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Scripture Reading: Jer. 18; Jer. 19; Jer. 20
The subject of this message is Jehovah as the Potter and Israel as the pottery. Jehovah is the Potter, and we, His chosen people, are the pottery in His hand.
As the Potter our God has the absolute right over us. Regarding us, He has the right to do whatever He likes. This thought is found not only in Jeremiah 18 through 20 but also in Romans 9. I believe that Paul was considering these chapters of Jeremiah as he was writing Romans 9 concerning God's sovereignty in His selection. In verse 21 he asks, "Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?" God, the Potter, certainly has such authority. His selection is according to His absolute right. He may choose one vessel and reject another. He has the full right to do anything in any way to His pottery.
From Jeremiah's word in 15:10—17:27, we can see that there was something within him that was different from God's thought regarding Israel. I believe that the feeling within Jeremiah was that God's judgment upon Israel was too severe. At least he was not satisfied with the situation. In a sense, he was arguing with God. Instead of arguing with God directly, Jeremiah argued indirectly by expressing his feeling to his mother, saying, "Woe is me, my mother, because you bore me, / A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land" (15:10a). This is a strong word. God did not give Jeremiah's mother an opportunity to respond but came in to speak with Jeremiah and even to argue with him. As God spoke to Jeremiah, He asked him, "Can one break iron, / Iron from the north, or bronze?" (v. 12). Here God was indicating that He was determined to use the Babylonians as iron to judge and punish Israel.
Following this section in which he tells of his experience of arguing with God, Jeremiah went on to write a section concerning Jehovah as the Potter and Israel as the pottery. This section makes it very clear that God is absolutely free to do whatever He desires to His people. He has the full right, just as a potter has the full right over the pottery. If we see this, we will be able to understand these three chapters.
Jeremiah 18:1-10 reveals Jehovah as the sovereign Potter, the One with the absolute right over His pottery.
Jehovah told Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house (vv. 1-2). Jeremiah saw that the potter was working and reworking the pottery at his wheel into another vessel, as it seemed good for him to make (vv. 3-4). This indicates that the potter has the full right to do whatever he desires with the clay.
Jehovah as the sovereign Potter is able to do with the house of Israel, as the clay in His hand, in changeable ways according to Israel's condition (vv. 6-10). Verse 6 says, "Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter does? declares Jehovah. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so you are in My hand, O house of Israel." This word to Israel was also a word to the prophet, a word that would clear up his concept. Jehovah seemed to be saying to Jeremiah, "Do not hinder Me from doing whatever I will to do with the house of Israel. Israel is clay in My hand, and I deal with them in changeable ways. Depending on their condition, I can punish them or exalt them."
Verses 11 through 23 speak of the evil condition of Israel. This word was God's further vindication of Himself to Jeremiah. Although God had the full right, He would not punish Israel in a way that was unfitting. Here Jehovah seemed to be telling Jeremiah, "I am not unwise in dealing with Israel, and neither am I doing something that is not fitting. Look at Israel's condition. If you consider their condition, you will agree with Me that they need to be punished."
Israel did not return and amend her ways but walked after her own devices and did according to the stubbornness of her evil heart (vv. 11b-12). This is God's vindication of Himself in light of Israel's evil condition.
As a virgin she did a very horrible thing — forgetting Jehovah and burning incense to vanity, to idols (vv. 13-15a). She had been a virgin betrothed to Jehovah, but she forsook Him, the reality as her fiancé, and turned to idols, which are vanity.
Israel had stumbled in her ways from the ancient paths, walking on bypaths, on a way not cast up (v. 15b). The ancient paths were the right paths, which their forefathers had taken. Whereas the right way, the ancient way, leads upward, the bypaths lead downward. To take the bypaths is to go downward; to take the ancient paths, a way that is cast up, is to go upward. In the Lord's recovery today, we are taking the upward way, the ancient paths, which the apostle Paul and the other apostles took.
Because of their evil condition, Israel made their land an astonishment, a thing to be hissed at, to be despised, forever (v. 16).
