Jeremiah 13:10

Jer 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

Ver. 10. This evil people.] Populus ille pessimus; these Poneropolitans, who are naught all over, nequitia cooperti.

Walk in the imagination of their heart.] See Jer 9:13; Jer 11:8.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer_13:10

This evil people which refuse to hear My words.

Rejecters of Gods word

I. Sensational preaching: in what sense to be approved. The style of this teaching of Jeremiah looks sensational. He is bidden to take a fine, new linen girdle--a most important and ornamental part of an Oriental gentlemans garments--and bury it for a time near the Euphrates. Taking it up afterwards, he was to exhibit it to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, with all the marks of injury and decay upon it, as a sign and type of the decline and decay that the Lord would bring on them in Babylon, when, parted from Him to whom they had been bound as a girdle to a mans body, they should be buried under the oppression and contempt of their proud and domineering captors.

II. Rejection of the divine word.

1. Even the most highly favoured persons may reject Gods Word.

2. The transgressors in such cases prefer their own imagination to Gods revelations. Religion says to God, Thy will be done. The natural heart says, My will be done--Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?

3. The moral influence of such perverseness is bad, progressively bad. Having cast off God, the human nature cannot stand up alone. It needs a support. It must worship. So it goes after other, and of course false, gods. Every sin has three distinct effects, apart from the punishment of the future:

(1) It depraves and deteriorates the nature that sins. The brain is not broken, but strained; the marble is not fractured, but the eye of omniscience sees the flaw.

(2) It familiarises with evil and goes so far towards making an evil habit.

(3) It renders some other sin not only easier, but apparently necessary. Having done one thing, says the sinner, of course I had to do the other.

4. The effect of rejecting Gods Word is lamentable in the extreme. If the fire of Divine anger burnt up that vine which He had planted, how will it be with the common tree of the forest?

III. By whom is the word of the Lord rejected?

1. In a certain strict and literal sense every unbeliever is an infidel, i.e. he is without faith. But many are without faith who yet assent to the general truths of Gods Word. Many infidels have made it their own interest to impugn and deny Divine revelation. A man has broken its precepts--perhaps suffered socially in consequence--has not repented, but only been embittered, begins to count those who censure or condemn him first bigoted, narrow-minded, then pharisaical, and hypocritical or fanatical. They justify their action by the Scriptures, and he begins to transfer his dislike to the Scriptures, feels a pleasure in any doubt cast on them, flatters himself that to weaken them is to strengthen his case, and that contempt poured on them is respect won back for him. Hence the bitterest scoffers have often been the religiously trained sinners.

2. Sceptics are included among the rejecters of Gods Word. Not that they are necessarily irreligious, or deniers of a Divine Being and of obligation to Him; but they deny the Scriptures as an authoritative revelation from Him and make nature a sufficient teacher.

3. If I include Romanism among the rejecters of Gods Word, it must be with a qualification. That system admits the inspiration, Divine origin, and partial authority of Gods Word, and so far as it can appeal to Scripture does so. Its sins in this regard are:

(1) Putting up beside the Word tradition, which, like that of the Pharisees, makes the Word of God of no effect.

(2) Making the authorisation of the Scripture depend on the Church, and constituting the Church the only expounder of Scripture.

(3) And following from this, she withholds the Scriptures from her people.

4. The indifferent and unbelieving reject Gods Word. You have heard it explained, read it, had it urged on you by beloved ones, now praising God in the rest of the saints. Have you believed it? Received Christ? Are you resting on Him? Doing His will? For if not, your condemnation is doubly sure. (John Hall, D. D.)

Gods girdle

I. Israel and Judah clave unto Jehovah as a girdle to the loins of a man.

1. Unto His person for favour.

2. Unto His Word for direction and teaching.

3. Unto His promise for encouragement.

4. Unto His worship for devotion.

II. Israel and Judah were then a praise and glory to Jehovah. A girdle of strength and honour before the nations.

1. As opposed to the idolatries of the world.

2. As expressing obedience to Divine law.

3. As exhibiting the beneficial effects of true religion.

III. Israel and Judah became faithless and disobedient.

1. An evil people refusing to hear the Word.

2. A stubborn people going their own way.

3. A deluded people in vain imaginations.

4. An idolatrous people, like the nations less favoured, going after other gods to serve and worship them.

IV. Israel and Judah becoming faithless, became also weak and worthless. Went from prominence to obscurity, from freedom to captivity, from privilege to punishment. (W. Whale.)

Cleaving unto God

In Trinidad there are small oysters to be found that grow upon trees, or rather cluster round the roots of trees, in the river mouths. The little bivalves are so firmly attached that it is usual to saw down the trees in order to obtain the oysters, and such an attachment is typical of the ideal life of a Christian. He should love the Lord his God, and obey His voice, that he may cleave unto Him. God, who is the source of all life, will indeed be his life and the light of his days. As the strength of the tree is placed at the disposal of the oyster, so is the omnipotence of God offered to all who will trust Him. (Christian Commonwealth.)

Which is good for nothing.

