Jeremias 19

1 Then said the Lord to me, Go and get an earthen bottle, the work of the potter, and thou shalt bring of the elders of the people, and of the priests;

2 and thou shalt go forth to the burial-place of the sons of their children, which is at the entrance of the gate of Charsith; and do thou read there all these words which I shall speak to thee:

3 and thou shalt say to them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Juda, and men of Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem, and they that enter in by these gates; thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I bring evil upon this place, so that the ears of every one that hears it shall tingle.

4 Because they forsook me, and profaned this place, and burnt incense in it to strange gods, which they and their fathers knew not; and the kings of Juda have filled this place with innocent blood,

5 and built high places for Baal, to burn their children in the fire, which things I commanded not, neither did I design in my heart:

6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when this place shall no more be called, The fall and burial-place of the son of Ennom, but, The burial-place of slaughter.

7 And I will destroy the counsel of Juda and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place; and I will cast them down with the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the sky and to the wild beasts of the earth.

8 And I will bring this city to desolation and a hissing; every one that passes by it shall scowl, and hiss because of all her plague.

9 And they shall eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his neighbour in the blockade, and in the siege wherewith their enemies shall besiege them.

10 And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that go forth with thee,

11 and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Thus will I break in pieces this people, and this city, even as an earthen vessel is broken in pieces which cannot be mended again.

12 Thus will I do, saith the Lord, to this place, and to the inhabitants of it, that this city may be given up, as one that is falling to ruin.

13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda shall be as a ruinous place, because of their uncleannesses in all the houses, wherein they burnt incense upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and poured drink-offerings to strange gods.

14 And Jeremias came from of the Fall, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house: and said to all the people, Thus saith the Lord;

15 Behold I bring upon this city, and upon all the cities belonging to it, and upon the villages of it, all the evils which I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their neck, hearken to my commands.

Jeremias 19 Commentary

Chapter 19

By the type of breaking an earthen vessel, Jeremiah is to predict the destruction of Judah.

Verses 1-9 The prophet must give notice of ruin coming upon Judah and Jerusalem. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it. That place which holiness made the joy of the whole earth, sin made the reproach and shame of the whole earth. There is no fleeing from God's justice, but by fleeing to his mercy.

Verses 10-15 The potter's vessel, after it is hardened, can never be pieced again when it is broken. And as the bottle was broken, so shall Judah and Jerusalem be broken by the Chaldeans. No human hand can repair it; but if they return to the Lord he will heal. As they filled Tophet with the slain sacrificed to their idols, so will God fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to his justice. Whatever men may think, God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the Scriptures state; nor shall the unbelief of men make his promise or his threatenings of no effect. The obstinacy of sinners in sinful ways, is their own fault; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their ears. We have need to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart, and contempt of his word and commandments.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 19

In this chapter is foreshadowed, represented, and confirmed, the destruction of Jerusalem, by the breaking of a potter's vessel the prophet had in his hand; and by the place where he was bid to do this, and did it. The order for it, and the witnesses of it, and the place where it was done, are declared in Jer 19:1,2; the proclamation there of Jerusalem's ruin is made, Jer 19:3; the cause of it, their apostasy, idolatry, and shedding of innocent blood, Jer 19:4,5; the great slaughter of them by the sword and famine, Jer 19:6-9; and how easy, and irresistible, and irrecoverable, their destruction would be, are signified by the breaking of the bottle, Jer 19:10,11, when Jerusalem for its idolatry would become as defiled a place as Tophet, where the prophet was, Jer 19:12,13; from whence he came to the temple, and there repeated the proclamation of the evil that should come upon that city, and all the towns around it, Jer 19:14,15.