CHAPTER 19

(605 B.C.)

THE LESSON FROM THE BROKEN POTTERY

¹Thus says the LORD, Go and get a potters earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the Priests (the earthen bottle was a bottle made of clay, and, therefore, easily broken. Jeremiah was to take this earthen bottle to the ancients of the people, and the ancients of the Priests, and, after pronouncing judgment, break the bottle in their sight, symbolizing therewith the breaking and destruction of Judah and Jerusalem);

²And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you (it was to this valley, its worm, and its fire to which our Lord pointed when preaching about Hell; but He added that in that dread place [Hell] the worm should not die nor the fire be quenched, because that on which they feed shall never be annihilated; thereby will Hell be different from the valley of Hinnom [Mk. 9:48]),

³And say, Hear you the Word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever hears, his ears shall tingle. (The implication is that the king[s] would enjoy no more respite than the people. As one, so the other! Therefore, no deal could be struck with the king of Babylon ensuring the safety of the Nobles.

I will bring evil, refers to the sovereignty and ability of God, which are unlimited. It speaks of His total control over all things. Nebuchadnezzar, the heathen monarch, would think the plan is his; but, in reality, he was but a tool!)

⁴Because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents (And have estranged this place, means to devote their worship to strange divinities. And have filled this place with the blood of innocents, is chilling indeed! It referred to the slaughter of little children, offered up in sacrifice to Moloch);

⁵They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind (the Spirit of God in Jeremiah, as afterwards in Christ, did not hesitate to repeat His Messages, so Verses 5 through 6 repeat 7:31-32):

⁶Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. (The valley of slaughter referred to this same valley of Hinnom, where these awful human sacrifices were carried out. As they had made it a valley of slaughter, God would now make it a valley of slaughter, and even on a far greater scale! Jesus plainly said, With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again [Mat. 7:2].)

⁷And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them who seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the Earth. (The counsel of Judah and Jerusalem was their plan to defeat the Chaldeans by means of the Egyptian alliance. But, in that very valley of Hinnom, the folly of that plan would be demonstrated by the appalling slaughter carried out by the Chaldeans on the men who made it. There were they justly punished for the blood of the tortured children burned alive in sacrifice to Moloch. Such cruelty to children, especially by Gods chosen People, never was contemplated by the loving heart of God.)

⁸And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. (The response to Jeremiahs Message was met with hissing; therefore, the Lord would make this city an hissing.)

⁹And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they who seek their lives, shall straiten them. (This Ninth Verse is quoted almost verbatim from Deut. 28:53. The words, in the siege, refer to the coming siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. As a result, the city was shut up tight, with no traffic coming in or out. The food, therefore, quickly ran out!)

¹⁰Then shall you break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you (once again, the Lord will use apt symbolism to make His point!; the breaking of the bottle signified the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem that was soon to come),

¹¹And shall say unto them, Thus s ays the LORD of Hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potters vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. (By using this type of vessel, the Lord portrays to Judah and Jerusalem their utter worthlessness as far as He was concerned! Conversely, they no doubt had a very high opinion of themselves.

That cannot be made whole again, refers to the utter destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. In fact, they have never been whole from that day until this!)

¹²Thus will I do unto this place, says the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:

¹³And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. (The worship of the host of heaven was especially forbidden in Deut. 4:19. These other gods were either Baal or a derivative of Baal, such as Chemosh, etc.)

¹⁴Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORDs House; and said to all the people (Jeremiah, having finished his mission in the valley of Hinnom, now goes, according to the direction of the Lord, to the court of the LORDs House. This is at the Temple. The Holy Spirit, no doubt, desires to draw attention to the fact that while the people are pouring out drink offerings unto other gods, they are also worshipping Jehovah in the Temple! In their minds, because of doing this, they are even more religious; but in Gods Mind, they are abominable!),

¹⁵Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear My Words. (To harden the neck in order not to hear means to refuse to turn the head to a speaker so as to listen to him. Consequently, Jeremiahs words fell upon deaf ears. They ignored him as if he was not there.)