Jeremiah - Lesson 18

• Chapters 1-6 The LORD calls Jeremiah as a prophet to Judah in the final years of the kingdom. The LORD’s people, Israel and Judah, had rejected their God by worshipping false gods without repentance. The LORD is sending a nation from the North as judgment, yet not for the complete destruction of His people.

  • Chapter 7-11 Jeremiah calls out the impending destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The people have been led into the worship of false gods, signs in the heavens and idols by their spiritual leaders, forsaking the LORD and violating His covenant. The necessity for discipline is not pleasing to the LORD. Many want to silence the LORD’s prophet.

  • Chapter 12-17 The wicked seem to prosper.

    • The LORD is not deceived and rejects empty worship. The false prophets were not removed by the people. A drought is sent as a warning, but the hard hearts of the people continue in worship of false gods with no regard for the commands of the LORD.

    • Jeremiah brings warning of impeding destruction to kings, leaders and all the people, remembering the evil of king Manasseh.

    • Jeremiah laments his calling as a prophet but repents and continues to speak the words of the LORD, though alone and persecuted, forbidden by the LORD to mourn, or to pray for the nation, yet the LORD will protect him and confirm his words.

    • There will be restoration for the nation in the future.

Jer. 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying,
Jer. 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.”
Jer. 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.
Jer. 18:4 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.

• Verse 1 The LORD speaks to Jeremiah.

  • Verse 2 The LORD tells Jeremiah where to go to receive a message from Him, referred to as the potter’s house.

  • Verse 3 The potter was actively making an object on the potter’s wheel.

  • Verse 4 The object the potter was making spoiled while he was making it, so he stopped making that object and using the same clay, he started to make another object that pleased him.

    • When making a clay object the artist has a vision of what the finished object will look like and what he intends to use the object for.

  • When there is a mistake that will prevent the object from being used for its purpose, or the appearance of the object is not what the potter desires, he will cease making that object and begin again.

    • The flaw of the object must be to a level it cannot be corrected and only starting over will solve the problem.

    • The pressure on the clay inside and out comes from the potter’s hands.

• Only an experienced potter will know how significant the flaw of the object is, and this happens only because the potter has experienced this problem before; or the flaw is so obvious even an inexperienced potter could identify the problem.

  • This decision to begin again happens before the object is completed, before it is fired and made hard. Once the object has hardened, the potter destroys or gets rid of an imperfect object.

Jer. 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,
Jer. 18:6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
Jer. 18:7 “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;
Jer. 18:8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.
Jer. 18:9 “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;
Jer. 18:10 if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.

• Verse 5 After Jeremiah has seen the potter’s demonstration the word of the LORD comes to him.

  • Verse 6 The LORD declares He is just like the potter when it comes to creating the house of Israel.

  • Verse 7 The LORD declares He has the right with any nation or kingdom to do what He desires with them.

• A nation is generally defined as a group of people with common genealogy. They can share a common language and culture, living in an identified location.

  • Kingdoms are generally understood to have a central ruling government. An example would be the United Kingdom which had control over many peoples or nations located around the globe.

  • He can uproot and remove it from the ground or foundation.

  • He can pull down: topple an object or tear it down beginning from the top.

  • He can destroy; the object will no longer exist in its current state.

• Verse 8 If there is a nation which the LORD has spoken to concerning their evil and that nation responds and turns from its evil, then the LORD will not bring calamity on that nation.

  • An example of this would be the city of Nineveh, as Jonah received a word from the LORD to bring to that city. Jonah 1:1-2.

Jonah 1:1  The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,
Jonah 1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

• Jonah was to go to this great city and cry against it, meaning to speak out against what they had been doing that was wicked. The response of the city is seen in Jonah 3:3-10.

Jonah 3:3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.
Jonah 3:4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah 3:5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.
Jonah 3:6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.
Jonah 3:7 He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
Jonah 3:8 “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.
Jonah 3:9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
Jonah 3:10  When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

• Verse 5 The people of Nineveh believed in God.

  • Verse 7 directs men to call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked ways and from the violence which is in his hands.

  • Verse 10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked ways, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them.

    • When a person turns from their wicked ways it means they have repented and no longer engage in those wicked deeds.

    • This was an entire city.

    • The best estimate of when Jonah made his visit to Nineveh is around 785 to 760 BC.

  • Nineveh did not continue in a repentant, God-fearing manner and the LORD ultimately does destroy the city. The book of Nahum deals with the LORD’s words concerning Nineveh.

    • Highlights from Nah. 1:2-3, 2:13

Nah. 1:2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD;
The LORD is avenging and wrathful.
The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
Nah. 1:3  The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Nah. 2:13  “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of hosts. “I will burn up her chariots in smoke, a sword will devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.”

• The destruction of Nineveh was around the same time historically as the destruction of Judah, around 612 BC.

  • Jer. 18:9 The LORD says there may be another moment.

  • This reference to another moment is a reference to another time in history.

    • The LORD is outside time and decides when He is going to accomplish a work.

