Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 13:11
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.
11. The aptitude of the symbol is pointed out. Probably, according to an indication given by the Syr. Hex.’s rendering, the words “the whole house of Israel and” are a gloss.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Here God openeth to the prophet why he commanded him to put the girdle about his loins, viz. to show that he of his singular favour had used the Jews as a man useth girdle, which he fasteneth about his loins; and as a man weareth his girdle, made up of some costly materials, for an honour and praise to him, so Gods design in honouring this people, wearing them as a girdle, was, that they might bring him honour and glory, living to his praise, in the obedience of his commands, especially such commands as resisted to his worship.
But they would not hear; but they would not answer Gods designs, nor hearken to any counsels of that nature which he gave them, and therefore he resolved to pluck them from his loins, and to suffer them to rot and consume as that girdle was rotted: see Psa 81:8-16, which the author of the English Annotations saith well is an excellent comment on this text.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. (Jer 33:9;Exo 19:5).
gloryan ornament toglory in.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man,…. Being girt tight unto him:
so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah; whom he chose above all people, and caused to approach unto him, and dwell in his courts; whom he favoured with his presence, and encouraged them to follow after him, and cleave to him in faith and affection, and with full purpose of heart; so that they were a people near unto him as a man’s girdle is to his loins: and the end of this was, and would have been, had they continued so,
that they might be unto me for a people; his own people, a special and peculiar people above all others, peculiarly favoured and blessed by him, and continue so, and in the enjoyment of all good things:
and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; for a famous and renowned people, that should be to the praise and glory of God, and an honour to him, and an ornament to the profession of him; whereas they were the reverse:
but they would not hear; the words of the Lord, nor obey his voice; but served other gods, departed from the Lord, to whom they should have cleaved, and so became like this rotten girdle.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms what we noticed yesterday, — that the Jews entertained a foolish confidence, and promised themselves perpetual happiness, because God had chosen them as his people. This indeed would have been a perpetual glory to them, had they not violated their pledged faith; but their defection rendered void God’s covenant as far as they were concerned: for though God never suffered his faithfulness to fail, however false and perfidious they were, yet the adoption from which they had departed availed them nothing. But as they thought it an unalienable defense, the Prophet again repeats that they had been indeed adorned with singular gifts, but that, as they had not remained faithful, they would be deprived of them.
He indeed says, by way of concession, As a belt cleaves to the loins of man, so also have I joined to myself the house of Israel; for given to them is what they claimed. But at the same time, he reminds them that they only swelled with wind; for the less tolerable was their impiety, because they were so ungrateful to God. What, indeed, could have been more base or less excusable, than when those whom God had favored with so much honor rejected his bounty? Jeremiah then concedes to them what they proudly boasted of; but he retorts it on their own heads, and shews how they deserved a heavier judgment, as they had despised so many of God’s blessings.
We said yesterday that. the people is elsewhere compared to a crown and a diadem, as though God had declared that nothing was more precious to him than the children of Abraham. But the same thing is now expressed in other words, — that he had prepared them for himself as a girdle, that they might be his people This was indeed a great dignity; but what follows exceeds it, — that they might be to me a name, that is, that I might be celebrated by them; for it was his will to be called the God of Israel. What likeness there is between God and men! And yet, as though descending from his celestial glory, he united to himself the seed of Abraham, that he might also bind them to himself. The election of God was therefore like a bond of mutual union, so that he might not be separated from his people. Hence he says that they had been thus joined to him, that they might be for a name, and also for a praise and glory (74) Though these words are nearly of the same meaning, yet no doubt they are put together for the sake of amplification. God, therefore, intended to exaggerate more fully the sin of the people, by saying that he had done so much for them, in order that he might be celebrated by them, and that his praise and his glory might dwell among them.