Good for nothing

I. Dwell upon a painful fact. All was done for them that could be, and yet good for nothing.

II. Point out the cause of their sad condition.

1. They refused to hear the Word of the Lord.

2. They followed the imagination of their hearts.

3. They became idolaters.

III. Show what they might have been as a people.

1. Separated from the nations as peculiarly the people of God.

2. Before the nations for the glory of Jehovah, as opposed to idols.

3. Among the nations as witnesses and examples.

IV. Proclaim some universal truths.

1. Refusing to hear Gods Word is proof that the people are all evil people.

2. An evil people will substitute a false worship for that which is true.

3. A false worship will produce and foster an erroneous religious life.

4. A people walking according to the imagination of their own hearts must be useless to themselves, to the world, to the Church, or to God. (W. Whale.)

The unprofitableness of a sinful life

I heard the other day a Sunday school address which pleased me much. The teacher, speaking to the boys, said, Boys, here is a watch; what is it for? To tell the time. Well, said he, suppose my watch does not tell the time, what is it good for? Good for nothing, sir. Then he took out a pencil. What is this pencil for? It is to write with, sir. Suppose this pencil wont make a mark, what is it good for? Good for nothing, sir. Then he took out a pocket knife. Boys, what is this for? They were American boys, so they shouted, To whittle with,--that is, to experiment on any substance that came in their way, by cutting a notch in it. But, said he, suppose it will not cut, what is the knife good for? Good for nothing, sir. Then the teacher said, What is the chief end of man? and they replied, To glorify God. But suppose a man does not glorify God, what is he good for? Good for nothing, sir. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:10-11 The rotten loincloth represented the people of Judah and Israel, whose wicked rebellion had corrupted them and made them worthless. • clings: The same Hebrew word can be translated “joins” and is used to describe marital faithfulness (Gen 2:24). • my people . . . an honor to my name: See also Exod 19:5, 6; Deut 32:10-12; Eph 2:7; 3:10.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

imagination--rather, "obstinacy."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Prophet said, according to what we observed yesterday, that the people would be like the belt which he had hidden in a hole and found putrified: but now the cause is expressed why God had resolved to treat them with so much severity. He then says that he would be an avenger, because the Jews had refused to obey his voice, and preferred their own inventions in walking after the hardness, or the wickedness of their own heart We hence see that the cause of this calamity was, that the people had rejected the teaching of the prophets. This indeed was far more grievous than if they had fallen away through mistake or ignorance, as we often see that men go miserably astray when the teaching of the truth is taken away. But when God shews the way, and prescribes what is right, when by his servants he exhorts his people, it is an inexcusable hardness if men repudiate such a kindness. But as this subject has been elsewhere largely treated, I shall only touch on it now briefly.

We see then that God threatens his people with extreme calamity, because they would not. bear to be taught by his prophets. Then he adds, that they had walked after the wickedness of their own heart, and had walked after foreign gods He in the first place complains that they had been so refractory as to prefer to obey their own impious inclinations than to be ruled by good and salutary counsels. But it was necessary to specify their crime; for had the Prophet only spoken of their hardness, they might have had their objections ready at hand; but when he said that they had walked after foreign gods, there was no longer any room for evasion. The word to walk has a reference to a way. This metaphor has indeed a relation to something else; for men are not wont to take a course without going somewhere, we must therefore have some end in view when we walk along any way. Now, there is to be understood here a contrast, that the people despised the way pointed out to them by God, and that they had preferred to follow their own errors. God was ready to guide the Jews; by his own law; but they chose rather, as I have said, to abandon themselves to their own errors, as it were designedly.

He says, that they had walked after alien gods, that they might serve them, and prostrate themselves before them; for such is the meaning of the last verb. The Prophet no doubt repeats the same thing, for to serve is not only to obey, but also to worship. And hence is refuted that folly of the Papists, who imagine that worship (duliam) is not inconsistent with true religion; for they say that service (latriam) is due only to God, but that worship may be given to angels, to statues, or to dead men, as though God, forsooth! in condemning superstitions, did not use the word עבד obed, to serve. It hence follows that it is extremely ridiculous to devise two sorts of worship, one peculiar to God, and another common to angels as well as to men and dead idols. We now understand the import of this verse: the Prophet draws this conclusion, that the Jews would become like a useless or a putrefied belt. It afterwards follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) Imagination.—Better, as before, stubbornness.

Shall even be as this girdle.—The same thought is reproduced in the imagery of the potter’s vessel in Jer_18:4. On the other hand there is a partial reversal of the sentence in Jer_24:5, where the “good figs” represent the exiles who learnt repentance from their sufferings, and the “bad” those who still remained at Jerusalem under Zedekiah.

Which is good for nothing.—Better, profitable for nothing, the Hebrew verse being the same as in Jer_13:7.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. stubbornness] See ch. Jer_3:17.

shall even be] Heb. let it be.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 Jer 24:5-7.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Hitherto the prophet had yielded a blind obedience to God, doing what he commanded him, though he possibly knew no other reason for it but because God bade him do so (which is a homage we owe unto God, though to none but him); now God expounds himself what he meant to teach the Jews by this, viz. that he did intend that they should be consumed by the people beyond the river Euphrates, as that girdle was there marred; and he also shows them that their own sins in disobeying his word, and following the imaginations of their own hearts, particularly their idolatry, was what had brought this sore judgment upon them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Good for nothing — In themselves, and to outward appearance, but really more fit for God’s high purposes than before. Their political existence was virtually terminated; but as instruments of preparation for the coming reign of Messiah they were still to serve an important use.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and it shall be like this girdle Their pride shall be like this rotten girdle.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.