Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Jeremiah 18:15
Jeremiah 18:15. To vanity, and they have caused them, &c.— To idols, which have caused them, &c.] read more
Jeremiah 18:15. To vanity, and they have caused them, &c.— To idols, which have caused them, &c.] read more
15. Because—rather, "And yet"; in defiance of the natural order of things. forgotten me— ( :-). This implies a previous knowledge of God, whereas He was unknown to the Gentiles; the Jews' forgetting of God, therefore, arose from determined perversity. they have caused . . . to stumble—namely the false prophets and idolatrous priests have. ancient paths— ( :-): the paths which their pious ancestors trod. Not antiquity indiscriminately, but the example of the fathers who trod the right way, is... read more
Israel’s unnatural behavior and its consequences 18:13-17In this message, Jeremiah contrasted the unnatural apostasy of the people with the constancy of nature (cf. Jeremiah 2:10-13). read more
Israel had abandoned Yahweh and had worshipped worthless idols instead. His people had stumbled off the safe, well-established highway of God’s will that they had been traveling on, and had turned aside to walk in pathways that were not roads (cf. Jeremiah 6:16). read more
Jeremiah’s Eleventh Prophecy (Reign of Jehoiakim). Prophecies Illustrated from the Work of the PotterJeremiah 18 gives and explains the figure of the potter’s clay, and tells of the effect upon the people. Jeremiah 19 gives and applies the figure of the potter’s broken vessel, while Jeremiah 20 describes the consequent sufferings of Jeremiah and his complaints.The outrage on the prophet committed by Pashur (Jeremiah 20:2) would certainly not have been permitted in Josiah’s time. On the other... read more
1-17. Figure of the potter’s clay.3. The potter’s house] Clay from which pottery was made was found S. of Jerusalem: cp. Zechariah 11:13; Matthew 27:10. The potter teaches Jeremiah important lessons concerning the providential rule of the world. ’As I watched him shaping the pliant clay, remodelling the imperfect vessels until they conformed to his ideal, God revealed to me the manner in which He is able to mould at His will the nations. At the same time I realised that man may render God’s... read more
(15) Vanity.—The word is not that commonly so translated (as in Jeremiah 2:5; Jeremiah 10:8; Ecclesiastes 1:2, et al., q. 5), but that which had been used of idols in Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 4:30; Jeremiah 6:29, rendered “in vain.” See also Ezekiel 13:6; Ezekiel 13:8-9.They have caused.—No persons have been named, but the prophet clearly has in view the prophets and teachers who had led the people astray.To stumble in their ways from the ancient paths.—The preposition “from” is not in the... read more
God's Pity for Failure Jeremiah 18:4 I. In, every action of the potter God was speaking, and Jeremiah heard and understood. What was the message? This: God's pity for failure 'It was marred, so he made it again' Why did the potter not leave the broken and marred clay, and use a fresh and flawless piece? There was plenty of it at his disposal. Why? Because he knew that if the obstacle that marred it was removed the vessel could be perfected, and so he tried again. Jeremiah was despondent,... read more
CHAPTER XITHE DIVINE POTTERJeremiah 18:1-23JEREMIAH goes down into the Lower Town, or the valley between the upper and lower city; and there his attention is arrested by a potter sitting at work before his wheel. As the prophet watches, a vessel is spoiled in the making under the craftsman’s hand; so the process begins afresh, and out of the same lump of clay another vessel is moulded, according to the potter’s fancy.Reflecting upon what he had seen, Jeremiah recognised a Divine Word alike in... read more
Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Jeremiah 18:15
CONSEQUENCES OF JUDAH'S CHOICE"For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient ways, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up; to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; everyone that passeth by shall be astonished, and shake his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.""The ancient ways... read more