A linen girdle - The appointed dress of the priestly order (Leviticus 16:4, ...).Put it not in water - i. e., do not wash it, and so let it represent the deep-grained pollution of the people. read more
In a hole of the rock - “In a cleft of the rock.” As there are no fissured rocks in Babylonia, the place where Jeremiah hid the girdle must have been somewhere in the upper part of the river. read more
Many days - The seventy years’ captivity. read more
This verse limits the application of the symbol. Only the ungodly and the idolatrous part of the people decayed at Babylon. The religious portion was strengthened and invigorated by the exile Jeremiah 24:5-7. read more
The reason why the girdle was chosen as the symbol. Similarly, Israel was the people chosen and set apart that in and by them the Holy Spirit might work for the salvation of mankind. read more
Jeremiah 13:1-2. Thus saith the Lord unto me The prophet here begins a new discourse. Go and get thee a girdle, &c. “God explains, at Jeremiah 13:11, what was meant by the symbol of the girdle, or sash, worn about the loins, namely, his people Israel, whom he redeemed of old, and attached to himself by a special covenant; that as a girdle served for an ornament to the wearer, so they should be subservient to the honour and glory of his name. But it is added, They would not hear, or... read more
Jeremiah 13:4. Arise, go to Euphrates God commanded the prophet to go and hide the girdle on the bank of the Euphrates, to signify that the Jews should be carried captive over that river, called the waters of Babylon, Psalms 137:1. In the margin of our ancient English Bibles, it is observed, that, “because this river Perath, or Euphrates, was far from Jerusalem, it is evident that this was done in a vision.” And the generality of the best commentators have been of this opinion; it not... read more
Jeremiah 13:9. After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, &c. Or, as some translate the verse, “Will I mar the glory of Judah, and the great honour of Jerusalem.” I will bring down their pride and stubbornness, by making them slaves and vassals to strangers, Lamentations 5:8; Lamentations 5:13. Or, alluding to the transaction about the girdle, “I will transport them beyond the Euphrates; I will bide them in Babylon, as in the hole of a rock, whence they cannot come out. They shall... read more
Jeremiah 13:11. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man Here God shows the prophet why he commanded him to put the girdle about his loins. So have I caused Rather, had I caused; to cleave unto me the house of Israel I had betrothed them to myself in righteousness, and entered into a marriage covenant with them, that they might cleave to me as a wife cleaveth to her husband. By the laws I gave them, the prophets I sent among them, and the favours which, in my providence, I... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 13:8-11
Explanation of the symbol. Could there be a greater humiliation for Judah and Jerusalem than to be compared to a rotting linen apron? The hard things said of this evil people in Jeremiah 13:10 must of course be understood with the limitations indicated in the note on Jeremiah 9:15 , Jeremiah 9:16 . Imagination should (as usual) be stubbornness . The explanation in Jeremiah 9:11 is a strong argument for the rendering "apron" (see above, on Jeremiah 9:1 ). read more