THE CONTEMPT WITH WHICH GOD's RICHEST MERCIES ARE
Jer. xiii. 11. 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.
IT pleased God in former times frequently to in- struct 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 carried 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 vision3. 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 repre- sentation of Jerusalem before him, to figure to the
a Ezek. viii. 3.
Jews the siege that should assuredly be formed against it by the Chaldeans b. Whether the sign which Jere- miah was here directed to use was in a vision only, or in reality, commentators are not agreed. Cer- tainly 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 c.
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 exhi- bited 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 gar- ments 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 depen- dent on himself for direction, preservation, and support. In
b Ezek. iv. 1 — 17. A most surprising account altogether! See also Ezek. xii. 2 — 12. and xxiv. 15 — 24. c Such an instance occurs, Jer. xxv. 27
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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 d," 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 e ;" so that they who are joined unto him by faith are " one Spirit with himf." 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 heartg."]