Furthermore, they plotted against Jeremiah. "Then they said, Come, let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest or counsel from the wise or a word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not hearken to any of his words" (v. 18). They contended with him and dug a pit for his life, having hidden snares for his feet and having made counsel against him for his death (vv. 19-20a, 22b-23a). How evil they were!
Originally, Jeremiah the prophet interceded for them. However, their opposition forced the prophet to turn his intercession for them before Jehovah to a curse upon them (vv. 19-23).
Israel also forced Jehovah to form evil and devise a plan against her (v. 11a). Thus, in verse 17 He said, "Like the east wind I will scatter them / Before the enemy; / I will show them My back and not My face / In the day of their calamity." I believe that all these evils should have convinced Jeremiah that God's judgment of Israel was right.
In 19:1-13 God showed Jeremiah that Israel was as a potter's earthenware jar which had been spoiled and needed to be broken.
The breaking of Israel as a potter's earthenware jar was illustrated in the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entrance of the potsherd gate (vv. 1-3). A potsherd is a fragment of broken pottery. Israel would be punished and broken by God into potsherds at the gate that leads into the valley of the son of Hinnom, a place where evil persons and things were burned.
This breaking would take place because of Israel's evils. Their evils included forsaking Jehovah, estranging this place from Him, burning incense in it to other gods, filling this place with the blood of the innocent, and building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal (vv. 4-5).
Verses 6 through 13 reveal that Jehovah wanted to break Israel as the potter's earthenware jar, to make the place of Judah and Jerusalem the valley of slaughter as the valley of Topheth for the burial of their corpses. He would make Jerusalem an astonishment and a hissing, and make her eat the flesh of her sons, daughters, and neighbors.
In 19:14 and 15 we have Jeremiah's repeated prophecy concerning Israel. This prophecy declares that the God of Israel is bringing evil upon Jerusalem and all its cities because they have stiffened their neck so as not to hear His words.
In 20:1-2, 7-10 we have a record of Israel's persecution of Jeremiah. They struck him, put him in the stocks, mocked him, reproached him, derided him, defamed him, and terrified him by denouncing and entrapping him. Israel surely did many evil things to the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 20:3-6 speaks concerning Jehovah's dealing with Israel. Jehovah will give all Judah and all its wealth, all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will exile them to Babylon and strike them with the sword.
In 20:11-18 we have Jeremiah's accusation against Israel and his cursing of his birthday.
In his accusation against Israel, Jeremiah asked Jehovah to let him see His vengeance on Israel. Jeremiah was assured that Jehovah was with him like a mighty one who terrifies and that his persecutors would stumble and not prevail. They would be greatly ashamed, having an eternal humiliation that would not be forgotten (v. 11). Then he went on to say, "Jehovah of hosts, who tries the righteous, / Who sees the inward parts and the heart, / Let me see Your vengeance on them, / For I have revealed my cause to You. / Sing to Jehovah; / Praise Jehovah; / For He has delivered the soul of the poor / From the hand of the evildoers" (vv. 12-13).
Immediately after accusing Israel Jeremiah cursed his birthday (vv. 14-18). Verses 14 and 15 say, "Cursed be the day / On which I was born; / Let not the day be blessed / On which my mother bore me. / Cursed be the man who brought good news / To my father, saying, / A male child has been born to you, / Causing him much joy." Jeremiah concluded his cursing of his birthday by saying, "Why is this? Did I come out from the womb / To see trouble and sorrow, / That my days may be spent in shame?" (v. 18). As a man of God, Jeremiah would never curse God; neither would he curse God's people. But he exercised the right to curse himself.
Why did Jeremiah curse his birthday? The answer is that he was in a dilemma and that this dilemma forced him to curse his birthday. Jeremiah's dilemma was of three factors. The first factor was God's determination to punish Israel severely. The second factor was Israel's evil condition, which was deserving of God's punishment. The third factor was Israel's rejection of Jeremiah's word and their persecution of him. Because of these three factors Jeremiah had no way to go on and therefore cursed his birthday.
As we consider Jeremiah's situation, we realize that to speak for God is not an easy thing. God always determines what we must speak. If we go along with Him, we will offend people. Eventually, some will defame us, speak lies about us, and even set traps to ensnare us. A faithful servant who speaks for God will always be in such a dilemma.
