Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
Many of these figurative acts being either not possible or not probable or decorous seem to have existed only in the mind of the prophet as part of his inward vision (so Calvin). The world he moved in was not the sensible, but the spiritual world. Inward acts were, however, when it was possible and proper, materialized by outward performance; but not always and necessarily so. The internal act made a naked statement more impressive, and presented the subject, when extending over long portions of space and time, more concentrated. The interruption of Jeremiah's official duty by a journey of more than 200 miles twice is not likely to have literally taken place.
Put it upon thy loins ... - expressing the close intimacy wherewith Yahweh had joined Israel and Judah to Him (Jeremiah 13:11).
Linen - implying it was the inner garment next the skin, not the outer one.
Put it not in water - signifying the moral filth of His people, like the literal filth of a garment worn constantly next the skin without being washed (Jeremiah 13:10). Grotius understands a garment not bleached, but left in its native roughness, just as Judah had no beauty, but was adopted by the sole grace of God (Ezekiel 16:4-6, "Neither wast thou washed in water. ... I saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee,
Live").