He at last adds, They have not heard Had God only commanded what he might have justly required, not to obey his authority would have been an inexcusable wickedness in the people; but as he had so freely offered himself and all other things to them, what a base and detestable ingratitude it was in them to reject blessings so many and so valuable? We hence see that the mouths of the Jews are here completely closed, so that they could not expostulate with God, and complain that he was too rigid, for they had in an extreme degree provoked his wrath, having not only rejected his yoke, but also refused his offered favors. It follows —
(74) “Name” means here renown; “praise,” celebrity or commendation; and “glory,” ornament, decoration, or beauty. The three words are found together, though not in exactly the same order, in Deu 26:19. There the order is, praise, name, and honor, which is rendered here “glory.” See Isa 43:21; Isa 61:11; Isa 63:12. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) The whole house of Israel.The acted parable takes in not only, as in Jer. 13:9, Judah, to whom the warning was specially addressed, but the other great division of the people. The sense of national unity is still strong in the prophets mind. Not Judah only, but the whole collective Israel had been as the girdle of Jehovah, consecrated to His service, designed to be, as the girdle was to man, a praise and glory (Deu. 26:19).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. A people a name a praise a glory Observe again here, as in so many other places, the piling up of epithets, as if language must be taxed to the utmost to express what this people are to God. This mode of expressing emphasis illustrates the genius of the Hebrew language, and is specially characteristic of Jeremiah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 13:11. So have I caused So had I caused.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1047
THE CONTEMPT WITH WHICH GODS RICHEST MERCIES ARE TREATED
Jer 13:11. As the girdle cleareth 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.
IT pleased God in former times frequently to instruct his people by signs, as being more calculated to awaken the attention of those who were but, as children, slow to understand the plainest declarations of his word. Sometimes those signs were represented to the prophets in visions: as when Ezekiel was taken up by the hair of his head, and earned to the north gate of the temple to see all the wickedness that was transacted in the sanctuary; the thing was done only in a vision [Note: Eze 8:3.]. At other times the prophets actually did the things which were to be signs to the people; as when Ezekiel, for the space of three hundred and ninety days, reclined on his right side, with a representation of Jerusalem before him, to figure to the Jews the siege that should assuredly be formed against it by the Chaldeans [Note: Eze 4:1-17. A most surprising account altogether! See also Eze 12:2-12; Eze 24:15-24.]. Whether the sign which Jeremiah was here directed to use was in a vision only, or in reality, commentators are not agreed. Certainly the going repeatedly several hundred miles only to carry a girdle to the Euphrates and bring it back again, seems a labour unlikely to be imposed upon him: but on the other hand, that very labour might tend the more powerfully to awaken the attention of the Jews to the subject which was thus emblematically represented to them: and it is safer, on the whole, to take literally the Scripture account in all cases where reason and common sense do not necessitate us to understand it figuratively [Note: Such an instance occurs, Jer 25:27].
The sign here used by the prophet was this. He took a girdle, and, after wearing it some time, carried it to the river Euphrates, and hid it there in the hole of a rock; and then, after a considerable lapse of time, he went and fetched it back again, and exhibited it to the people in its decayed state; declaring that they, notwithstanding their present strength and power, should ere long be reduced to the lowest ebb of misery by the Chaldeans; because when God had formed them for himself, they had refused to adhere to him, or to regard his overtures of love and mercy.
Such is the explanation given us by God himself in in the words of our text; which, whilst they elucidate the emblem used by the prophet, will naturally lead me to shew you,
I.
The honour which God has designed for his people
The primary use of a girdle is to bind up the garments around the loins
[In conformity with this idea, God had caused his people to cleave to him, that they might be, as it were, in continual contact with him. This he had caused them to do, when he brought them out of Egypt, and made them altogether dependent on himself for direction, preservation, and support. In like manner he may be said to have caused us also to cleave to him, having in our very birth imposed on us a necessity to depend upon him for life, and breath, and all things; for in him we live, and move, and have our being. Our proper state is that of a little infant clinging to its mother, or, as our text expresses it, a girdle cleaving to the loins of a man. We should at all times be taking hold of God by prayer [Note: Isa 64:7.], and by faith uniting ourselves to him, so as to be one with him, and he with us. If this was the duty and privilege of the Jews, much more is it ours; because our God and Saviour has actually assumed our nature, and become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh: nay more, by the fuller communication of his Spirit he dwells in us, and lives in us, and is our very life [Note: Col 3:4.] so that they who are joined unto him by faith are one Spirit with him [Note: 1Co 6:17.]. This then, I say, is the honour which God designs for us: he would have us all renouncing every kind and degree of creature dependence, and to live as nigh to him and cleave as close to him, as a girdle to the loins of a man; yea, in spite of every opposition and discouragement, he would have us cleave unto him with full purpose of hearts [Note: Act 11:23.].]
