September 13, 2024 | Be God's Light
The Ruined Linen Belt & Destructive Wineskins
Scripture: Jeremiah 13(NIV)
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 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.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! 11 For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’
12 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13 then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14 I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”
15 Hear and pay attention,
do not be arrogant,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God
before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
but he will turn it to utter darkness
and change it to deep gloom.
17 If you do not listen,
I will weep in secret
because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
overflowing with tears,
because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,
“Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns
will fall from your heads.”
19 The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile,
carried completely away.
20 Look up and see
those who are coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,
the sheep of which you boasted?
21 What will you say when the Lord sets over you
those you cultivated as your special allies?
Will not pain grip you
like that of a woman in labor?
22 And if you ask yourself,
“Why has this happened to me?”—
it is because of your many sins
that your skirts have been torn off
and your body mistreated.
23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 “I will scatter you like chaff
driven by the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have decreed for you,”
declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten me
and trusted in false gods.
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face
that your shame may be seen—
27 your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution!
I have seen your detestable acts
on the hills and in the fields.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
How long will you be unclean?”
Devotional
During the time of Jeremiah, Judah was caught in the middle of a power struggle between Egypt to the south, Assyria to the north and Babylon to the east. Good King Josiah reigned over Judah for thirty-one years, beginning when he was eight years old. He reformed the spiritual climate of the nation, purging the idols dedicated to the Baals and Asherah, restoring the temple in Jerusalem, and rededicating the people to God and Scripture.
Yet the conflict still raged around Judah. King Josiah was killed in battle with Egypt. His successor lasted only three months, and was captured and taken to Egypt because he was supporting Babylon. The next king in line sided with Egypt, only to be killed by Babylon a decade later. Yet another king of Judah lasted only three years, to be removed by Babylon when Jerusalem was under siege. The final king of Judah, Zedekiah, tried to join with Egypt to revolt against Babylon, until the bitter end when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian empire.
In today’s reading, Jeremiah wrote: “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!’” (v. 9-10). In what way did the linen belt convey the message of what was coming to Judah? Today, how have we allowed our tie to the Lord to deteriorate?
In the second metaphor, Jeremiah compared a wineskin filled with wine to God’s people filled with the drunkenness of unfaithfulness and idolatry. What stands out to you about this teaching? In what ways are we filled with the wrong things in our lives today?
In Luke 5:37-39, Jesus said, “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” What was the “old wine” in Jeremiah’s time? What would the “new wine” have been like? Think about us today? What are our old and new wines?
Poem
Linen Belt
Linen belt
Priestly band
Binding grace
From God
Linen belt
Priestly work
Wind blows free
No sweat
Linen belt
Priestly vows
Hidden, defiled
Rotted promises
Linen belt
Priestly betrayal
Unfaithful people
Covenant smashed
