Verses 1-10
THE SEVEN DISCOURSE
As these three chapters appear under a common superscription of the longer form, which does not recur till chap. 21, they are evidently to be regarded as a connected whole. They have in fact an internal connection, although they cannot by any means be considered as a rhetorical whole, or as a connected discourse. Two historical facts are here set before us, which are internally related, but are different as to time, and probably also as to their original record, to which are also attached both prophetic indications and subjective effusions. The first historical fact is the incident with the potter, related in Jeremiah 18:0. As in this chapter the impending judgment is still announced in the same general manner as before, the Chaldeans not yet being mentioned as the instrument, it is manifest that it must have been written before the decisive turning-point reported in Jeremiah 15:0, viz., before the battle of Carchemish in the 4th year of Jehoiakim. On the other hand chh. 19. and 20. were written after this crisis. For in Jeremiah 20:4 we read “I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon.” Jeremiah does not speak thus till after that decisive battle. It is also noteworthy, that the prophet in Jeremiah 20:2 is called יִרְמְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא, not simply ירְמְיָהוּ, which mode of expression likewise prevails only after the great crisis. (Comp. Jeremiah 25:2; Jeremiah 28:5; Jeremiah 28:10-12; Jeremiah 28:15, etc.) It follows definitively that chh. 19 and 20 belong to the time of Jehoiakim from the circumstance that in the reign of Zedekiah, not Pashur, but Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, appears to be invested with the dignity of temple-officer (comp. Jeremiah 29:26 coll. Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 37:3; Jeremiah 52:24), and moreover as the successor of Jehoiada, which renders the probability that Pashur no longer held this office under Zedekiah so much the greater, especially if we consider that Jeremiah 29:0 belongs to one of the first years of Zedekiah (see the Introd. to Jeremiah 29:0) Pashur, who in Jeremiah 20:4 sqq. is threatened with being carried away captive to Babylon, had most probably met this fate with king Jehoiakim and that numerous company which is spoken of in Jeremiah 29:1 and 2 Kings 24:12-14.—Notwithstanding therefore that Jeremiah 18:0 belongs to an earlier period than chh. 19 and 20 they are placed together because both are based on symbolic actions, of which the productions of pottery form the substratum. In Jeremiah 18:0 the clay on the potter’s wheel first fails, but is then immediately formed anew; in Jeremiah 19:0 the vessel is ready-made, which being poured out is then (irreparably Jeremiah 19:11) broken by the prophet. Both actions are of such a character as to set before the people that the Lord has not only the power but the will to destroy them. Nevertheless there is a great difference between the two actions, the first having a parænetic, the second more of a declarative character, as will be shown in the exposition. Graf is of opinion that Jeremiah 19:1-13 was written down at the same time with Jeremiah 18:0, because the event narrated in Jeremiah 20:1 sqq., is related to the prophecy in Jeremiah 7:30 sqq. as Jeremiah 26:1 to her Jeremiah 7:12, and since the discourse in Jeremiah 7:0 sqq. belongs to the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, so also the prophecy in Jeremiah 19:1-13, and the event recorded in Jeremiah 20:1-6 must belong to this time. But the latter was not recorded till afterwards, like all the narratives from the life of Jeremiah. The lyrical passage Jeremiah 20:7-13 has no connection with the preceding context. But it may have been composed under the impression of the shameful treatment which Jeremiah had received in the temple, or subsequently in remembrance of this and other persecutions. The five verses, Jeremiah 20:14-18, are said to be an independent fragment, an amplification of Jeremiah 15:10, which was perhaps composed in consequence of the same occurrences, and were put here on this account, or only on account of its agreement with Jeremiah 18:7-8. To this I have to object; 1. It is an unnatural supposition that Jeremiah 19:1-13 was written before Jeremiah 19:14 to Jeremiah 20:6. For both passages are so closely connected that we cannot conceive what could have occasioned the prophet to defer the relation in Jeremiah 19:14, etc., after having recorded the previous facts, together with the prophecy connected with them. The narrative Jeremiah 19:14, etc., was certainly recorded after the prophet had already begun to call himself הַנָביאי׳, but only because the prophecy itself belongs to this later period. This is not identical with Jeremiah 7:30-34 and does not therefore belong to the first years of Jehoiakim. The agreement in particular words and phrases corresponds only to the general usage of Jeremiah, to repeat himself frequently and extensively, and in different connections by no means justifies the assumption of identity. 