Jeremiah 13:1-11 Cling To The LORD!

The LORD had Jeremiah acquire, hide, and then retrieve a sash, only to find that it had been destroyed. What had been valuable was then worthless. This was a symbol of Judah’s pride, and in making Jeremiah work by acquiring the sash, wearing and taking it to near the Euphrates, and then back to retrieve it, gives some indication to how long the LORD had held out for some change in his people (vv. 1-9). These were an evil people who had refused to hear the word of the LORD, or to practice it. Instead they followed the dictates of their own hearts, walking according to the idols which they had made, to serve and worship them, and thus they were as unprofitable to the LORD as the ruined sash (v. 10). They should have clung to the LORD like the sash around Jeremiah’s waist, that the goal of the covenant would be fulfilled – that they would be His people and He their God (v. 11). All this is to show that one can be in the covenant in an external way, without clinging to Him, like a faithful bride, in one’s heart.