Jeremiah 18

Jer 18:1-23.

GOD, AS THE

SOLE

SOVEREIGN,

HAS AN

ABSOLUTE

RIGHT TO

DEAL WITH

NATIONS

ACCORDING TO

THEIR

CONDUCT TOWARDS

HIM;

ILLUSTRATED IN A

TANGIBLE

FORM BY THE

POTTER'S

MOULDING OF

VESSELS FROM

CLAY.

2. go down--namely, from the high ground on which the temple stood,

near which Jeremiah exercised his prophetic office, to the low ground,

where some well-known (this is the force of "the") potter had his

workshop.

3. wheels--literally, "on both stones." The potter's horizontal

lathe consisted of two round plates, the lower one larger, the upper

smaller; of stone originally, but afterwards of wood. On the upper the

potter moulded the clay into what shapes he pleased. They are found

represented in Egyptian remains. In

Ex 1:16

alone is the Hebrew word found elsewhere, but in a different

sense.

4. marred--spoiled. "Of clay" is the true reading, which was

corrupted into "as clay" (Margin), through the similarity of the

two Hebrew letters, and from

Jer 18:6,

"as the clay."

6. Refuting the Jews' reliance on their external privileges as God's

elect people, as if God could never cast them off. But if the potter, a

mere creature, has power to throw away a marred vessel and raise up

other clay from the ground, a fortiori God, the Creator, can cast

away the people who prove unfaithful to His election and can raise

others in their stead (compare

Isa 45:9; 64:8;

Ro 9:20, 21).

It is curious that the potter's field should have been the

purchase made with the price of Judas' treachery

(Mt 27:9, 10:

a potter's vessel dashed to pieces, compare

Ps 2:8, 9;

Re 2:27),

because of its failing to answer the maker's design, being the very

image to depict God's sovereign power to give reprobates to

destruction, not by caprice, but in the exercise of His righteous

judgment. Matthew quotes Zechariah's words

(Zec 11:12, 13)

as Jeremiah's because the latter

(Jer 18:1-19:15)

was the source from which the former derived his summary in

Zec 11:12, 13

[HENGSTENBERG].

7. At what instant--in a moment, when the nation least expects it.

Hereby he reminds the Jews how marvellously God had delivered them from

their original degradation, that is, In one and the same day ye were the

most wretched, and then the most favored of all people

[CALVIN].

8. their evil--in antithesis to, "the evil that I thought to do."

repent--God herein adapts Himself to human conceptions. The change

is not in God, but in the circumstances which regulate God's dealings:

just as we say the land recedes from us when we sail forth, whereas it

is we who recede from the land

(Eze 18:21; 33:11).

God's unchangeable principle is to do the best that can be done under

all circumstances; if then He did not take into account the moral

change in His people (their prayers, &c.), He would not be acting

according to His own unchanging principle

(Jer 18:9, 10).

This is applied practically to the Jews' case

(Jer 18:11;

see

Jer 26:3;

Jon 3:10).

11. frame evil--alluding to the preceding image of "the potter,"

that is, I, Jehovah, am now as it were the potter framing evil

against you; but in the event of your repenting, it is in My power to

frame anew My course of dealing towards you.

return, &c.--

(2Ki 17:13).

12. no hope--Thy threats and exhortations are all thrown away

(Jer 2:25).

Our case is desperate; we are hopelessly abandoned to our sins and

their penalty. In this and the following clauses, "We will walk after

our own devices," Jeremiah makes them express the real state of

the case, rather than the hypocritical subterfuges which they

would have been inclined to put forth. So

Isa 30:10, 11.

13.

(Jer 2:10, 11).

Even among the heathen it was a thing unheard of, that a nation should

lay aside its gods for foreign gods, though their gods are false gods.

But Israel forsook the true God for foreign false gods.

virgin of Israel--

(2Ki 19:21).

It enhances their guilt, that Israel was the virgin whom God had

specially betrothed to Him.

horrible thing--

(Jer 5:30).

14. Is there any man (living near it) who would leave the snow of

Lebanon (that is, the cool melted snow water of Lebanon, as he presently explains),

which cometh from the rock of the field (a poetical name for

Lebanon, which towers aloft above the surrounding field, or

comparatively plain country)? None. Yet Israel forsakes Jehovah, the

living fountain close at hand, for foreign broken cisterns.

Jer 17:13; 2:13,

accord with English Version here. MAURER

translates, "Shall the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock to

water (literally, 'forsake') My fields" (the whole land around

being peculiarly Jehovah's)? Lebanon means the "white

mountain"; so called from the perpetual snow which covers that part

called Hermon, stretching northeast of Palestine.

that come from another place--that come from far, namely, from

the distant lofty rocks of Lebanon. HENDERSON

translates, "the compressed waters," namely, contracted within a

narrow channel while descending through the gorges of the rocks;

"flowing" may in this view be rather "flowing down"

(So 4:15).

