©Bonnie LaBelle
Chapter 12:14-13:11 (ESV) - Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD.”
Thus says the LORD to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, 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 the LORD commanded me. And after many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.
Then the word of the LORD came to me: “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
Question to consider: Why do you think the LORD told Jeremiah not to dip the loincloth in water?
Today’s passage is not one I’ve ever heard preached in a sermon or lifted up as a personal life passage, but I would argue that it reveals the LORD’s plan of salvation for the Gentiles and the future of Israel. Israel was to be scattered to the nations, and yet it was the plan of the LORD to bring them back into the land and have compassion on them once their time of judgment was complete.
This would happen during the reign of king Zerubbabel, with the help of the high priest Joshua, seventy years after Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. In the meantime, the LORD would keep the land uninhabited as it was given the Sabbath rest denied to it for the last five hundred years. Along with having compassion for Israel, the LORD would also bless the nations surrounding Israel who had them in their midst if they would diligently learn His ways.
Reconciling Gentiles to the LORD was a work of the Holy Spirit through Christ, and just as pagans had a zeal in promoting the Baals to Israel, so they would ultimately have a zeal for Christ and be built up in the midst of God’s people.
Just as the willing Gentiles were welcomed into the LORD’s family, and the unwilling ones cursed in their own sin, those who professed to be Israel were given a warning that just being from the loins of Israel meant nothing if they would not listen to the LORD. The cleft of the rock would have been a reference to Moses in the cleft of the rock witnessing the back of the LORD. In this case, those associated with Moses represented those in Israel who refused to listen to the LORD.
It was the declaration of the Father at Christ’s transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5) I believe that keeping the loincloth from being dipped in the water was a reference to the Jews who refused to be baptized into Christ Jesus and thus made clean. Like the loincloth, they were spoiled— good for nothing, for no one can be saved by way of the Law.
The pride of Judah was a reference to their hypocritical self-righteousness which was proved false by their worship of the false gods. Ultimately, this welcoming of the Gentiles would be the means by which the righteousness of Christ would be preached, even among the Jews, and as Paul told the Romans, “And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
‘The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’;
‘and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.’” (Romans 11:26-27)
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast revealed Thy glory to all nations in Jesus Christ and the Word of His truth, keep, we beseech Thee, in safety the works of Thy mercy that so Thy Church, spread throughout all nations, may serve Thee in true faith and persevere in the confession of Thy name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.