Look, before God I’m the same as you; I too am fashioned from clay. Job 33:6
Jeremiah 18 is probably one of the most popular chapters of this book, if not the most popular. Sermons have been preached, devotionals and blogs written, including one of my own titled “The Potter’s Hand”, songs have been written, images created and so on.
[1] This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: [2] “Get up and go down to the potter’s house; there I will tell you more.” [3] So I went down to the house of the potter; and there he was, working at the wheels. [4] Whenever a pot he made came out imperfect, the potter took the clay and made another pot with it, in whatever shape suited him. [5] Then the word of Adonai came to me; [6] “House of Isra’el, can’t I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? – says Adonai. Look! You, house of Isra’el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter’s hand.” Jeremiah 18:1-6
Let’s talk about clay for a moment. In Jeremiah’s time, the potter did not have access to Hobby Lobby, Amazon, or a supply store for his clay. I went to a website called www.biblearchaeology.org to find out about pottery making in biblical time. The following is from their site.
“After the clay was extracted from the ground, it was brought to the potter’s shop where it was prepared. Foreign objects (such as stones, sticks, etc.) were removed and usually water was added to soften the clay. Many times a tempering agent such as sand was added to make the clay more workable or to give it particular qualities desired by the potter. One of the potter’s assistants prepared the clay by kneading it with his feet.”
Just reading about the preparation of the clay, you see right away different things you can take away. When we have been extracted from our sin for the first time, or if we are needing to be reshaped or remade even after salvation, we are brought to Him to be prepared. If we are to be used for His glory, we must be prepared. Foreign objects, our sin, must be removed. The clay isn’t thrown onto the wheel with all this debris lumped up in it. Water, which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, is added to our hearts to soften them. As we become pliable, a tempering agent, which we can look at as the Word and instruction we are given from the Lord, makes us more workable and gives us particular qualities, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self-control. (The fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23) The last sentence in the paragraph brought a picture to mind of Yeshua and two different women.
[37] A woman who lived in that town, a sinner, who was aware that he was eating in the home of the Parush, brought an alabaster box of very expensive perfume, [38] stood behind Yeshua at his feet and wept until her tears began to wet his feet. Then she wiped his feet with her own hair, kissed his feet, and poured the perfume on them. Luke 7:37-38
[38] On their way Yeshua and his talmidim came to a village where a woman named Marta welcomed him into her home. [39] She has a sister called Miryam who also sat at the Lord’s feet and heard what he had to say. [40] But Marta was busy with all the work to be done; so, going up to him, she said, “Sir, don’t you care that my sister has been leaving me to do all the work by myself?” [41] However, the Lord answered her, “Marta, Mara, you are fretting and worrying about so many things! [42] But there is only on thing that is essential. Miryam has chosen the right thing, and it won’t be taken away from her.”
It is at the feet of Yeshua we are ultimately prepared. It is at His feet that we find the right thing, salvation. It is at the feet of Yeshua that we find that perfect shalom, because He is Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace.
Now that we have looked at our likeness to the clay, let us turn our attention to the potter’s wheel. This wheel was made from two stone disks that were horizontal with a support between the two and they would revolve one above the other. When we dig deeper into the word meaning potter’s wheel in the Hebrew, it is there that we discover a profound mystery. Oben אבן, does not just mean wheel, disk or potter’s wheel, it also means birthing stool, or mid-wife’s stool. At first glance, it is hard to imagine what one has to do with the other, but when we analyze the letters that make up oben, we can see the mystery unfold before us. Oben is spelled with the letters Aleph, Bet, and Nun in its final form. Aleph meaning Adoani, Bet means house, creation, or place of beginning, and Nun means emergence. In the natural we are created by Adonai, our place of beginning is in the womb, and then we emerge into this world. When we are born again, Adonai gives us a new beginning, makes us a new creation, and we emerge in Him spiritually. We are born of the Spirit, and our birthing place is on that potter’s wheel, the birthing stool of the Most High God.
[3] “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” [4] Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time? [5] Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. [6] What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is Spirit. [7] Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! [8] The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.” [16] For Go so loved he world that he gave his only and unique Son so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. John 3:3-8,16
In chapter 19, Adonai instructed Jeremiah to buy a clay jar from the potter and to take some of the people’s leaders and some of the leading priests to go into the Ben-Hinnom Valley by the entry to the Potsherd Gate. (V1-2) Ben-Hinnom meaning son of lamentation or wailing, was a valley southwest of Jerusalem and has references to the sacrificing of children by fire to Ba’al.
[3] Say: ‘Hear the word of Adonai, kings of Y’hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el says: “I am about to bring disaster on this place that make the ears of whoever hears about it ring. [4] This is because they have abandoned me and alienated this place. In it they have offered to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors have known, nor the kings of Y’hudah. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people. [5] They have built the high places of Ba’al, in order to burn up their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba’al – something I never ordered or said; it never even entered my mind. Jeremiah 19:3-5
This word came with another object lesson. Jeremiah was to take the clay jar and smash it in front of all the people who were with him and say, “Adonai-Tzva’ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter’s vessel beyond the possibility of repair.” (v11) “I am bringing on this city and all its surrounding villages all the disaster I have pronounced against it; because they have stiffened their necks and refused to pay attention to my words.” (v15)
Upon hearing what Jeremiah had spoken, the priest Pash’chur, chief official (and false prophet) in the house of Adonai had him flogged and put into stocks at the Upper Binyamin Gate. The following morning, when Pash’chur led Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah not only doubled down on this massage about the Babylonian invasion and captivity, but he also had a specific message for this priest and his friends. “Adonai no longer calls you Pash’chur (meaning freedom) but Magor-Missaviv (“terror on every side”). [4] For this is what Adonai says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, while you watch. I will have over all of Y’hudah to the king of Bavel, and he will carry them off captive to Bavel and put them to the sword. [5] Moreover, I will hand over everything stored in this city, all is valuables, all its wealth, indeed all the treasures of the kings of Y’hudah, to their enemies, who will plunder them, take them and carry them to Bavel. [6] And you, Pash’chur, along with your entire household will go into captivity; you will go to Bavel, where you will die and be buried – you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.” Jeremiah 20:4-6
Chapter 20 closes out with a prayer which represents Jeremiah’s lowest point. The CJSB points out that he is not complaining, but rather trying to assess his calling as a prophet. In the midst of his distress, he continues to acknowledge that Adonai is with him. [11] But Adonai is with me like a dreaded warrior; so my persecutors will stumble, defeated, greatly ashamed because of their failure; their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten. [12] Adonai-Tzva’ot, you who test the righteous and see people’s hearts and thoughts, let me see you take vengeance on them for I have committed my cause to you. [13] Sing to Adonai! Praise Adonai! For he rescues those in need from the clutches of evildoers. Jeremiah 20:11-13
“Adonai-Tzva’ot, you who test the righteous and see people’s hearts and thoughts”. This line brought me back to the clay we spoke of in the beginning. Before whatever vessel the potter had made could be used or sold, it had to put into the kiln or furnace to complete it. This sets and tests the integrity of the vessel. We too find ourselves tested, examined, tried, and proved. Bachan (baw-khan) is used both literally and metaphorically of God’s testing of people. He will examine our hearts and our thoughts, as well as put our feet to the fire (pun intended) and prove us. We will face multiple tests in our walk and will pass some and fail others. The good new is there are make-up tests, and His mercies are new every morning. We can also rejoice, knowing we have the ultimate study guide, the Bible, and it gives us the answers on how to pass every test that we will face. [2] Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations; [3] for you know that the testing of your trust (faith) produces perseverance. [4] But let perseverance do its complete work; so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4
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