Jeremiah 19
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER ELEVEN
I. Facts to Master
The place to which Jeremiah is directed to go (Jeremiah 18:2).
That which Israel was in the hand of God (Jeremiah 18:6).
The response of Israel to the prophet’s call for repentance (Jeremiah 18:12).
The figure by which the prophet illustrates the unnaturalness of Israel’s apostasy (Jeremiah 18:14).
The nature of another plot against Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:18).
That which Jeremiah is now commanded to purchase (Jeremiah 19:1).
The place where the action parable was to take place (Jeremiah 19:2).
That which Jeremiah was to do with the bottle after he preached his sermon (Jeremiah 19:10).
Two acts of worship to the astral deities (Jeremiah 19:13).
The place of defilement and death which Jerusalem will shortly resemble (Jeremiah 19:12).
Name of the chief officer of the temple who smote Jeremiah and put him in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2).
Location of the stocks and length of time Jeremiah spent there (Jeremiah 20:2-3).
New name given to Pashur and significance of that name (Jeremiah 20:3).
Fate of Pashur (Jeremiah 20:6).
That of which Jeremiah accuses God (Jeremiah 20:7 RSV).
- That which Jeremiah felt within himself whenever he tried to resign from his prophetic ministry (Jeremiah 20:9).
II. Questions to Ponder
What is the basic lesson that Jeremiah learned in the house of the potter? Where does the analogy of the potter and clay break down?
What bypaths have this modern generation chosen above the ancient paths of fidelity to God? In what sense is the road that leads to destruction a broad and smooth way and in what sense is it an ill-defined and unprepared way?
What is meant by the expression I will show them the back and not the face.? Jeremiah 18:17.
How were the people of Judah rendering to Jeremiah evil for good? See Jeremiah 18:20.
Is Jeremiah 18:21 a petition or a recognition of the inevitable? Can you cite other examples of this type of verse in the Old Testament? Are Jeremiah 18:21-23 the cry of a vengeful spirit?
How are the words eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters to be interpreted? Jeremiah 19:9.
What was the significance of the smashed bottle? Jeremiah 19:11.
Was Pashur a priest or a prophet? See Jeremiah 20:1; Jeremiah 20:6.
In what respect did Jeremiah feel that God had deceived him? Jeremiah 20:7-8.
Jeremiah experienced discouragement and even despair during his ministry, yet he did not quit! Why do so many leave the Gospel ministry today?
Why did Jeremiah become so discouraged? Jeremiah 20:10.
How does Jeremiah’s confidence shine through the gloom of despair? Jeremiah 20:11-13.
In Jeremiah 20:14-18 does Jeremiah lapse back into despair or could these verses be assigned to another occasion?
Why did Jeremiah curse the day of his birth? Jeremiah 20:15-18.
Jeremiah 19:1-9
III. THE BROKEN VESSEL Jeremiah 19:1 to Jeremiah 20:6
In the parable of the potter and his clay the point was the possibility of remaking a vessel which has not met with approval; in chapter 19 the emphasis is on the destruction of a vessel which proves useless. Jeremiah first gathers the elders of the people and takes them to the edge of the valley of Hinnom and preaches to them (Jeremiah 19:1-9). He dramatically illustrated his message by smashing a clay vessel before them (Jeremiah 19:10-13). Returning to the Temple Jeremiah attempted to deliver the same message but was arrested (Jeremiah 19:14 to Jeremiah 20:6).
A. The Message to the Elders Jeremiah 19:1-9
TRANSLATION
(1) Thus said the LORD: Go and acquire the clay vessel of a potter and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests (2) and go out unto the valley of the son Hinnom which is in front of the gate Harsith and proclaim there the words which I will speak unto you. (3) And you shall say, Hear 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 am about to bring calamity upon this place so that the ears of everyone who hears of it shall tingle. (4) Because they have forsaken Me and made this a foreign place by making offerings in it to other gods which they do not know, neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah; and they have filled this place with the blood of innocents. (5) And they have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as a burnt offering to Baal which I did not command nor did I speak of it nor did it enter My mind. (6) Therefore behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when this place will no longer be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. (7) And I will empty out 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 hand of those who seek their lives; and I will make their corpses food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the land. (8) And I will make this city a desolation and a hissing. Everyone who passes by shall be astonished and shall hiss over all the smiting she has suffered. (9) And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters and each man shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall administer to them.
COMMENTS
Jeremiah needed to make certain preparations before he preached his next message. First, he is told to purchase the clay vessel of a potter i.e., a vessel fashioned by a potter. Then he is told to gather the elders of the people and the elders of the priests to hear his message (Jeremiah 19:1). Just how Jeremiah secured the cooperation of these leaders is not indicated in the text. The exact location of this message is specified by the Lord. Jeremiah is to take his audience to the edge of the valley of Hinnom in front of the gate Harsith or gate of the potter (Jeremiah 19:2). The valley of Hinnom where human sacrifice had been practiced must surely have been a source of embarrassment to these leaders of the people. The gate at which the sermon was delivered got its name no doubt from the scraps of pottery which were thrown there. The ancient Aramaic Targum suggests that it was the dung gate through which the city rubbish was taken to be disposed of. The strange processionJeremiah and his bottle leading the ruling priests and civil authoritiesmust have attracted a curious crowd of onlookers as it made its way through the streets of Jerusalem toward the gate of the potter.