    • At varying moments in time, the LORD can plant or build up a nation or a kingdom.

• Verse 10 If a nation the LORD has planted or built up does evil by not obeying His voice, there is a consequence.

  • The LORD says, ‘He will think better.’

  • Then the LORD clarifies, ‘of the good with which I had promised to bless it.’

• This makes it clear the LORD has planted and built up nations and kingdoms.

  • They were made to obey His voice.

  • When they cease to obey His voice then He will reconsider the good to bless that nation or kingdom.

  • All nations and kingdoms of the world exist because the LORD has brought them into existence for His purposes.

    • Some of those nations and kingdoms were created and blessed because they were to obey His voice.

    • Those nations and kingdoms will lose that blessing when they choose not to obey His voice.

    • The LORD does not change, it is the nations and kingdoms that change.

Jer. 18:11 “So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’
Jer. 18:12 “But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
Jer. 18:13 “Therefore thus says the LORD,
‘Ask now among the nations,
Who ever heard the like of this?
The virgin of Israel
Has done a most appalling thing.
Jer. 18:14 ‘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?
Jer. 18:15 ‘For My people have forgotten Me,
They burn incense to worthless gods
And they have stumbled from their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
Not on a highway,
Jer. 18:16  To make their land a desolation,
An object of perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
Jer. 18:17 ‘Like an 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.’”

• Verse 11 The LORD again calls Jeremiah to specifically call out to the men of Judah and the city of Jerusalem.

  • The message is the LORD is going to bring calamity.

  • When the Lord says he is “forming” the Hebrew is Yatsar or Yatzar, calamity for Judah.

    • The Hebrew word for potter is pronounced yotser.

    • It appears there is a play on words expressed in the Hebrew.

  • The LORD calls His people to turn from their evil ways.

  • They can prove they have turned from their evil ways by doing new deeds.

    • This was the same call put out to Nineveh.

• Verse 12 The LORD says He knows His people will not change plans and will continue to follow their own stubborn hearts.

  • Verse 13 This stubbornness set against the LORD is beyond comparison, as even the surrounding nations can see the error of a people who forsake their God.

    • The surrounding peoples did not forsake their gods.

  • Verse 14 The picture of snow falling on a rock in an open field displays how the snow falls on everything.

    • The rock will not receive benefit from the snow but when snow falls it does not decipher what will receive its good before falling there.

  • The same is true for the path of a river. The water begins in one place and simply flows where the natural path leads it. The path is not determined by who deserves the water.

• Verse 15 This same thing should be true for the LORD’s people.

  • They have been created and then blessed in every conceivable way by the LORD and the natural inclination would be to worship the God who brought the blessing.

  • It should flow naturally to this God, yet the LORD’s people have specifically forsaken the LORD.

    • They burn incense to foreign gods.

    • They literally had to go out of their way not to follow God’s commands.

• Verse 16 The result is going to be the desolation of their land to be a witness against this people.

  • The surrounding people will be able to make the connection that the LORD’s people could not see.

• Verse 17 This devastation will come at the hand of their God.

Jer. 18:18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.”
Jer. 18:19 Do give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to what my opponents are saying!
Jer. 18:20  Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have dug a pit for me.
Remember how I stood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
Jer. 18:21 Therefore, give their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the power of the sword;
And let their wives become childless and widowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
Jer. 18:22  May an outcry be heard from their houses,
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
For they have dug a pit to capture me
And hidden snares for my feet.
Jer. 18:23  Yet You, O LORD, know
All their deadly designs against me;
Do not forgive their iniquity
Or blot out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the time of Your anger!

• Verse 18 The response of the people to the message Jeremiah brought from the LORD is given.

  • They decide to devise plans against Jeremiah; basically, they hate the messenger.

  • They reason, contrary to what Jeremiah is saying, that there is no way the priests are going to forsake the law of the LORD.

    • Likewise, there is no way the sage will cease to receive counsel from the LORD.

  • Additionally, there is no way the prophets will cease to receive words from the LORD.

  • The conclusion is that of course the leaders are doing exactly what they have determined to do in their own hearts.

    • These men first attack Jeremiah with their words to ruin him by destroying his reputation among the people so they will not listen to his words.

    • An ancient way of censoring someone.

  • The leaders of the people will simply not acknowledge Jeremiah has spoken any words, so they will not have to response to what Jeremiah is saying.

• Verse 19 Jeremiah asks the LORD to hear his words unlike what the leaders are doing to him.

  • Jeremiah wants to know the LORD is hearing what his enemies are saying about him.

• Verse 20 Jeremiah asks if it is right that good be repaid with evil.

  • Jeremiah’s enemies have dug a pit for him. Isolating him with no way out.

  • Jeremiah cries out to the LORD reminding Him of the times he has stood before the LORD and literally asked the LORD to turn His wrath away from this people.

    • Jeremiah had done what was right before the LORD desiring for Judah to repent and be spared.

Jer. 7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.

Jer. 11:14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster.