2. The passage Jeremiah 20:7-13 is closely connected with the previous context, as is especially seen in the words מָגוֹר מִסָּביב (comp. the Comm. on Jeremiah 20:10); it is not however an objective and official word of God, but a memorial of subjective thoughts and feelings, which then moved the prophet, and thus bears to some extent the character of a private record. 3. The case is the same with Jeremiah 20:14-18. This passage also is of an entirely subjective and private nature. To strike it out or explain it as only patched on accidentally is to deny the dualism which must undoubtedly have prevailed in the mind of the prophet. To transpose it from this place and set it before Jeremiah 20:7 (as Ewald does, in this however opposed by Graf) would be to disturb the natural course and the clear picture of the inner feelings of the prophet. For it is only too probable that in those troubled times a troubled frame of mind finally became predominant.
I am therefore of opinion that Jeremiah 18:0. belongs to the period before, chh. 19. and 20 to the period after, the fourth year of Jehoiakim, that the passages however being of related contents were placed in juxtaposition in the collection of prophecies; further, that Jeremiah 19:1 to Jeremiah 20:6 is to be regarded as a closely connected whole, on which follows as an appendix a subjective effusion of double and contradictory purport, by which however we obtain a true picture of the prophet’s then prevailing state of mind.
The discourse may be divided as follows:—
THE SYSMBOLS OF POTTERY
First Symbol: the clay and potter, Jeremiah 18:0
1. The parable of the potter and its interpretation in a negative sense, Jeremiah 18:1-10.
2. The interpretation of the parable in a positive sense, Jeremiah 18:11-17.
3. The manner in which the people receive the word of the prophet, and his petition to the Lord for protection from their hostility, Jeremiah 18:18-23.
Second Symbol:—the broken vessel, chaps. 19 and 20
1. The symbolic action and its interpretation, Jeremiah 19:1-13.
2. Opposition and punishment of Pashur, Jeremiah 19:14 to Jeremiah 20:6.
3. Appendix. The prophet’s joy and sorrow, Jeremiah 20:7-18.
a. Through sorrow to joy, Jeremiah 20:7-13.
b. For the present sorrow only. The prophet curses the day of his birth, Jeremiah 20:14-18.
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THE SYMBOLS OF POTTERY
First Symbol:—the clay and potterChap. 18
1. The parable of the potter and its interpretation in the negative sense
1, 2 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord [Jehovah], saying, Arise and go down to the potter’s house and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the 4wheels. And the vessel which he was making1 of [as] clay2 was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to5make it. then the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came to me, saying,
6 Cannot I do to you as this potter does,
O house of Israel? saith Jehovah.Behold as the clay in the hand of the potter,So are ye in my hand, O house of Israel!
7 Suddenly I speak against a nation and against a kingdom,
To extirpate and exterminate and to destroy:
8 If now this nation, against which I have spoken, turn from its wickedness,
I repent of the evil which I thought to do unto it.
9 And suddenly I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom,
To build and to plant:
10 If now it does that which is evil3 in my eyes,
So that it hears not my voice,I repent of the good wherewith I promised to benefit it.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The prophet receives the command to go into the potter’s house, to receive there a revelation from the Lord. He obeys and is a witness how the clay is spoiled in the hands of the potter, as he works on the wheel, and how he immediately forms a new vessel out of the clay (Jeremiah 18:1-4). Hereupon the prophet receives the word of the Lord: As the clay is in the hand of the potter, so is Israel in the hand of the Lord (Jeremiah 18:5-6). As the Lord by penitence and conversion is dissuaded from the accomplishment of His threatenings, so by evil-doing He may be prevented from performing His gracious promises (Jeremiah 18:7-10).