Jeremiah delivered a message of doom to that group of dignitaries. A calamity is about to fall upon the land so severe that when people hear of it their ears will tingle (Jeremiah 19:3). The figure of tingling ears is used in connection with threats of severe judgment (1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Kings 21:12) and probably represents the emotions of astonishment and fear. The word kings here, as in Jeremiah 17:20, seems to be used in the nontechnical sense for all the leaders of the nation. Jeremiah accuses his audience of making the city and land a heathen place by introducing foreign cults and practices and filling the land with the blood of innocents (Jeremiah 19:4). The blood of innocents may refer to the murder of those who opposed the wicked idolatry or it may refer to the children who were offered as sacrifices to the pagan gods. Certainly Jeremiah 19:5 makes it clear that children had been offered to Baal as burnt offerings (cf. Jeremiah 7:31). Such sacrifices were absolutely contrary to the will and purpose of the Lord. The term Baal is used loosely here for the god Molech, the pagan god who demanded child sacrifice. High places of Baal are to be distinguished from the high places of the Lord throughout the Old Testament. The former were always illegitimate places of worship. The latter became illegitimate after the building of Solomon’s Temple.
Jeremiah announces the judgment which is about to fall on Judah in language which he had used on a previous occasion (cf. Jeremiah 7:31-32). Pointing in the direction of that abominable valley Jeremiah declares that no longer will that place be called Topheth, i.e., fireplace; nor will it be known by the name of its former owner, Valley of Hinnom. Because of the great slaughter which will fall upon the land that valley will be used as a burial place for the dead and henceforth will be designated Valley of Slaughter (Jeremiah 19:6). God will empty out the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem. The verb translated empty out is derived from the same Hebrew root as the word for bottle in Jeremiah 19:1 and may have been chosen by the prophet for this reason. Perhaps Jeremiah slowly poured out the contents of the bottle as he referred to the emptying out of the counsel of Jerusalem. The word counsel points to worldly wisdom, counsel which is grounded in political expediency rather than in commitment to God. In particular Jeremiah has in mind the tangle of political alliances by which Judah thought to avoid enslavement to the Babylonian world power. No doubt the counselors in the royal court of Judah thought there was more benefit to be derived from treaties with foreign powers than from complete reliance on the power of God. But their counsel will fail. So many will fall by the sword of the enemy that burial will be impossible. The bodies of the fallen men of Judah will lie exposed to the birds and beasts of the land (Jeremiah 19:7). The city of Jerusalem will become such a desolation that all who pass by its ruins will hiss or whistle in astonishment at the extent of the devastation (Jeremiah 19:8). In the desperate hour of siege the last vestige of parental love shall disappear. People would resort to cannibalism. God had warned His people in the Law of Moses that they might be brought into such straits if they were unfaithful to Him (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53). At least one example of such cannibalism is recorded earlier during the siege of Samaria by Benhadad (2 Kings 6:28 ff.). This terrible picture of parents eating their own flesh and blood also appears in the writings of Jeremiah’s great contemporary Ezekiel (Ezekiel 5:10). The Book of Lamentations records the horrible fulfillment (Lamentations 4:10). Warned by the Law and by the prophets, yet the hardened men of Judah persisted in the apostasy which would bring upon them this terrible curse.
Jeremiah 19:10-13
B. The Symbolic Act and Its Interpretation Jeremiah 19:10-13
TRANSLATION
(10) Then you shall shatter the bottle in the presence of the men who are accompanying you (11) and you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Like this I will break this people and this city as the potter might break a vessel which can no longer be repaired; and they shall bury in Topheth because there will be no room for burial. (12) Thus will I do to this place (oracle of the LORD) and to its inhabitants even making this city as Topheth. (13) The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall become unclean like this place of Topheth, even all the houses where they offered incense upon their roofs to all the host of heaven and poured out libations to other gods.
COMMENTS
The smashing of the bottle here reminds one of the practice current in Egypt where the names of enemy nations were written on pots or jars which were then smashed. The idea behind the practice in Egypt involved sympathetic magic. The smashing of the bottle was magically transferred to the nations whose names were written on the jar. There is of course no thought of sympathetic magic here. Rather this act is illustrative and confirmatory. The prophet wished to dramatically make his point that the nation would be smashed as easily as the brittle Palestinian pottery is smashed when it falls to the ground. Jeremiah 19:11 is based on Jeremiah 7:32. The words are absent in the ancient Greek version though they are appropriate here. When the nation is broken the dead will be so numerous that even the unclean site of Topheth in the valley of Hinnom would have to be used for a burial site. Furthermore the entire city would become as Topheth (Jeremiah 19:12), unclean by virtue of the bones of human sacrifices and by virtue of the official desecration of king Josiah (2 Kings 23:10). The houses of Jerusalem upon which incense was offered and libations poured out to pagan gods would be desecrated by the dead bodies which would fall in the city (Jeremiah 19:13). The roofs of buildings were flat and could be used for various purposes including religious exercises. Several passages make mention of the fact that idolatry was practiced upon the roofs of the houses (Jeremiah 32:29; 2 Kings 23:12; Zephaniah 1:5). Tablets have been found at Ras Shamra in Syria containing a ritual to be followed in making offerings to the heavenly bodies upon the housetops.[214]
[214] Freedman, op. cit., p. 134.
