Jeremiah 13 · The Lantern

The Linen Loincloth

Thus said the LORD to me: Go and buy for yourself a linen loincloth and put it on your loins, and do not bring it into water.

The blessed John disdained sheep's wool because it savored of luxury; he preferred camel's hair and clothed himself in it, giving us an example of simple, frugal living. Incidentally, he also ate only honey and locusts, food that is sweet and with a spiritual significance. So it was that he prepared the way of the Lord and kept it humble and chaste.

After these things let us look at what concerns the loincloth. For "Thus," it says, "says the Lord: Go and acquire for yourself a linen loincloth, and put it around your loins, and do not pass it through water. And I acquired a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it around my loins.

We are the robe of Christ. When we have clothed him with our confession of faith, we, in turn, have put on Christ. It is the apostle who says that Christ is our robe, for when we are baptized, we put on Christ. We both clothe and are clothed. Would you like to know in what manner we clothe the Lord? We read in Jeremiah: "Go buy yourself a linen loincloth.

And I bought the loincloth according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins.

And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying:

Take the loincloth that you bought, which is on your loins, and rise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

And I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

And it was at the end of many days that the LORD said to me: Rise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.

And I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it — and see, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

Thus says the LORD: So will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them — let it be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.

For as the loincloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah cling to me — the utterance of the LORD — to be for me a people and a name and a praise and a beauty; but they did not hear.

The Wineskins

And you will say to them this word: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Every jar is filled with wine. And they will say to you: Do we not surely know that every jar is filled with wine?

What the prophet is commanded by God to say ought to be worthy of God, [yet] it appears that it is not worthy of God so long as we remain at the level of the letter, so that someone else, on hearing the letter, might say: "These letters are folly." But it is the unspiritual man (psychikos) who will say this; for "the unspiritual man does not receive the things of the Spirit of…

(Verse 12 onwards) You shall say therefore to them (or to the people) this message. Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Every pitcher (or vessel) shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to you: Do we not know that every pitcher (or vessel) shall be filled with wine?

And showing the unchangeable nature of his wrath, God introduced these words: "I will not yearn after them, and I will not spare them, and I will not have pity on them because of their destruction," rather than "[I will not have pity on] their destruction." Then he calls their punishment drunkenness since those who fall into great misfortunes resemble those who are intoxicated…

And you will say to them: Thus says the LORD: See, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings sitting for David on his throne, and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

And I will shatter them one against his brother, the fathers and the sons together — the utterance of the LORD. I will not pity, and I will not spare, and I will not have compassion, from destroying them.

Captivity Threatened

Hear and give ear; do not be high, for the LORD has spoken.

Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, and before your feet strike on the mountains of twilight; and you will hope for light, and he will make it the shadow of death and set it as thick darkness.

And if you do not hear it, in hidden places my soul will weep because of haughtiness; and my eye will weep bitterly and run down with tears, for the flock of the LORD is taken captive.

Say to the king and to the queen mother: Sit low, for the crown of your beauty has come down from your heads.

The cities of the Negev are shut, with none opening. All Judah is exiled, wholly exiled.

Lift your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock given to you, the sheep of your beauty?

What will you say when he attends to you? And you — you yourself taught them over you as friends, as head. Will not pangs seize you like a woman in birth?

And when you say in your heart, Why have these met me? — for the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered, your heels are treated with violence.

Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? Then you too could do good, who are taught to do evil.

For as the prophet speaks," If the Ethiopian changes his skin, or the leopard his spots," then will they be willing to think religiously who have been instructed in irreligion. You, however, beloved, on receiving this, read it by yourself.

Then immediately quickening her pace, she began to move along the old road that leads to Gaza, that is, to the "power" or "wealth" of God, silently meditating on that type of the Gentiles, the Ethiopian eunuch, who, in spite of the prophet, changed his skin and, while he read the Old Testament, found the fountain of the gospel.

Also, he showed so much love in his religion that, leaving behind a queen's court, he came from the farthest regions of the world to the Lord's temple. Hence, as a just reward, while he sought the interpretation of something that he was reading, he found Christ, whom he was seeking.

And I will scatter them like passing stubble to the wind of the wilderness.

This is your lot, the portion of your measure from me — the utterance of the LORD — because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood.

And I too will strip your skirts over your face, and your dishonor will be seen —

your adulteries and your neighings, the depravity of your whoring on the hills in the field. I have seen your detestable things. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be clean — how much longer yet?

Jeremiah13

The Linen Loincloth

The Wineskins

Captivity Threatened