Jer. 14:11 So the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people.

Jer. 14:13 But, “Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

• Jeremiah had specifically tried to show, in defense of the people, how the people were being led by the false prophets to believe the destruction would not come on them.

  • Jeremiah’s heart had been pure before the LORD, not wishing to see calamity come on his people. The cry from Jeremiah’s heart was for repentance from the people.

  • The implication of the above scriptures telling Jeremiah not to pray or seek after the welfare of his people indicates that is what Jeremiah was doing before the LORD told him “no”.

    • The LORD has revealed to Jeremiah just how wicked the people have been and how their hearts are hardened.

    • These men had dug a pit for him. They wanted to rid themselves of him.

Jer. 11:18 Moreover, the LORD made it known to me and I knew it;
Then You showed me their deeds.
Jer. 11:19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;
And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
And let us cut him off from the land of the living,
That his name be remembered no more.”

• The LORD made it clear to Jeremiah the hearts of these men were focused on his destruction.

  • Ultimately these men were trying to silence the LORD by ridding themselves of Jeremiah.

• Jer. 18:21 Because these men have done this to Jeremiah, he now asks the LORD to take away their children by famine and for the men to be killed with the sword, acknowledging this will leave the women without husband or children.

  • Take away all their men.

• Verse 22 Jeremiah says he knows there will be panic and terror in the houses of these people when the LORD’s promised destruction comes on them.

  • Jeremiah now acknowledges this is righteousness as he sees how these leaders have tried to destroy him when he was innocent before them.

• Verse 23 Jeremiah knows the LORD is fully aware of all these men have done and asks their deeds done against him not to be forgiven.

  • It appears Jeremiah now sees how righteous the judgments of the LORD are being sent on this people.

    • There are times the righteousness of some can bring clarity of the wickedness around them.

    • This comparison of Jeremiah and the leaders of Judah highlights that reality.

  • There must be darkness to understand what light is.

Is. 45:4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me.
Is. 45:5 “I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
Is. 45:6  That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
Is. 45:7  The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.
Is. 45:8 “Drip down, O heavens, from above,
And let the clouds pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit,
And righteousness spring up with it.
I, the LORD, have created it.
Is. 45:9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker —
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?

• Verse 4-5 The LORD created Israel to be His chosen ones.

  • Verse 6 This was done to demonstrate there is no other god besides the LORD.

  • Verse 7 The LORD forms the light and darkness.

    • He alone creates well-being and calamity.

• Verse 8 The LORD brings righteousness from heaven to earth to bring salvation bearing fruit.

  • Verse 9 The LORD as creator makes every vessel, or man, on earth and that vessel, just like a clay pot, cannot question the creator or say he, the vessel, just exists without the hands of the LORD directing the outcome.

    • This truth is also demonstrated in Romans 9:18-24.

    • These verses also highlight the image of God as the potter with dominion over His creation.

Rom. 9:18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
Rom. 9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
Rom. 9:20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?
Rom. 9:21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
Rom. 9:22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
Rom. 9:23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
Rom. 9:24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

• Verse 18 Establishes the LORD will have mercy or harden as He desires.

  • Verse 19 The natural question formed would be if God does the hardening or offering the mercy, how is it He can find fault with those He has hardened?

  • If then God has hardened, then no one is resisting the will of God in their hardened heart.

• Verse 20 Paul says emphatically the contrary is in fact the truth.

  • How does man think he can question God?

  • A thing molded or created can’t ask a question of the one who molded or created it.

• Verse 21 Only the potter has a right over the clay; the clay does not have a right over itself.

  • The potter has the right to make two objects from the same clay.

  • One object for honorable use and the other for common use.

• Verse 22 With this new understanding of how the potter has all the power and the right for determination of use, now the question can be posed about motivation of the potter.

  • God could have demonstrated His wrath or judgment against the pot that was created for common use.

  • He had the power to demonstrate this wrath.

  • Instead of demonstrating that wrath he endured the vessel.

  • He endured the vessel with patience.

    • The vessel is clearly prepared for destruction. This common-use vessel will only ultimately be destroyed. He created it for the purpose of destruction.

• Verse 23 The reason God created vessels destined for destruction was to make known the riches of His glory upon the vessels of mercy.

  • These vessels of mercy are defined as prepared for glory.

  • Those common vessels are what God uses to show the vessels of mercy what they have been saved from.

    • Tying this back to Jeremiah, there is darkness so the difference of light can be seen.

    • Jeremiah standing before these men speaking truth stands as judgment against these men.

  • Those who are prepared for glory had to see what destruction they were being saved from.

• Verse 24 Paul finishes by clearly laying out that the vessels of mercy prepared for glory include both Jews and Gentiles.

  • This truth should bring believers to our knees in humility, thanksgiving and gratitude.

  • There is no room for pride when we comprehend the vastness of this truth.

• The faith believers profess from the Bible should lead us to be so captivated by the power, majesty and glory of God that we can see the darkness descending on the world around us and yet not be afraid of the future.