers to a site just four miles northeast of Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown (cf. Joshua 18:23). Still others believe the Hebrew word is an abbreviated form of the name Ephrathah, an old name of Bethlehem six miles south of Jerusalem (cf. Micah 5:2). [Note: See Charles H. Dyer, "Waistbands, Water, and the Word of God: Where Did Jeremiah Bury His Girdle?" in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands: Biblical and Leadership Studies in Honor of Donald K. Campbell, pp. 62-81.] Since Jeremiah’s action was symbolic, he may not have made the long trip to the Euphrates to bury his waistband, but may have hidden it in a closer place, perhaps in the general direction of Babylon.

A third view is that this was a vision, and that Jeremiah never really went anywhere, except in his mind. But there are no clues in the text that this was a vision.

Regardless of where Jeremiah went, the meaning of the prophet’s action is clear; it does not depend on our identifying his destination.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the word of the Lord,.... The Targum is,

"the word of prophecy from before the Lord:''

came unto me the second time, saying; what distance of time there was between this order and the former is not known.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.   2 So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.   3 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,   4 Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.   5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.   6 And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.   7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.   8 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,   9 Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.   10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.   11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

      Here is, I. A sign, the marring of a girdle, which the prophet had worn for some time, by hiding it in a hole of a rock near the river Euphrates. It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs, that a stupid unthinking people might be brought to consider, and believe, and be affected with what was thus set before them. 1. He was to wear a linen girdle for some time, Jeremiah 13:1; Jeremiah 13:2. Some think he wore it under his clothes, because it was linen, and it is said to cleave to his loins,Jeremiah 13:11; Jeremiah 13:11. It should rather seem to be worn upon his clothes, for it was worn for a name and a praise, and probably was a fine sash, such as officers wear and such as are commonly worn at this day in the eastern nations. He must not put it in water, but wear it as it was, that it might be the stronger, and less likely to rot: linen wastes almost as much with washing as with wearing. Being not wet, it was the more stiff and less apt to bend, yet he must make a shift to wear it. Probably it was very fine linen which will wear long without washing. The prophet, like John Baptist, was none of those that wore soft clothing, and therefore it would be the more strange to see him with a linen girdle on, who probably used to wear a leathern one. 2. After he had worn this linen girdle for some time, he must go, and hide it in a hole of a rock (Jeremiah 13:4; Jeremiah 13:4) by the water's side, where, when the water was high, it would be wet, and when it fell would grow dry again, and by that means would soon rot, sooner than if it were always wet or always dry. 3. After many days, he must look for it, and he should find it quite spoiled, gone all to rags and good for nothing, Jeremiah 13:7; Jeremiah 13:7. It has been of old a question among interpreters whether this was really done, so as to be seen and observed by the people, or only in a dream or vision, so as to go no further than the prophet's own mind. It seems hard to imagine that the prophet should be sent on two such long journeys as to the river Euphrates, each of which would take him up some week's time, when he could so ill be spared at home. For this reason most incline to think the journey, at least, was only in vision, like that of Ezekiel, from the captivity in Chaldea to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:3) and thence back to Chaldea (Jeremiah 11:24; Jeremiah 11:24); and the explanation of this sign is given only to the prophet himself (Jeremiah 13:8; Jeremiah 13:8), not to the people, the sign not being public. But there being, it is probable, at that time, great conveniences of travelling between Jerusalem and Babylon, and some part of Euphrates being not so far off but that it was made the utmost border of the land of promise (Joshua 1:4), I see no inconvenience in supposing the prophet to have made two journeys thither; for it is expressly said, He did as the Lord commanded him; and thus gave a signal proof of his obsequiousness to his God, to shame the stubbornness of a disobedient people: the toil of his journey would be very proper to signify both the pains they took to corrupt themselves with their idolatries and the sad fatigue of their captivity; and Euphrates being the river of Babylon, which was to be the place of their bondage, was a material circumstance in this sign.

      II. The thing signified by this sign. The prophet was willing to be at any cost and pains to affect this people with the word of the Lord. Ministers must spend, and be spent, for the good of souls. We have the explanation of this sign, Jeremiah 13:9-11; Jeremiah 13:9-11.

      1. The people of Israel had been to God as this girdle in two respects:-- (1.) He had taken them into covenant and communion with himself: As the girdle cleaves very closely to the loins of a man and surrounds him, so have I caused to cleave to me the houses of Israel and Judah. They were a people near to God (Psalms 148:14); they were his own, a peculiar people to him, a kingdom of priests that had access to him above other nations. He caused them to cleave to him by the law he gave them, the prophets he sent among them, and the favours which in his providence he showed them. He required their stated attendance in the courts of his house, and the frequent ratification of their covenant with him by sacrifices. Thus they were made so as to cleave to him that one would think they could never have been parted. (2.) He had herein designed his own honour. When he took them to be to him for a people, it was that they might be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, as a girdle is an ornament to a man, and particularly the curious girdle of the ephod was to the high-priest for glory and for beauty. Note, Those whom God takes to be to him for a people he intends to be to him for a praise. [1.] It is their duty to honour him, by observing his institutions and aiming therein at his glory, and thus adorning their profession. [2.] It is their happiness that he reckons himself honoured in them and by them. He is pleased with them, and glories in his relation to them, while they behave themselves as become his people. He was pleased to take it among the titles of his honour to be the God of Israel, even a God to Israel,1 Chronicles 17:24. In vain do we pretend to be to God for a people if we be not to him for a praise.

      2. They had by their idolatries and other iniquities loosed themselves from him, thrown themselves at a distance, robbed him of the honour they owed him, buried themselves in the earth, and foreign earth too, mingled among the nations, and were so spoiled and corrupted that they were good for nothing: they could no more be to God, as they were designed, for a name and a praise, for they would not hear either their duty to do it or their privilege to value it: They refused to hear the words of God, by which they might have been kept still cleaving closely to him. They walked in the imagination of their heart, wherever their fancy led them; and denied themselves no gratification they had a mind to, particularly in their worship. They would not cleave to God, but walked after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them; they doted upon the gods of the heathen nations that lay towards Euphrates, so that they were quite spoiled for the service of their own God, and were as this girdle, this rotten girdle, a disgrace to their profession and not an ornament. A thousand pities it was that such a girdle should be so spoiled, that such a people should so wretchedly degenerate.

      3. God would by his judgments separate them from him, send them into captivity, deface all their beauty and ruin their excellency, so that they should be like a fine girdle gone to rags, a worthless, useless, despicable people. God will after this manner mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. He would strip them of all that which was the matter of their pride, of which they boasted and in which they trusted; it should not only be sullied and stained, but quite destroyed, like this linen girdle. Observe, He speaks of the pride of Judah (the country people were proud of their holy land, their good land), but of the great pride of Jerusalem; there the temple was, and the royal palace, and therefore those citizens were more proud than the inhabitants of other cities. God takes notice of the degrees of men's pride, the pride of some and the great pride of others; and he will mar it, he will stain it. Pride will have a fall, for God resists the proud. He will either mar the pride that is in us (that is, mortify it by his grace, make us ashamed of it, and, like Hezekiah, humble us for the pride of our hearts, the great pride, and cure us of it, great as it is; and this marring of the pride will be making of the soul; happy for us if the humbling providences our hearts be humbled) or else he will mar the thing we are proud of. Parts, gifts, learning, power, external privileges, if we are proud of these, it is just with God to blast them; even the temple, when it became Jerusalem's pride, was marred and laid in ashes. It is the honour of God to took upon every one that is proud and abase him.