Jeremiah 19:14-15
C. The Arrest of the Prophet Jeremiah 19:14 to Jeremiah 20:6
TRANSLATION
(14) And Jeremiah went from Topheth where the LORD had sent him to prophesy and he stood in the court of the house of the LORD and spoke unto all the people. (15) Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am about to bring against this city and against her cities all the evil which I have spoken concerning it for they have stiffened their neck that they might not hear My words. (1) Now Pashur the son of Immer, the priest who was chief overseer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. (2) Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks which were in the upper Benjamin Gate which was in the house of the Lord. (3) And it came to pass the next morning that Pashur released Jeremiah from the stocks. And Jeremiah said unto him, The LORD has not called your name Pashur but Magormissabib. (4) For thus says the LORD: Behold, I am about to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies and your eyes shall see it. And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall take them captive into Babylon or he shall smite them with the sword. (5) And I will give away all the wealth of this city and all the fruit of her labor and all her precious things: and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies. They shall plunder them and take them and bring them to Babylon. (6) And you, Pashur, and all the inhabitants of your house shall go into captivity; and you shall go to Babylon and there you shall die and there you shall be buried both yourself and all your friends to whom you prophesied falsely.
COMMENTS
The prophet had pronounced his message of doom so courageously and boldly that no one dared to interrupt him or raise a hand against him. So he leaves the valley of Hinnom and returns to the Temple area to preach to the throngs there (Jeremiah 19:14). It is impossible to determine whether Jeremiah 19:15 is merely a summary of what Jeremiah said in the court of the Temple or whether on the other hand he had only begun to preach when he was interrupted. The former alternative seems more likely. In either case the message preached in the Temple court was one of judgment. Pashur the priest who was chief overseer in the house of the Lord heard that sermon (Jeremiah 20:1). Pashur was second in authority to the high priest (Jeremiah 29:26). His duty was to see that no unauthorized person entered the Temple area and that no disturbance was committed within the courts. Pashur smote Jeremiah which probably means that the prophet was scourged with forty stripes (Deuteronomy 25:3). He then ordered that Jeremiah be put in the stocks. The exact nature of this instrument of torture is not clear but the Hebrew word suggests a device which distorts or twists the body, or forces it into a cramped posture. The stocks are mentioned again in Jeremiah 29:26. The Book of Chronicles refers to a house of stocks (2 Chronicles 16:10), so apparently the punishment was not uncommon. But in the case of Jeremiah the stocks were in public, in the upper Benjamin gate which was in the house of the Lord (Jeremiah 19:2). The tribe of Benjamin lay north of Jerusalem. Thus this gate was probably on the north side of the Temple. The phrase which was in the house of the Lord serves to distinguish this gate from the city gate of the same name (Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 38:7). This is probably the same gate called by Ezekiel the higher gate (Jeremiah 9:2) which was built by king Jotham (2 Kings 15:35). It probably was one of the main gates leading from the Temple area to the city proper.
When Jeremiah was released from the stocks the next morning he had a special message for Pashur. The Lord has not called your name Pashur but Magor-missabib (Jeremiah 19:3). Pashur’s new name means terror round about. This symbolic name signifies one who is surrounded by horror on all sides and who becomes an object of horror and fear to himself and to others. Pashur would live to see his friends slain by the sword and the rest of the men of Judah either slain or taken captive to Babylon (Jeremiah 19:4). All the wealth of the nation will be given by the Lord to the enemies of Judah and the national treasures will be taken to Babylon along with the captives (Jeremiah 19:5). Pashur himself and the members of his household would be taken to Babylon where they would all die and be buried. For a misguided patriot like Pashur the worst fate imaginable would be to die and be buried in a foreign land. It is not the personal mistreatment of Jeremiah that brought about this extreme prophecy of personal doom to Pashur. Rather it is the fact that he had prophesied lies (Jeremiah 19:6). What the nature of these lies were cannot be ascertained from the account.
Some have conjectured that Pashur was the leader of the pro-Egyptian party in Judah. Perhaps this would account for his fierce opposition to Jeremiah. His pro-Egyptian policy led to national and personal disaster and caused the terror which was about to come upon the land. In Jeremiah 29:26 Pashur’s office is filled by a fellow named Zephaniah. This would suggest that Jeremiah’s prophecy had already been fulfilled. No doubt Pashur was taken captive either in the deportation of 605 B.C. or in the deportation of 597 B.C. The latter is more likely.