Thursday: The Linen Belt
Read Jeremiah 13:1-11. What was the symbolic act Jeremiah was ordered to do, and what important lesson was it to teach?
This symbolic act has caused some difficulties for interpreters because the river Euphrates (a common interpretation of the Hebrew but not necessarily the only one) was hundreds of kilometers from Jerusalem.
Image © Gilbert and Arlisle Beers from GoodSalt.com
Ezra needed four months to travel there in one direction only (Ezra 7:9). In order to understand the message better, God made Jeremiah go back and forth twice. Thus, some scholars have argued that some other geographical location was meant. On the other hand, some argue that the long distances he had to travel helped show him just how far away the children of Israel would be taken. What’s more, after returning from such a long trip, Jeremiah could understand the joy of returning after 70 years of captivity.
Whatever the case, the belt symbolizes both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, pure and unstained at the time of the call. The man wearing the belt is God Himself. This shows, among other things, just how closely tied God Himself was to His people. Some commentators have seen significance in the fact that the belt was made of linen, the same material as the priestly garments (Lev. 16:4); after all, Judah was to be a priestly nation (Exod. 19:6).
Just as the belt had been ruined, the pride of the nation would be, too. As a belt clings to a man’s waist, these people had once clung to the Lord, and were His source of praise and glory. But they had become tarnished and spoiled by contact with the surrounding cultures.
Read Jeremiah 13:11 and contrast it with Deuteronomy 4:5-8. How do these verses together show what happened to the nation? What should these texts say to us as well?
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can we see how much God wanted to save us more than how we want to save.
this outline is so good, i like it, i understand it more better than when i read it from the quarterly, keep up the good work. God bless you.
The nation of Israel took for granted the privileges given to them and assumed that the were a great nation because they were special a people and no because God were the source of their every blessings. Israel wanted to walk and do as they please, just like the other nations. They were decided by the enemy and they believed that they were walking in God's ways even when they had gone in the path of destruction. So it will happen to us if we don't take heed to God's word sent to us by his prophets. There are many in the church that are rejecting the spirit of prophesy (Ellen White), just because her writing are too uncool for the time in which we are living and the message is too strong. We better watch out, for probation can close at any time and then it will be too late.
The Linen Belt is symbolic of our intimate relationship with God. \"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1Peter 2:9).
As seen in the prophecy, this holy relationship was marred as God\'s people mingled with other gods and forbidden cultural practices (the linen belt lost its significance).
The prophecy draws attention to us individually and as a corporate body of believers: How are we identified as God\'s remnant people?
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 it, the bugs have eaten holes in it and the it 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 it again, "Yuck, what's he wearing the holey, filthy thing for?" But this was an illustrated sermon that God was still wishing His people could learn from.
The idea with the girdle- Linen belt 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. By the sign of a girdle spoiled that their pride should be stained (v. 1-11).
A nation which was born of God as a light to the world and had God's blessing upon it. They were a people near to God (Ps. 148:14); they were his own, a peculiar people to him, a kingdom of priests that had access to him above other nation. But they changed to apostasy and is now like the the rotten linen belt that has no worth. They were quite spoiled for the service of their own God, and were as this girdle, this rotten girdle, a disgrace to the Creator.
This is a symbol of how God would by his judgments separate them from Himself, send them into captivity, deface all their beauty and ruin all their plans, 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.
"This symbolic act has caused some difficulties for interpreters because the river Euphrates... was hundreds of kilometers from Jerusalem."
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I find myself wondering why the distance is considered by some to be a difficulty/problem.
Today's Western societies have, to a large extent, become "convenience driven" societies. But men of old did not seem to balk at the prospect of travelling long distances, even on foot.
Personally, I see no good reason to doubt that it was literally the River Euphrates that Jeremiah travelled to, and hid the Girdle [or Belt] beside. It is suggested in the Lesson that the Hebrew word (Strongs #6578) can be interpreted as something other than "Euphrates", and might therefore indicate an alternative destination. But it should be noted, I think, that in the Bible (at least in the KJV,) the word is always translated "Euphrates". There is no alternate rendering.
And yes, it took Ezra and his companions about 4 months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem. But again, let's bear in mind that "the men were taking with them their wives and children, and their substance" -- there were "several thousand in all, including women and children, necessitating slow progress." (Prophets and Kings p.615,617.) We might reasonably expect Jeremiah to have travelled faster than Ezra and his company, but even if he did not (even if it took Jeremiah 4 months to travel one way... 8 months for each of the return trips,) why should the time and effort involved make us look for another explanation apart from the obvious one. I think difficulties have been "found" where none really exist.
Jeremiah 13:11 (NKJV)
11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’
Jehovah is referring to the covenant that He offered Israel - I will be your God and you will be My people and I will dwell with you.
Almost like a marriage proposal - but they would not hear.
Shirley, to me the problem wasn't so much that they wouldn't hear but that they couldn't comply with the requirements of the Old Covenant because it was based on the peoples performance rather than God's. That is why Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a new Covenant (Jer 31:31-33) that the book of Hebrews speaks of.
13:11 (NKJV)
11 For as the sash clings to the waist of
a man, so I have caused the whole house
of Israel and the whole house of Judah
to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they
may become My people, for renown, for
praise, and for glory; but they would not
hear.’
Jehovah is referring to the covenant that
He offered Israel - I will be your God and
you will be My people and I will dwell
with you.
Almost like a marriage proposal - but
they would not hear.
The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water". (Jer 13:1.)
"Put it not in water"... Do not wash it. I'm not sure whether the girdle was worn against the skin or as an outer 'garment', but either way it would have become dirty. This brings to mind the "filthy rags" of Isa 4:6, especially considering that the word Hebrew translated "rags" is most often translated "garment", "clothes", or "apparel". (In more than 180 of the 217 occurrences.) When it was buried beside he River, the girdle was already "filthy rags".