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,
God tells Jeremiah to buy a clay flask and to walk out of the city with a group of elders and priests beside him. The errand looks small. But why does the prophet who watched soft clay on a wheel in the last chapter now carry a finished, fired pot?
The Errand and Its Setting
The verse opens one connected action: buy the flask, take witnesses, go, and speak.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe was to get a potter's earthen bottle, accompanied by elders and priests, and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom. There he should proclaim the words the LORD would breathe into him.
The destination is not neutral ground. The valley carries one meaning, and that meaning reaches past Jeremiah's own day.
William KellyIn Jeremiah 19 we have the sign of the potter's earthen vessel further developed. Now the valley of the son of Hinnom comes into view, and it always signals judgment. Tophet points to the great judgment which the Lord will carry out when He Himself comes. It is not merely a place of execution by man.
Soft Clay, Then Fired Pottery
Chapter 18 and chapter 19 are two stages, not the same lesson twice. In the first, the clay could still be worked.
Michael HardtThings had gone wrong with Israel. Idolatry had become prevalent. The vessel had been marred. But the clay was still soft. There was still time to turn to God.
That is what changes in chapter 19. Now Jeremiah must buy a finished vessel instead of watching one take shape.
Michael HardtThis time it is not clay that can still be formed but an earthen vessel that has been hardened in the fire. It can only be broken. The message is clear and solemn. There is a time when discipline can be accepted and bring profit. There is also a time when it is too late. The warning not to harden the heart applies.
The Valley of Hinnom
Jeremiah goes to a valley with a history. One writer names what had happened there.
Michael HardtThis time his task is to buy an earthen vessel. He must take some of the elders of the people with him and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom. This dreadful place was famous for idolatry: people sent their children through the fire and sacrificed them to Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10).
The old names for the place would give way to a worse one. News of the judgment would travel far beyond the valley.
H J VineHere is the solemn sign that the city, its surroundings and its people will be punished in public for their sin and idolatry. Others will hear of it, and their ears will tingle. So it becomes a powerful witness to how terrible sin is. Even the vile names Tophet and Hinnom were not strong enough for the place of their punishment. It should be called "The valley of slaughter."
Why Elders and Priests Are Summoned
The witnesses are the leaders — the very people who might think their standing protected them.
The Christian's FriendThe parable of the potter, in Jeremiah 18 and 19, was meant to teach Israel one thing. They had been brought into covenant, yet they were still within the range and reach of God's judgments. Those judgments would overtake them because of their sins. In Jeremiah's day they would say, "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these."
Acted signs run right through Jeremiah's ministry, and each one came true.
H J VineStriking signs like the girdle were fulfilled exactly. The potter's vessel of Jeremiah 18 and the earthen vessel of Jeremiah 19 were fulfilled in the same way. We know how all this came to pass. It happened in a way that leaves no room to question either what God foretold or how He carried it out.
What the Flask Says to Us
The two vessels speak past Jeremiah's day to anyone reading now. One writer draws two lines from them at once.
Michael HardtThese first two symbolic incidents (the clay and the vessel) have a solemn application to unbelievers as well. There is an acceptable time when God gives an opportunity to repent. But once the heart is hardened, or death comes, it is too late. The inevitable result is the smashing of the potter's vessel. Yet the same principle applies to discipline — and this appears to be the primary thought here.
Summary
- Clay — chapter 18 showed a marred vessel still soft on the wheel; while the clay yields, there is still time to turn to God.
- Kiln — chapter 19 begins with a bought, fired flask. Fired clay cannot be reshaped, only broken. Discipline has a season, and that season can close.
- Witnesses — elders of the people and of the priests come along to watch. The men who trusted in "the temple of the LORD" had to learn that a covenant puts no one beyond judgment.
- Valley — Jeremiah takes the sign to the valley where they had burned children to Molech. The site of Israel's worst sin becomes the site of its sentence: "The valley of slaughter."
- Fulfilment — Jeremiah's acted signs came true to the letter. God's warning and His way of keeping it leave no room for doubt.