Friday - Jeremiah 19 - Pottery Lesson #2

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N chapter 18 we found the spiritual meaning behind the wet clay in Jeremiah's sermon illustration. In this chapter, the clay Jeremiah uses is already hard and dry. Naturally there is nothing wrong with clay being set and rigid. Once a piece of pottery has been formed just as was intended, it must be fired in an oven in order to become useful. Yet, what is to be done when clay has already been baked, and only afterward are the fatal flaws in the vessel discovered? In such cases, the clay becomes useless. Such was the plight of the Jews in Jeremiah's audience. They were only worth dashing in pieces like so many broken and worthless clay flowerpots.

As per God's instructions, Jeremiah went before the leaders of Jerusalem just to break "a potter's earthen bottle" before them as a spiritual lesson to them (Jeremiah 19:10-11). His message was, "Jehovah, the head of all armies, says this, 'In this way I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury."' It was a message of warning. God wanted them to realize that His threats were real, genuine, sincere and severe (Jeremiah 19:3). To describe what He had in mind for them, He chose the word "slaughter'' (Jeremiah 19:6) - Yikes! Was He being hyperbolic? I think not! He spoke of feeding them their own children (Jeremiah 19:9) and of feeding them to birds and to beasts (Jeremiah 19:7).  Their idolatry and stiff-necked rebellion were hatching out into a venomous serpent. The only solution was to break Jerusalem's neck.