1 Thus said Jehovah, `Go, and thou hast got a potter's earthen vessel, and of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests,
Rise, and thou hast gone down `to' the potter's house, and there I cause thee to hear My words; and I go down `to' the potter's house, and lo, he is doing a work on the stones, and marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he hath turned and he maketh it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.
and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel -- and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst -- are standing before them, and each his censer in his hand, and the abundance of the cloud of perfume is going up. And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath forsaken the land?'
and there are found of the sons of Eleazar more for heads of the mighty men than of the sons of Ithamar; and they distribute them: Of the sons of Eleazar, heads for a house of fathers, sixteen; and of the sons of Ithamar, for a house of their fathers, eight. And they distribute them, by lots, one with another, for princes of the sanctuary, and princes of God, have been of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar. And Shemaiah son of Nethaneel the scribe, of the Levites, writeth them before the king and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and heads of the fathers, for priests and for Levites: one house of a father being taken possession of for Eleazar, and one being taken possession of for Ithamar.
`And thou hast broken the bottle before the eyes of the men who are going with thee, and hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Thus do I break this people and this city, as one breaketh the potter's vessel, that is not able to be repaired again, and in Tophet they bury -- without place to bury;
And in like manner also the chief priests mocking, with the scribes and elders, said, `Others he saved; himself he is not able to save! If he be King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 19
Commentary on Jeremiah 19 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 19
Jer 19:1-15. The Desolation of the Jews for Their Sins Foretold in the Valley of Hinnom; the Symbol of Breaking a Bottle.
Referred by Maurer, &c., to the beginning of Zedekiah's reign.
1. bottle—Hebrew, bakuk, so called from the gurgling sound which it makes when being emptied.
ancients—elders. As witnesses of the symbolic action (Jer 19:10; Isa 8:1, 2), that the Jews might not afterwards plead ignorance of the prophecy. The seventy-two elders, composing the Sanhedrim, or Great Council, were taken partly from "the priests," partly from the other tribes, that is, "the people," the former presiding over spiritual matters, the latter over civil; the seventy-two represented the whole people.
2. valley of the son of Hinnom—or Tophet, south of Jerusalem, where human victims were offered, and children made to pass through the fire, in honor of Molech.
east gate—Margin, "sun gate," sunrise being in the east. Maurer translates, the "potter's gate." Through it lay the road to the valley of Hinnom (Jos 15:8). The potters there formed vessels for the use of the temple, which was close by (compare Jer 19:10, 14; Jer 18:2; Zec 11:13). The same as "the water gate toward the east" (Ne 3:26; 12:37); so called from the brook Kedron. Calvin translates, as English Version and Margin. "It was monstrous perversity to tread the law under foot in so conspicuous a place, over which the sun daily rising reminded them of the light of God's law."
3. The scene of their guilt is chosen as the scene of the denunciation against them.
kings—the king and queen (Jer 13:18); or including the king's counsellors and governors under him.
tingle—as if struck by a thunder peal (1Sa 3:11; 2Ki 21:12).
4. (Isa 65:11).
estranged this place—devoted it to the worship of strange gods: alienating a portion of the sacred city from God, the rightful Lord of the temple, city, and whole land.
nor their fathers—namely, the godly among them; their ungodly fathers God makes no account of.
blood of innocents—slain in honor of Molech (Jer 7:31; Ps 106:37).
5. commanded not—nay, more, I commanded the opposite (Le 18:21; see Jer 7:31, 32).
6. no more … Tophet—from Hebrew, toph, "drum"; for in sacrificing children to Molech drums were beaten to drown their cries. Thus the name indicated the joy of the people at the fancied propitiation of the god by this sacrifice; in antithesis to its joyless name subsequently.
valley of slaughter—It should be the scene of slaughter, no longer of children, but of men; not of "innocents" (Jer 19:4), but of those who richly deserved their fate. The city could not be assailed without first occupying the valley of Hinnom, in which was the only fountain: hence arose the violent battle there.
7. make void the counsel—defeat their plans for repelling the enemy (2Ch 32:1-4; Isa 19:3; 22:9, 11). Or their schemes of getting help by having recourse to idols [Calvin].
in this place—The valley of Hinnom was to be the place of the Chaldean encampment; the very place where they looked for help from idols was to be the scene of their own slaughter.
8. (See on Jer 18:16).
9. (De 28:53; La 4:10).
10. break … bottle—a symbolical action, explained in Jer 19:11.
the men—the elders of the people and of the priests (Jer 19:1; compare Jer 51:63, 64).
11. as one breaketh a potter's vessel—expressing God's absolute sovereignty (Jer 18:6; Ps 2:9; Isa 30:14, Margin; La 4:2; Ro 9:20, 21).
cannot be made whole again—A broken potter's vessel cannot be restored, but a new one may be made of the same material. So God raised a new Jewish seed, not identical with the destroyed rebels, but by substituting another generation in their stead [Grotius].
no place to bury—(Jer 7:32).
12. make this city as Tophet—that is, as defiled with dead bodies as Tophet.
13. shall be defiled—with dead bodies (Jer 19:12; 2Ki 23:10).
because of all the houses—Rather, (explanatory of the previous "the houses … and … houses"), "even all the houses," &c. [Calvin].
roofs—being flat, they were used as high places for sacrifices to the sun and planets (Jer 32:29; 2Ki 23:11, 12; Zep 1:5). The Nabateans, south and east of the Dead Sea, a nation most friendly to the Jews, according to Strabo, had the same usage.
14. court of the Lord's house—near Tophet; the largest court, under the open air, where was the greatest crowd (2Ch 20:5).
15. her towns—the suburban villages and towns near Jerusalem, such as Bethany.