Jeremiah — Chapter 13
Synopsis: Two prophetic signs: (1) the linen girdle buried by the Euphrates — it rotted, like Israel's pride; (2) every bottle to be filled with wine (drunkenness of judgment). God's final word to king and queen-mother: 'Where is thy flock, thy beautiful sheep?' The shame of nakedness revealed.
Verse 11
For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused all the house of Israel, and all the house of Judah to cleave to me, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and my name, and my praise, and my glory. The linen girdle typifies the intimate bond between God and His people — a bond of honor and beauty. When the girdle rots (= Israel abandons God), it becomes worthless.
Verse 23
If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: you also may do good, when you have learned evil. One of the great Scripture proofs of the enslaving power of habitual sin. Lapide: the hardened sinner cannot change himself — only divine grace can transform a nature so fixed in evil. Applied against Pelagianism and to the necessity of grace for conversion.