But the parallelism in English Version is better, "which cometh

from the rock," "that cometh from another place."

be forsaken--answering to the parallel, "Will a man leave," &c.

MAURER translates, "dry up," or "fail"

(Isa 19:5);

the sense thus being, Will nature ever turn aside from its fixed

course? The "cold waters" (compare

Pr 25:25)

refer to the perennial streams, fed from the partial melting of the

snow in the hot weather.

15. Because--rather, "And yet"; in defiance of the natural order of

things.

forgotten me--

(Jer 2:32).

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--

(Jer 6:16):

the paths which their pious ancestors trod. Not antiquity

indiscriminately, but the example of the fathers who trod the right

way, is here commended.

them--the Jews.

not cast up--not duly prepared: referring to the raised center

of the road. CALVIN translates, "not trodden."

They had no precedent of former saints to induce them to devise for

themselves a new worship.

16. hissing--

(1Ki 9:8).

In sign of contempt. That which was to be only the event is

ascribed to the purpose of the people, although altogether

different from what they would have been likely to hope for. Their

purpose is represented as being the destruction of their

country, because it was the inevitable result of their course of

acting.

wag . . . head--in mockery

(2Ki 19:21;

Mt 27:39).

As "wag . . . head" answers to "hissing," so "astonished"

answers to "desolate," for which, therefore, MUNSTER and others rather translate, "an object of

wonder"

(Jer 19:8).

17. as with an east wind--literally, "I will scatter them,

as an east wind (scatters all before it)": a most violent wind

(Job 27:21;

Ps 48:7;

Isa 27:8).

Thirty-two manuscripts read (without as), "with an east

wind."

I will show them the back . . . not . . . face--just retribution: as

"they turned their back unto Me . . . not their face"

(Jer 2:27).

18.

(Jer 11:19).

Let us bring a capital charge against him, as a false prophet; "for

(whereas he foretells that this land shall be left without priests to

teach the law,

Mal 2:7;

without scribes to explain its difficulties; and without prophets to

reveal God's will), the law shall not perish from the prophet," &c.;

since God has made these a lasting institution in His church, and the

law declares they shall never perish

(Le 6:18; 10:11;

compare

Jer 5:12)

[GROTIUS].

the wise--scribes and elders joined to the priests. Perhaps they mean

to say, we must have right on our side, in spite of Jeremiah's words

against us and our prophets

(Jer 28:15, 16; 29:25, 32; 5:31);

"for the law shall not perish," &c. I prefer GROTIUS' explanation.

with . . . tongue--by a false accusation

(Ps 57:4; 64:3; 12:4; 50:19).

"For the tongue" (Margin), that is, for his speaking against us.

"In the tongue," that is, let us kill him, that he may speak no more

against us [CASTALIO].

19. Give heed--contrasted with, "let us not give heed"

(Jer 18:18).

As they give no heed to me, do Thou, O Lord, give heed to me,

and let my words at least have their weight with Thee.

20. In the particulars here specified, Jeremiah was a type of Jesus

Christ

(Ps 109:4, 5;

Joh 15:25).

my soul--my life; me

(Ps 35:7).

I stood before thee . . . to turn away thy wrath--so Moses

(Ps 106:23;

compare

Eze 22:30).

So Jesus Christ, the antitype of previous partial intercessors

(Isa 59:16).

21. pour out their blood by the force of the sword--literally, "by

the hands of the sword." So

Eze 35:5.

MAURER with JEROME

translates, "deliver them over to the power of the sword." But

compare

Ps 63:10,

Margin;

Isa 53:12.

In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were

his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of

the Spirit, ceasing to intercede, and speaking prophetically, knowing

they were doomed to destruction as reprobates; for those not so, he

doubtless ceased not to intercede. We are not to draw an example

from this, which is a special case.

put to death--or, as in

Jer 15:2,

"perish by the death plague" [MAURER].

men . . . young men--HORSLEY

distinguishes the former as

married men past middle age; the latter, the flower of

unmarried youth.

22. cry--by reason of the enemy bursting in: let their houses be no

shelter to them in their calamities [CALVIN].

digged . . . pit--

(Jer 18:20;

Ps 57:6; 119:85).

23. forgive not--

(Ps 109:9, 10, 14).

blot out--image from an account-book

(Re 20:12).

before thee--Hypocrites suppose God is not near, so long as they

escape punishment; but when He punishes, they are said to stand before

Him, because they can no longer flatter themselves they can escape His

eye (compare

Ps 90:8).

deal thus--exert Thy power against them [MAURER].

time of thine anger--Though He seems to tarry, His time shall come

at last

(Ec 8:11, 12;

2Pe 3:9, 10).