Jeremiah 18:1-4. The word … to the potter to make it. The superscription is like that in Jeremiah 7:1; Jeremiah 11:1.—האנים, wheels. The meaning of the word, which occurs besides only in Exodus 1:16 cannot be doubtful in this passage. With respect however to Exodus 1:16, it was the object of a literary controversy. Comp. Böttcher in Winer’sZeitsch. f. wiss. Theol., Bd. II., H. 1, S. 49 ff.; Rettig, Böttcheru.Redslob, Stud. u. Krit., 1834; Benary, Berlin, Jahrbb., 1841; Ernst Meier, Stud. u. Krit, 1842. [For a description and diagram of the wheel, see Gesen. Lex., s. v.]—As seemed good. Comp. Jeremiah 27:5.
Jeremiah 18:5-10. Then the word … to benefit it.—On as the clay in the hand of the potter comp. Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:7; Wis 15:7; Sir 36:13; Romans 9:21.—Suddenly, Jeremiah 18:7; Jeremiah 18:9, is evidently not to be referred to the proximate verb, but to the main thought, i.e., to the apodosis. The mode of expression is paratactic. In our syntactic mode it would be: Suddenly, if I have spoken against a nation … and this nation turn, I will repent, etc. Comp. Naegelsb.Gr., § 111, 1, Anm. Moreover, the word refers evidently to the rapidity with which the potter changes the form of the clay. Observation may be recommended as the best commentator on this passage.—To extirpate. Comp. Jeremiah 1:10.—Against which I spoke is not to be referred to wickedness, but to nation.
Footnotes:
Jeremiah 18:4; Jeremiah 18:4.—ונשׁחת. The perfects נִשְׁחַת and שָׁב signify that these facts are not to be regarded as co-ordinate points in the course of the narrative, but as further developments of the עֹשֵׂה מְלָאכָה, from which it is not necessary to assume that the word designates more than a single act (Hitzig, Graf). The form וַיָּשָׁב is used (as ex. gr., Genesis 26:17) for the reason that the word does not contain the main idea, but a subordinate one attached as it were by the preceding perfect. Comp. Genesis 29:2 sqq.; Isaiah 6:3; Daniel 8:4; Ewald, § 342 b; Naegelsb. Gr., § 84, b; § 95 g, Anm.
Jeremiah 18:4; Jeremiah 18:4.—כחמר ו׳. These words have been unjustly suspected by different translators, transcribers, and commentators. They are not a gloss from Jeremiah 18:6, but doubtless chosen with reference to this verse. The intention is to set forth prominently the puactum saliens by similarity of expression in the historical narrative and the application. The כְּ is to be regarded as Kaph veritatis = as clay, i.e., as he is accustomed to do to the clay. Comp. Jeremiah 15:19; Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 5, c. [Wordsworth: As clay sometimes fails in the hand of the potter.—Henderson. “בַּחֹמֵר with ב instead of כ, is found in the text of fifty-eight MSS., has originally been in several more, and is now in five more by correction. It is likewise exhibited in seventeen printed editions, and alone makes sense.”—S. R. A.].
Jeremiah 18:10; Jeremiah 18:10.—הרעה. The Masoretes would read חָרַע, according to the usage which prevails elsewhere without an exception (comp. Numbers 32:13; Judges 2:11; Judges 3:7; Judges 3:12, etc.; 1 Kings 11:6; 1 Kings 14:22; Jeremiah 7:30; Jeremiah 32:30, etc.). The reading of the Chethibh is, however, evidently occasioned by הטובה after, and רעתו before it.
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