Generally speaking, the queens of Israel and Judah do not appear to have exercised a very considerable influence on the affairs of their times There were, however, striking exceptions to this rule In Israel, Jezebel, a very determined exponent of the doctrine of the divine right of kings, undoubtedly influenced Ahab and led him into excesses of evil which, without her prompting, would probably not have been committed in Judah, Jezebel’s daughter, Athaliah, perhaps of the opinion after the murder of her son Ahaziah, that none of the royal princes could stand against the ruthlessness of Jehaslew all the seed royal and seized the reins of government for herself She remained queen for over six years before like Jezebel, she was assassinated There was also Queen Nehushta, who in the twilight of the kingdom of Judah had the difficult task of guiding a nation already doomed, but, in her case, responsibility came because Jehoiachin, her son, the king, was of tender age and, as queen mother, she occupied a position similar to that of a regent (II Kings 24 8-12).
It seems to have been her experience, with her son, to listen to a remarkable story from the prophet Jeremiah The incident is described in the prophet’s thirteenth chapter, and while the record does not say that the story was told to the queen, the explanatory portion of the chapter is introduced by the word “therefore” in verse 12, immediately after the story, which suggests that the seer would explain to his hearers the circumstances which gave rise to his message Jeremiah described how he had been told by God to buy a linen girdle and wear It around his loins, but not to wash it This he did, and was then further commanded to go, still wearing the girdle, to the river Euphrates, there to find a convenient hole in a rock in which to bury the garment This also he did and returned home still in ignorance of the meaning of his action Many days passed by, and then a command to pay another visit to the Euphrates was received Again the prophet obeyed and recovered his girdle, only to find that t was marred and good for nothing
Before we discuss the implications of Jeremiah s acted parable, it is desirable to consider its details First, did he actually go to the river Euphrates From Jerusalem, Euphrates is about 250 miles distant and moreover the river runs through Andy lands and rocks would be difficult to find. Such a long Journey seems a great waste of time and effort Considerations of this nature have led some students to think that the prophet did not really undertake it It is suggested that the Hebrew word ‘Perath’ translated ‘Euphrates’ in the text relates to the Wady Sarah, not far from Jeremiah’s home at Anathoth where the conditions needed for hiding the girdle are present On the hole, the reasons for altering the text e not conclusive, especially when we remember how meticulous the Scriptures indicate God to be regarding the details of His purposes This view will be reinforced when we consider the application of the parable.
Next, what was the girdle? To us, the term suggests a belt used over loosely fitting garments But Jeremiah’s girdle is spoken of as being on his loins, and in verse 11 it is said to cleave to the loins This shows that it was not a belt, but a garment bound close to the body under other clothing It is, therefore, more fittingly described as a waist-cloth The waist cloth was made of linen This was partly because of the typical significance of linen in Scripture as righteousness, and partly because the qualities of linen lent themselves readily to some aspects of the interpretation of the parable Linen wears well, and can be preserved for a very long time The Egyptians used it for the wrappings of their mummies and some of these wrappings have survived for many centuries Linen, when soiled, can be washed almost as good as new, but if it is left exposed to the action of water, it will rot away.
Close upon the details of the parable came the divine comment Thus saith the Lord, after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem 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 For as a 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”
The great sin of Judah and Jerusalem was pride, a sin which had already destroyed the twin kingdom of Israel The error arose from a misconception of their standing in the sight of God It was true that He had declared them to be His peculiar people In the expressive figure of the parable He had bound them to Him as closely as Jeremiah’s waist-cloth was wrapped around his body They had completely failed to realize the divine object, however This was that they might be a people, a name, a praise and a glory to Him They were to be as the fine linen of righteousness In fact, they were far otherwise They had taken the divine favor as an indication that they were better than other nations and could follow their own devices and worship what gods they pleased Hence to God they were marred and unprofitable.
This was the truth which Jeremiah labored to bring home to the king and the queen mother, and through them to all the people “Humble yourselves and sit down, lest the crown of your glory come down,” he pleaded His plea was in vain It had been easier for the Ethiopian to change his coloring or for the leopard to alter the markings of his body than for Judah, so set in evil, to seek that which was good Hence the prophet’s denunciation “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, every bottle shall be filled with wine ” This cryptic remark was met with derision “Why don’t you tell us something we don’t know?” the people retorted They were willingly ignorant of Jeremiah’s meaning He soon made himself clear.
“Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them”
Judgment was not long delayed Jehoiachin reigned only one hundred days Then the Babylonian armies appeared before Jerusalem and the king and Nehushta surrendered to them and were taken as captives to Babylon For eleven years, Jehoiachin’s successor, Zedekiah, reigned as a puppet king for Nebuchadnezzar The times were stormy, and when, at the end of nine years, Zedekiah rebelled against his master, the Babylonian armies marched again, and after a bitter siege of two years, Jerusalem was captured and destroyed The king and almost all the remaining people were carried away to Babylon and the Judean kingdom came to an end To use again the language of Jeremiah, the feet of the people stumbled upon the dark mountains, and while they looked for light, God turned it into the shadow of death and made it gross darkness The Lord’s flock was carried captive by those who came from the north To Zion it was said, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?”
The general lesson of the parable is to stress how difficult it is, once having forsaken God, to return to Him, not because God is unwilling to receive the repentant sinner, but because by sin man raises a wall between God and himself, which he finds hard to break down Before Jeremiah took the waist-cloth on its journey, it was soiled but unwashed, and the prophet accordingly lamented the state of his people, crying, ‘ Woe unto thee O Jerusalem I Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?” They refused to seek cleansing, in their soiled condition they were taken away to Chaldea as fore-shown by Jeremiah’s visit to Euphrates When the waist-cloth arrived it was not placed in conditions likely to cause it to rot On the contrary, it was secreted in the hole of the rock in a dry climate, where it would not be exposed to the deteriorating action of water Yet when, after many days, the seer went to recover it, he found it not merely rather more soiled than when he left it, but altogether marred and good for nothing Linen had not behaved as linen should The seeds o rottenness must, therefore, have been it from the first This was true of the people of Judah Uncleanness had Iong estranged them from their God and their expulsion to a foreign land was only the culmination of years of evil Hiding an distant parts could not bring resistance to decay They had forsaken God, and ever successive year only made the wall of partition higher and stronger After man days, they were brought back from exile but they never recovered even the mode ate standing in the sight of God which their fathers had enjoyed for brief spell in their history The return from captivity meant the inauguration of an era of strife and the rising of contending parties such as Pharisees, Sadducees and zealots, and led eventually to the crowning infamy of the crucifixion of Jesus The road back to God was too hard for them to tread successfully
It is time, however, to turn from the faults of the Jews to consider the message, more vital to us, which the parable has for the twentieth century Israel were intended to be unto God for a people, for a name, for a praise and for a glory There is a later community which has also been called to be a people for the name of God, to show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light, and to do all things to His glory It is our frequent claim that we are numbered among that community We do well, therefore, to reflect upon the figure of the waist-cloth, cleaving closely to Jeremiah’s loins, because it is indicative of our relationship with our Maker. There is something awe-inspiring and humbling in the fact that the Creator should speak of His creatures in this way It is a great privilege to be so near in the regard of God, but it brings a tremendous responsibility, the sense of which is heightened by our knowledge that Israel could not live up to It The lesson comes to us both individually and collectively We are bound closely to God through faith in Christ Jesus We are sharers in His purpose and have the opportunity of making a contribution, however small, to its advancement The call is for humility and devotion If we respond to it, happy archive, for when small things give place to great in the Divine scheme we shall be fellow-servants of the Master If, however, we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, and use the liberty which Jesus has won for us for selfish ends, we shall sow the seed of corruption in ourselves We shall be rejected of God, and, like Israel of old, we shall find that estrangement and banishment will only make the barrier more impenetrable. In the day of final inspection we shall be found not only soiled but altogether marred and unfit for His use As far as the present is concerned, the same truth applies to the Ecclesia. If it abuses its position of nearness to God, boasts in its own strength, and abandons the faith and practice of the apostles, it will be like Jeremiah’s waist-cloth, it may remain in the presence of the irreligious and ungodly, but it will be in a corrupt state, ever becoming of less and less use in the purpose of God, and finally to be rejected by Him.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One