But a girdle is also of use for ornament
[And to this our text has especial respect. The girdle of the high-priest was, as it is repeatedly called,a curious girdle, given him or glory and for beauty [Note: Exo 28:4; Exo 28:8; Exo 28:40.] and our great High-Priest desires that we should be to him what that curious girdle was to Aaron. Vile and worthless as we are in ourselves, ho would form and fashion us anew, interweaving in our nature all the graces of his Spirit, and transforming us into the very image of our God in righteousness and true holiness. Surrounded by us, he would esteem himself more richly adorned than with the brightest jewels [Note: Mal 3:17.], and more enriched than with all the treasures of the universe [Note: Exo 19:5-6. with 1Pe 2:9.]. It appears almost impious to say, that such ornaments would be a glory to our God and Saviour; yet we will venture to affirm that they would be regarded so by our Lord himself, who says, All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them [Note: Joh 17:10. See also Joh 15:8, and Isa 61:3.]. What a royal diadem is to an earthly monarch, that are we designed to be to the King of kings and Lord of lords [Note: Isa 62:3.] As Christ was the image of the invisible God, because God who is invisible in his own nature was visible in him [Note: Col 1:15.] so are we according to the measure of grace given unto us: we are to shine as lights in the world, holding forth in our whole deportment the word of life [Note: Php 2:15-16.] we are made his on purpose that we may shew forth his virtues [Note: 1Pe 2:9. See the marginal reading.]; we are to be epistles of Christ, known and read of all men [Note: 2Co 3:3.]; and shewing in the whole of our spirit and temper what the will of the Lord is: we are to have the same mind as was in him [Note: Php 2:5.], and to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord [Note: 2Co 3:18.]. This will surely become our state, if once we cleave, like a girdle, unto him; and all who see us shall be constrained to glorify our Father who is in heaven [Note: Mat 5:16.].]
Who would conceive, that when such honour is offered unto man, there should be found a creature in the universe unwilling to accept it? Yet the sequel of our text leads us to shew,
II.
The way in which this honour is contemned
The melancholy testimony that was almost invariably borne against the Jews was, that they would not hear [Note: Compare with the text, Jer 6:16-17.]
[See how they conducted themselves in relation to the very offer before us! they refused to hear Gods words, and walked in the imagination of their own hearts, and worshipped and served other gods [Note: ver. 10.].]
And what can be a more just description of ourselves?
[Unspeakable as the honour is which God desires to confer upon us, we will not seek it at his hands: we are, like those who were invited to the wedding-feast, all with one consent making excuses, and pleading the urgency of our worldly affairs as a reason for neglecting our spiritual concerns [Note: Luk 14:16-20.]. If we bow not down to stocks and stones, we worship and serve the creature more than the Creator [Note: Rom 1:25.]. We have idols in our hearts; and to those we dedicate all our powers and faculties, whether of soul or body. We are justly characterized as walking after the imagination of our own hearts [Note: See Isa 53:6.]: each serves the god that suits him best. One follows all his vicious propensities, and seeks his happiness in sensual indulgence: another grasps after riches; another aspires after honour; another affects rather the more refined pleasures of science and philosophy: but all by nature, however differing in their particular pursuits, agree in this, that they are of the world, and not of God; and that they seek honour from man, and not the honour that cometh of God only. They need no exhortation to cleave unto worldly vanities; that they do naturally of themselves: and if we could point out to them how to come in closer contact with the objects of their ambition, and how to secure to themselves a larger measure of them, we should find them very attentive to our counsels. But when we exhort them to cleave only to the Lord, they have no ears to hear us, no disposition to regard us. In vain do we expatiate upon the honour which God designs for them; that appears to them no better than a cunningly-devised fable, or at best as a subject that may well be deferred to a more convenient season. Though we call them to the Most High, none at all will exalt him [Note: Hos 11:7.] so that God may complain of us as he did of his people of old, All the day long have I stretched out my hands to a rebellious and gainsaying people [Note: Rom 10:21.].]
Address
1.
In a way of appeal
[We may justly say to you, What more could have been done for you than God has done [Note: Isa 5:3-4.]? and wherefore do you so requite him? Judge, all of you, between God and your own souls, and say what such conduct merits at his hands. I will tell you in Gods name what you may assuredly expect. Behold the girdle when it was brought back from the river Euphrates, how marred and worthless it was [Note: ver. 7.]: see too how that emblematic judgment has been executed on the Jewish nation, not only in their Babylonish captivity, but in their present dispersion, where they are a hissing and an astonishment to all the rest of the world. So will Gods indignation against you be manifested on account of the contempt you pour upon him; according to that express declaration of his, Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. As they who made light of his invitation were not suffered even to taste of his supper [Note: Luk 14:24.], so you shall never taste of that honour and happiness which he offers to you: and as they were shut out into outer darkness, so will you at the last day awake to shame and everlasting contempt [Note: Dan 12:2.].]
2.
