Jeremiah 13:1

JEREMIAH 13

FIVE WARNINGS FOR ISRAEL

There are five warnings given to Israel in this chapter. The nation of the Chosen people, which should have been living in a happy and intimate relationship with the Creator, and also should have been busily engaged in teaching the benighted nations of mankind the wonderful facts regarding the true and Almighty God, had, contrary to all reason, itself succumbed to the sensual allurements of paganism. Their spiritual discernment had almost disappeared; and the whole nation was thoroughly overcome with abandoned wickedness. The dramatic warnings of this chapter were designed to stem the headlong rash of Israel to destruction; but the warnings were not heeded.

The warnings were: (1) the parable of the mined linen loin-cloth (Jeremiah 13:1-11), (2) the parable of the wine jars (Jeremiah 13:12-14), (3) the warning against pride and arrogance toward God (Jeremiah 13:15-17), (4) the warning to the king and the queen-mother (Jeremiah 13:18-19), (5) the warning that identified "friends" of Israel, such as Babylon, as their conquerors and exploiters.

Jeremiah 13:1-2

PARABLE OF THE RUINED LOINCLOTH

"Thus said Jehovah unto me, Go, and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. So I bought a girdle according to the word of Jehovah, and put it upon my loins."

"Linen girdle ..." (Jeremiah 13:1). Why linen? This was a mark of the priesthood; and because this garment was given as a representation of Israel, it had to be linen in order properly to symbolize that nation of "priests unto God" which Israel was intended to be.

"Put it upon thy loins ..." (Jeremiah 13:1). "This was not an outer girdle, but a covering worn next to the skin."[1] This very intimate and personal garment symbolized the intimate relationship between God and Israel during the long centuries of the nation's development.

"And put it not in water ..." (Jeremiah 13:1). This meant that Jeremiah was not to wash the garment either before or after he had worn it. This would illuminate the meaning of the linen loincloth in later portions of the parable.