Truth and Consequences:
A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah
Chapter 18
By Bob Mendelsohn
Given 22 April 2022
Lesson Eighteen (of 52): Potter’s wheels and “prayer”
INTRODUCTION
Thank you, friends, for joining us today here in the Zoom room, as we unpack chapter 18 of Jeremiah. Let’s dig into it and find out what God has to say to us as 21st Century people wherever you live and for those on YouTube, from wherever and whenever you are watching.
Today we learn about a potter’s wheel and about imprecatory prayer. That phrase may be new to you, but the driving spirit is not new to you. We’ll talk about it in detail through the reading of this chapter and we will listen, deeply listen, to the heart of the prophet.
Let’s dig in.
1. Judah on the potter’s wheel (18.1-17)
Verse one. God sends Jeremiah on a show-and-tell mission, to visit a home and watch a workman work. The object lesson which follows concerns a potter who is working on the wheel. You might already know how this occurs. A potter takes a lump of clay and kneads it with his hands while his feet are pumping and the wheel is turning. Actually at least one wheel, probably two parallel stone wheels. They would have been joined by a single shaft.
The story is that the clay, in a way, resisted the moulding by the potter, and the product, the vessel that the potter was making, was ruined. If that happens, the potter simply adds more water to the lump and strongly remoulds the vessel, remoulds the lump actually, into a new product. Do you remember working with play-dough? It’s the same process although more particular and much more skilful.
Apparently, this was a lesson to Jeremiah about God being the potter and Israel being the clay. He wanted to mould us into an object for public use or for representation of his character or his person to the rest of the world. And the takeaway for Jeremiah is that God was disappointed with Judah and had to refashion us.
This seems a regular theme in the Scriptures. Moses and God had a discussion about Israel being resistant to the Lord and God wanted to wipe them out and restart a new community using Moses, not Abraham, as the father of the new people. Moses rejected that one. (Exodus 32, Numbers 14)
Isaiah certainly had much to say in comparing Israel with a lump of potter’s creations. (29.16, 30.14, 41.25, 64.8), and Jeremiah will again address this in next week’s episode and in the book of Lamentations (19.1, .11, Lam. 4.2). Daniel and Zechariah also add to the metaphorical usage in the OT.
The Newer Testament makes mention of this scene in Revelation (2.27) but is most famously used by Rabbi Saul (the Apostle Paul) in his letter to the Romans in chapter 9. Let’s visit that one in a few moments.
First, let me highlight a couple of Hebrew words at the opening of the chapter. Verse 2. There I will ‘announce’ my words to you. But the Hebrew is from Sh’ma, meaning to hear. In God’s announcement, he both hears and invites the listener, Jeremiah, to hear, what God has to say. I take this on board every time I open the Bible to teach others. I want to learn as well.
Another phrase is the one in verse 4 about the pleasure of the potter. The word is ‘yashar’ that usually means ‘smooth’ but has by extension come to mean ‘pleased’ and that makes sense in light of the artisan making a new product and it turns out very well. As a bonus, not related to our study today, look at Psalm 17. The Hebrew word is not the same, but I ponder this one a lot.
“As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness;
I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake. (Psalm 17.15)
Turn those phrases a bit, will you? “I will be satisfied when I awake with your likeness.” Today, I’m content (1 Tim. 6.6), now, but not yet satisfied. I will be satisfied one day. That day? When I awake to look like Yeshua. When will that be? See 1 John 3.
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” (1 John 3.2)
That’s just a bonus for those who are learning this chapter with us today.
Back to the potter’s wheel. One more Hebrew word. Verse 4. The word ‘spoiled’ Shachat in Hebrew. The same verb is used about the linen waistcloth or skirt in chapter 13 that Jeremiah was told to buy and bury in the dirt. The same despoilment that happened to the skirt is happening to the pot, and God is showing Jeremiah the ruin in the Jewish people and it is complete. It is irreparable as is. A new thing has to be produced. Something maybe similar but different.
Now on the Pauline comment in Romans 9.
It stems from this notion of the sovereignty of God. Found in verse 18
“So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”
Paul uses Pharaoh as an example and the stumbling stone (Heb: even; same as in the potter’s ‘wheel’= even) will trip up the Jewish people who do not seek God by faith. The issue in Romans 9 is that God will do whatever he wants to do and that he CAN do so because he is the potter. There are people who submit to his moulding and they succeed. There are people who resist the moulding and they fail.
Paul says that those who resist cannot say to the potter, ‘why did you make me like this?”(9.20) The issue is always the same throughout the Scriptures: we are sinful and choose our own way. And when that happens, the potter has the right, and dare we say, the obligation to start over and reboot. He can and we sometimes think he SHOULD wipe out the resistant clay.
