- Jan 18, 2019
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Jer13:1 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” 2 So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4 “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath[a] and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.
6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
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God tells Jeremiah to buy a linen belt, a priestly garment, and wear it tight against his body. A belt is not decorative; it is functional, holding everything together. Israel was meant to be like that: close to God, bound to Him, and useful for His purposes.
Jeremiah is told not to wash it, hinting at neglect rather than sudden rebellion. Then the belt is removed and taken to Perath, near the Euphrates, far from home and associated with exile. Buried in a rock crevice and left there many days, it slowly rots. When it is recovered, it is ruined and completely useless.
The point is not that the belt lost its identity, it lost its usefulness. For Christians today, the warning is the same. We can remain outwardly “close” to God—Scripture, worship, correct beliefs, while neglecting humility, repentance, and obedience. Over time, distance grows, decay sets in, and what was meant to display God’s glory no longer does.
God’s desire has not changed: a people bound to Him, living close enough to be shaped by Him, not merely named after Him.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4 “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath[a] and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.
6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
____________________________________________________________________________________
God tells Jeremiah to buy a linen belt, a priestly garment, and wear it tight against his body. A belt is not decorative; it is functional, holding everything together. Israel was meant to be like that: close to God, bound to Him, and useful for His purposes.
Jeremiah is told not to wash it, hinting at neglect rather than sudden rebellion. Then the belt is removed and taken to Perath, near the Euphrates, far from home and associated with exile. Buried in a rock crevice and left there many days, it slowly rots. When it is recovered, it is ruined and completely useless.
The point is not that the belt lost its identity, it lost its usefulness. For Christians today, the warning is the same. We can remain outwardly “close” to God—Scripture, worship, correct beliefs, while neglecting humility, repentance, and obedience. Over time, distance grows, decay sets in, and what was meant to display God’s glory no longer does.
God’s desire has not changed: a people bound to Him, living close enough to be shaped by Him, not merely named after Him.