In a way of encouragement
[Nothing does God desire more, than to take even the vilest of mankind, and bind them to him as a girdle. Yes, there is not one so worthless, but he should be made a partaker of this honour, if only he would comply with the invitations of his God. O that every one of us might now obey his voice; and that he would make us willing in the day of his power! Would you see more clearly what God would do for you? This same prophet tells you without a figure, that he will pardon all your iniquities that ever you have committed, and so load you with his benefits, that all who behold you shall be filled with utter astonishment at his goodness to you [Note: Jer 33:8-9.]. Only resist not his strivings with you, but run after him when he draws you, and beg him to fulfil in you all the good pleasure of his goodness, even the work of faith with power: then shall the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you, and ye shall be glorified in, and with him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ [Note: 2Th 1:11-12.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 13:11 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.
Ver. 11. So have I caused to cleave unto me. ] For nearness and dearness; the loins are the seat of strongest desires and affections.
And for a name and for a praise.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
house of Israel. See note on Jer 2:4.
house of Judah. See note on Jer 3:18.
saith the LORD = [is] Jehovah’s oracle.
that they might be unto Me for a people. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 19:5). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I caused: Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Deu 4:7, Deu 26:18, Deu 32:10-15, Psa 135:4, Psa 147:20
for a name: Jer 33:9, Isa 43:21, Isa 62:12, 1Pe 2:9
but: Jer 13:10, Jer 6:17, Psa 81:11, Joh 5:37-40
Reciprocal: Deu 26:19 – high above Isa 55:13 – for a Jer 25:4 – ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!
That they might be but they would not.
Jer 13:11
I. This parable of the girdle may really have been transacted.By some such striking symbol, enacted before the people, their attention must have been powerfully arrested. Or, it may be that this is only a vivid style of presentation. Whichever it is, the chief idea is the intimacy of relationship between the chosen people and their God. Oh that He would cause us to cleave unto Him! At the same time, the degradation of the best is to the worst, and nothing more strikingly sets forth the condition to which those may sink who have abused the highest possibilities than the condition of this marred and profitless girdle. Capernaum would not be as she is to-day unless she had been lifted to heaven in privilege. O my soul, beware! Since thou art capable of Gods best and highest, thou art also liable to the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
II. The people answered the prophet very rudely and roughly.They mocked at his words. But Jeremiah wept bitterly over their obduracy and pride. He saw the inevitable doom to which the young king, Jehoiachim, the queen-mother, and the whole land were drifting. These are the tears that we may all covet. We have shed tears of proud mortification, of vexation, of hot temper, of disappointment and chagrin, but God give us to shed tears for the sins, and woes, and doom of a lost world.
III. Jerusalem is apostrophised, and asked where the beautiful flock of sister and daughter towns was which had gathered under her lead.Ah, they were destroyed, and their people were in captivity. Their destruction had come from those who had been allies and friends; and their sin was so deeply seated and inveterate, that such a fate was inevitablethere was no hope of reformation. What a terrible thing sin is! Of how many of our sorrows and disasters it is the cause. Cleanse Thou me, O God, from secret faults!
Illustration
It is hardly likely that a literal journey of two hundred miles, there and back, was undertaken by the prophet, though, of course, it may have been. Probably this prophecy of the approaching captivity of the people was given in this way to make it more graphic and impressive. The corrupted garment was an emblem of the sad effect that association would have on too many of the chosen people, which would cause them to be marred and spoiled.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 13:11. The application of the illustration is beginning to be more apparent. As a girdle would he worn near the body so the Lord attached Israel (as a whole) close to him. This girdle of the people was composed of living and intelligent material and should have partaken of the characteristics of the wearer. Such an article of wearing apparel would be so intimately connected with a mans body that it would come to seem like a part of himself. That was w’hy the Lord chose a girdle in this instance to illustrate his people. He had attached them so intimately near him that they should have partaken of the holy principle. However, such an effect could have come only through hearing the words of Him who put on the girdle, but they would not hear.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 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 showed them, I brought them near to myself, and allowed them access to me, and intercourse with me, above every other nation. That they might be unto me for a people A peculiar people; that they might have the honour of being called by my name; and for a praise and a glory That I might be glorified by their showing forth my power, goodness, and faithfulness, and all my other glorious perfections to the world, so that I might be honoured and praised through them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord had purposed for His chosen people to cling closely to Him, and to be an ornament of glory for Him, like a waistband served its wearer. But they did not listen to Him. They had become tarnished and spoiled by contact with polluting influences. Linen was a priestly material (Lev 16:4), and similarly Israel was to be a priestly nation that was to cling to Yahweh (Exo 19:6).