But here’s the glory of God. He saves some. He expresses his kindness again and again, even
“God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.” (9.22-24)
The glory of God is manifest in the salvation of people, all people, who were destined for a sad and hopeless ending, and yet, in his mercy, God saved us. What an awesome God we have. What hope everyone who TODAY puts their trust in him can experience!
Back to our Jeremiah text. Verses 5 and following, God says I can do what I want. If I have promised penalty to the disobedient AND THEY REPENT, then I can have mercy. (as he also said in Romans 9 and Hosea!) And similarly if I have promised good and the people live wrongly, I can pour out judgment on that people.
Weirsbe says of this, “God neither changes in character nor needs to repent of his actions, but he has the sovereign freedom to alter his actions depending on the responses of the people.” (page 99)
Similarly Chris Wright concludes this section with a comparison with Isaiah’s use of the metaphor.
“We should not jump to equate it with what Isaiah has to say using the same imagery. Isaiah’s point is that it is ludicrous to imagine clay questioning or criticizing a potter’s work, so Israel has no right to disagree with God’s plan to use Cyrus as his agent of redemption; God is sovereign. Jeremiah’s point is different. He is not so much focusing on the sovereign will of the potter, as on the responsibility of the clay and on God’s freedom to change his plans according to what the clay does.” (page 212)
The conclusion of this story is in verse 11. What is nationally true of Judah on the potter’s wheel now becomes personal in each individual Israelite. The application has to be one by one. We already know that Judah is going into captivity. That’s been clear all along. But what about Mrs Goldberg or Shimon bar Yoseph or any individual Jewish person? What will YOU do in light of the reboot of the Jewish people?
וְחֹשֵׁ֥ב עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם מַֽחֲשָׁבָ֑ה שׁ֣וּבוּ נָ֗א אִ֚ישׁ מִדַּרְכּ֣וֹ הָֽרָעָ֔ה וְהֵיטִ֥יבוּ דַרְכֵיכֶ֖ם
I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan (thinking a thought) against you. Oh turn back, each (ISH) of you from his evil way, and reform your ways
The word ISH stands out. The rabbis use trope marks (ta’amim) to help us cantillate and learn more about the readings. And here the Y’tiv trop is used. It’s like a single yelp of a dog. It’s like a YO in Philadelphia. It’s a ‘don’t miss this one.’ And as such it stands out to me. ONE MAN. It’s a call to individual responsibility to live for God, to honour God in your own life. And to ‘make good’ (reform) your ways. From one bad way to the good way.
Let me be very clear how one goes from the bad way to the good way.
It’s NOT in behaviour. It’s not in mitzvot. It’s not in fasting or in prayer. It’s not in religion, not at all!
The answer is the potter’s wheel. The ‘bad way’ is the way of resistance. Think of Satan who opposes the good way. He resists it. To resist is to ‘stand against’ something. The clay that resists is the clay that refuses to be moulded. The clay that succeeds is the clay that allows. That is a picture of the biblical use of ‘faith’ and ‘trust’ in God.
The clay doesn’t perform until much later. When it becomes an object for ordinary or spectacular usage. The key in this passage and dare I say in the entire biblical narrative is that the faith-filled clay is the one who allows and does not resist the potter. Give yourself to the Lord, allow him to shape and re-shape you to his purposes. Then when you awake in his likeness you will be satisfied. Amen?
Wright uses the term “responsive sovereignty” to explain this God / potter/ wheel/ clay reality. (page 213)
Five times in this section (18.11, .12, .18, 23, 19.7) the use of the word Machsh’vot (thoughts/ plans) make this one unit of Jeremiah’s thoughts. The book of Proverbs says, “ as a man thinks within himself, so he is.” (23.7) That was used 100 years ago by a British self-help writer (James Allen), but I’m using it here to highlight Jeremiah saying this to Judah: “Come on folks, get this right. Think right. Believe right. Work with me here. This can change for you!” But the people of the prophet turn on him.
As a result, he turns on them.
2. Imprecatory prayer (the curse) 18.18-23
The second part of our chapter today is actually the 5th of Jeremiah’s personal laments so far in the book. There is more to come. (11.18-23, 12.105, 15.10-18, 17.14-18, 20.7-18) Imprecatory prayer seems out-of-bounds to us in the New Covenant, but reality bites, you know. There is a cause that goes too far. In the same way that God is long-suffering, so is Jeremiah. But long-suffering is not eternally suffering. There comes an end to the suffering. The patience of anyone runs out in due course. And thus, here again, Jeremiah is at the end of his tether, the end of his patience, end of hope for Judah.
