Jeremiah 18:1

JEREMIAH 18

GOD'S PROMISES ALWAYS CONDITIONAL

Henderson's chapter divisions are: (1) the analogy of the potter and the clay (Jeremiah 18:1-4), (2) deductions drawn from the analogy (Jeremiah 18:5-10), (3) Judah's place in the analogy revealed and the warning to repent given (Jeremiah 18:11), (4) Judah's obstinate rejection of God's call to repentance (Jeremiah 18:12), (5) the folly of Judah's choice (Jeremiah 18:13-14), (6) the consequences of that choice (Jeremiah 18:15-17), (7) the conspiracy against Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:18-20), and (8) Jeremiah reveals the judgment of God against his enemies (Jeremiah 18:19-23).[1] These last two divisions (Jeremiah 18:18-23) are also classified as Jeremiah's Fourth Personal Lament by Ash.[2]

Jeremiah 18:1-4

ANALOGY OF THE POTTER AND THE CLAY

"The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it."

The ability of inspired men of God to see eternal truth and significance in the ordinary things of every day life was a special mark of their genius; and it pertained especially to our Lord Jesus Christ, who found such eternal lessons in the lilies of the field, patching old clothes, putting new wine in new wineskins, the sower scattering seeds in a field, dealing with the tares in the wheat, the devices of a dishonest steward, the hypocritical prayer of a Pharisee, finding a treasure hidden in a field, a lost (stray) sheep, a lost coin, a slighted invitation to a wedding, and dozens of other ordinary experiences of life.

This prophecy of the vessel marred in the hand of the potter refers to the moral and spiritual ruin of Israel; and it stands in close proximity to the prophecy of the broken vessel of the potter in Jeremiah 19; but this proximity is based upon the relation of both prophecies to the analogy of the potter's house, and not upon their chronology.

"In this chapter, mercy is still offered Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which, of course, they rejected; but it came early in the reign of Jehoiachim while there was still hope of their repentance; but in Jeremiah 19, the parable of the broken vessel depicts the final and utter overthrow of the kingdom; and this would have been about the fourth year of Jehoiachim."[3]

"Go down to the potter's house ..." (Jeremiah 18:2). This was located in a clay-field to the South of Jerusalem, just beyond the valley of Hinnom."[4] This potter's field was made eternally famous by Zechariah 11:13 who named this field as the place for which the blood-money for the Christ would be used as a purchase price, a prophecy remarkably fulfilled when the thirty pieces of silver which Judas received for betraying Christ were actually used to buy a plot therein for the burial of strangers (Matthew 27:9-10).

Many scriptures refer to the potter, the potter's house, the clay, the vessels, and other features of the potter's industry. Among them are the following: 1 Chronicles 4:23; Isaiah 12:25; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-4; @@i19:lff; Daniel 2:41; Zechariah 11:13ff; Matthew 27:7-10, and Romans 9:21. The most applicable of all these verses to the situation here in this and the succeeding chapters is the remark of Paul, who make it clear what kind of vessel it was that the Potter (God) finally made out of the marred clay (Israel); it was a "vessel unto dishonor." (Romans 9:21)

"He was making a work on the wheels ..." (Jeremiah 18:3). Ash gives this description of ancient potter wheels: "There were two round flat stones, called wheels, set at right angles to a vertical shaft, one placed low under the table where it was propelled by the worker's foot, and the other extending above the table where the worker could use it to fashion the vessels out of clay. The lower stone was heavier to provide momentum.[5]

This is the first in a series of prophecies extending through Jeremiah 25, according to Cheyne;[6] but some would end the series in Jeremiah 20.[7]