Jeremiah 18 Commentary
I’m Sovereign – The LORD
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KEY THOUGHT: “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! [Jeremiah 18:6b NKJV]
Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!
Jeremiah 18 NKJV
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the [a]wheel. 4 And the vessel that he [b]made of clay was [c]marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” ’ ”
God’s Warning Rejected
12 And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one [d]obey the dictates[e] of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man [f]leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15 “Because My people have forgotten Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16 To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy;
I will [g]show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”
Jeremiah Persecuted
18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20 Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I stood before You
To speak good [h]for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your anger.
Footnotes
a. Jeremiah 18:3 Potter’s wheel
b. Jeremiah 18:4 was making
c. Jeremiah 18:4 ruined
d. Jeremiah 18:12 Lit. do
e. Jeremiah 18:12 stubbornness or imagination
f. Jeremiah 18:14 forsake
g. Jeremiah 18:17 So with LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT look them in
h. Jeremiah 18:20 concerning
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 18 Commentary
“Don’t I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay?” What a powerful illustration!
The potter has the picture of what he wants – the purpose or the reason. So he sets out to work the clay and defines the shape, strength, or color of the vessel to serve a specific function.
If for some reason one of the parameters fails, he takes the clay and “makes it into something else.”
Israel is the clay. The Creator God is the potter. Israel has turned into something else – the wrong shape, strength, or color.
If the pottery turns out good, why not? I would gladly press the green button. But the outcome is different.
It is impossible to understand the perfection of Heaven. At one point, the Scripture presents the Creator God as a Father living in real time with his children. His expectations are clearly shown. He works on His children, doing His best to let them grow into great men and women. So there is management: Guidance, patience, discipline, control, teaching, and training.
At another time, probably and confusingly the same time, the LORD is pictured as the Creator God – knowing the end from the beginning. Israel won’t repent, regardless of my best effort as the Father.
Consequently, Israel faces destruction. The LORD provides these ‘messages’ through the same mouth – Jeremiah’s.
To the unbaptized, these messages can be very confusing. So they plan to attack Jeremiah.
Without these messages, Jeremiah is an ordinary man, probably having a social moment with everyone else.
Let the saints know what differentiates them from the world. The world is after God’s special parcel within each saint. It is nothing personal! Keep it and see what trouble comes!
This is a good reminder for anyone wondering what wrong they have done by quoting God’s word.
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Loving Scripture….
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