Look at the triple plot against our prophet. First they wanted to devise plans (machsh’vot) against him. A whispering campaign of propaganda, in order to create public rejection of what he is teaching. (verse 18) Second, they are going to take him to the court system and accuse (Oppose in verse 19) him legally. That takes it from gossip to a legal failing and thus ridicule religiously. Third and finally in verse 23, assassination is the final remedy of removing him from the scene.
Of note are two things. One the power structure they reference. The religion folks, the academics and the government. All are sources of confidence and assurance, even though Jeremiah says they are all wrong. To this day, we still gain our insights about life from wrong sources. God alone is to be trusted and we regularly have to adjust our minds and hearts to that.
The imprecatory prayer of verses 19 and following seems out of character with the Weeping Prophet, but it is not. His emotion is real. Be angry and yet do not sin, we read in Psalm 4 and again in Ephesians 4. There comes a time when you have had enough. You explode a bit or a lot, and then, please, the writers would say, don’t stay angry. Don’t remain in that emotion overnight. Don’t live there. James would caution.
The psalmists cry out with this unfair pain. (35, 58, 109) It’s as if he’s saying, “I worked so hard to be your kind of person, among them, and look how they treat me.” If Jeremiah didn’t care so much, he would have just walked away without incident, but his love and passion for Judah is evident and it caused even more pain.
The end: bring it on, God. Smash them. Ruin them. They deserve it. I’m done.
But dear friends on this Zoom call, and those who will watch this on YouTube later, this is not ‘the end.’ Our model is not Jeremiah who exploded in vile imprecation. Our new model is the gentle and lowly Messiah, Yeshua, who on being met with assassination attempts and emotional blackmail, of being dobbed in for punishment by those closest to him, turned and said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing.” Last week across the world we began Passover and it was also Good Friday. On that day Yeshua, our beloved one died on a Roman cross instead of bringing out the troops to self-defend. He could have called own myriads of angels and bring his enemies to despair. Instead, he died for our sins and took our punishment on himself. He heard gossip and ridicule, even legal dismissals, and yet, he loved us enough to go to the cross and die. For us. No imprecatory prayer by Yeshua. No rejection of his own. Hallelujah; what a Saviour!
CONCLUSION
God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? He is risen from the dead! Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life.
PRAYER
Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up.
We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 19. Until then, Shabbat shalom!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert, Albert Barnes’ Commentary on the Old Testament,
Craigie, Peter; Kelley, Page; Drinkard, Joel. Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah. 1991.
Henry, Matthew, Commentary.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Decisive. David Cook Publishers, Colorado Springs 1991.
Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.
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ACTUAL TEXT
Jer. 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 2 “Arise and ago down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the 1wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
Jer. 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the aclay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to auproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8 aif that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will 1brelent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9 “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to abuild up or to plant it; 10 if it does aevil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will 1bthink better of the good with which I had promised to 2bless it. 11 “So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am afashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh bturn back, each of you from his evil way, and 1reform your ways and your deeds.”’ 12 “But athey will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the bstubbornness of his evil heart.’
Jer. 18:13 “Therefore thus says the LORD,
‘aAsk now among the nations,
Who ever heard the like of 1this?
The bvirgin of Israel
Has done a most cappalling thing.
14 ‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?
Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?
15 ‘For aMy people have forgotten Me,
bThey burn incense 1to worthless gods
And they 2have stumbled 3from their ways,
3From the cancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
Not on a dhighway,
16 To make their land a adesolation,
An object of perpetual bhissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And cshake his head.
17 ‘Like an aeast wind I will bscatter them
Before the enemy;
I will 1show them cMy back and not My face
dIn the day of their calamity.’”
Jer. 18:18 Then they said, “Come and let us adevise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the blaw is not going to be lost to the priest, nor ccounsel to the sage, nor the divine dword to the prophet! Come on and let us estrike at him with our tongue, and let us fgive no heed to any of his words.”
Jer. 18:19 Do give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to 1what my opponents are saying!
20 aShould good be repaid with evil?
For they have bdug a pit for 1me.
Remember how I cstood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, agive their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the 1power of the sword;
And let their wives become bchildless and cwidowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their dyoung men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 May an aoutcry be heard from their houses,
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
bFor they have dug a pit to capture me
And chidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet You, O LORD, know
All their 1deadly designs against me;
aDo not 2forgive their iniquity
Or blot out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be 3boverthrown before You;
Deal with them in the ctime of Your anger!
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