Jeremiah 18
DOYLYVer. 1.—a potter’s earthen bottle.] An earthen pitcher with a narrow neck, made to drink from. W. Lowth. — the ancients] “The ancients of the people;” the members of the great Sanhedrim: compare chap. xxvi. 17; Ezek. viii. 11. “The ancients of the priests;” the heads of the four and twenty courses: see 1 Chron. xxiv. 4. W. Lowth. See the note on chap. xxvi. 10.
Jeremiah 18:2
2.— which is by the entry of the east gate.] The valley of Hinnom lay south of the temple. In the Hebrew it is the gate Harsith, which some interpret the dong gate, mentioned Sehem. ii. 13; others the potter’s gate; the potter’s field being near the temple. See Zech. xi. 13; Matt. xxvii. 10. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 18:3
3.— his ears shall tingle.] A scriptural phrase to denote uncommon astonishment. See 1 Sam. iii. 11; 2 Kings xxi. 12. Calmet.
Jeremiah 18:7
- At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, &c.] God does not threaten evil because He is resolved to inflict it; rather, He threatens it, that we may by our repentance prevent it, and so He may not inflict it. “He foretelleth,” saith St. Chrysostom, “what He will bring upon us, for this very purpose, that He may not bring it upon us; and warneth before He striketh, to make us careful to avoid the stroke.” God sends his servants, the Prophets, to threaten vengeance against sinners, not thereby to drive them from hope of mercy, but to draw them to repentance and humiliation. Nor is it to be accounted among the least of God’s mercies, that, when He might in his just displeasure overwhelm us in the very act of sin, yet He forbeareth and forewarneth, and foretelleth and threateneth us, before He punish; that, if we will take any warning, He may do better to us than He hath said, and not bring upon us what He hath threatened. Bp. Sanderson.
Jeremiah 18:8
- — I will repent of the evil] See the notes on Gen. vi. 6.
Jeremiah 18:10
- — I will repent of the good, &c.] From this and the foregoing verse we may infer, that God’s promises in Scripture, however uttered in general terms, are yet for the most part to be understood conditionally, according as men behave themselves, especially when applied to particular persons: see Numb. xiv. 34. And as God did justly reject those Jews who refused to embrace the Gospel, notwithstanding the general promises He had made to that people; so neither can particular Christians, nor churches, lay any claim to God’s general promise of preserving his Church, any further than as they adhere to that rule of faith and manners, which He hath prescribed to them in his holy word. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 18:11
- — return ye now every one from his evil way.] See the note on chap. xvii. 25.
hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
Jeremiah 18:15
- — have caused them to stumble in their ways &c.] The worship of idols hath perverted them from following the old beaten track, plainly set forth in the law of Moses, and in the examples and practice of former ages; see chap. vi. 16; and hath engaged them in such new and untried ways of worship, as will end in their utter ruin, ver. 16. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 18:17
- I will scatter them as with an east wind] The calamities of war and the like wasting judgments are elsewhere compared to an east wind, which is dry and blasting. See Isa. xxvii. 8; Ezek. xvii. 10; xix. 12; Hos. xiii. 15. W. Lowth.
— I will shew them the back, and not the face.] I
Jeremiah prayeth against his conspirators. JEREMIAH. Under the type of a potter’s vessel
Before CHRIST about 605. tongue. them out. will not so much as look upon them in their distress. Bp. Hall.
Jeremiah 18:18
- Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices &c.]
The people to whom Jeremiah had delivered his message from God, seem to have been incensed against him on much the same ground as the Jews were in aftertimes against our Saviour and his Apostles. They had persuaded themselves, that God had intended for them a perpetual establishment; and would accordingly provide them with a constant succession of men in all departments to preserve and maintain the general welfare; namely, priests to direct all matters of law and religion; who statesmen to manage their civil concerns; and prophets to make known to them the immediate will of God on all important and extraordinary occasions. Upon this presumption they inferred, that Jeremiah, who foretold the contrary, was a false prophet, and as such they determined to punish him. Dr. Blayney.
— let us smite him with the tongue. Let us raise slanders and accusations against him. Bp. Hall.
Jeremiah 18:20
- — they have digged a pit for my soul.] To entrap and destroy me; as men dig pits to ensnare wolves, bears, and other wild beasts. Calmet.
Jeremiah 18:21
- Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, &c.] Since they are thus incorrigible, I shall not any more intercede for them; but let them be overtaken by those calamities of fire and sword, with which thou hast threatened them. See chap. xvi. 4; and the note on chap. xi. 20. W. Lowth.
Chap. XIX. Under the type of breaking a potter’s vessel, Jeremiah, in the presence of the elders of the priests and people, foresheweth the ruin and desolation
their counsel against me † to slay me: before forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger. Before CHRIST about 605. death. # CHAP. XIX. Under the type of breaking a potter’s vessel is foreshewed the desolation of the Jews for their sins. THUS saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;