Year 2, Week 12, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 12, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Jeremiah 18-19.

Today’s reading continues the second collection of declarations against Judah. Jeremiah 2:1-20:18, the first segment of the Book, contains two collections of declarations against Judah. Jeremiah 18 describes the LORD’s illustration of a potter and clay to describe His authority over Judah: “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do” (Jeremiah 18:1-3). Just as a potter has the right to shape the clay and reshape it if the first design doesn’t please him, so too the Lord has the right to deal with his rebellious people, whom he created. Jeremiah 19 describes the LORD’s illustration of a broken piece of pottery that would be discarded to declare that He would soon judge Judah: “Thus says the LORD, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you…Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury” (Jeremiah 19:1-2,10-11). Just as a hardened piece of finished pottery is thrown away after it crack or breaks, so too would Judah face complete destruction. 

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the LORD’s declaration that He could do with Judah as He desired: “Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel…Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds” (Jeremiah 18:5-6,11). The imagery of a potter and his clay serves as a metaphor. If a potter is shaping clay into a vessel, and it does not turn out as he intended, he simply punches the clay down and starts over. The potter does with it what he wishes with the clay: “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do” (Jeremiah 18:4).

But metaphors illustrate a point—just as a potter shapes clay as he sees fit, so the LORD declares He can deal with Judah however he chooses. Thus, if the LORD plans to destroy a nation but that nation repents, He will relent and not destroy it. But if the LORD declares that He will bless a country, but it turns toward evil, such as Judah was currently doing, the LORD can change His mind and bring ruin on them. So the LORD explains: “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it” (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

The LORD is free to operate as He pleases. Of course that does not mean that the LORD can’t be counted on, for one never knows what the LORD might do next. The LORD is not an unhinged, unstable God. The LORD’s freedom is interconnected to His character and this is perfectly expressed in this passage and underscores God’s freedom, for it is a situation that pertains to God’s justice. God freely acts in accordance with His own nature. The LORD is free to be just; there are never any external constraints to restrain or limit His freedom to do what He deems just. When He warns His people to repent and He threatens them with severe punishment when they don’t repent, then the LORD is free to judge them. The LORD is the Potter and His people are the clay: "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Romans 9:20-21).

Judah, the clay, tragically declares: “But they say, That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart” (Jeremiah 18:13). And the Potter, freely and justly, resolves: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words” (Jeremiah 19:15).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe