Jeremiah 18:1-23. The potter and the clay The words and events of chs. 18 20 may all be considered as having Jeremiah 18:1 for their heading. Ch. 18 gives and explains the figure of the potter's clay, and adds the effect upon the people. Ch. 19 gives and applies the figure of the potter's broken ve... [ Continue Reading ]
_the potter's house_ The likening (as in Jeremiah 18:6) of man to the clay and God to the potter was familiar. See on Jeremiah 18:4. The trade was a very early one. Thomson (_The Land and the Book_, p. 520) thus describes what he saw at Jaffa (Joppa): "There was the potter sitting at his -frame," an... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the hand of the potter_ rather, as LXX, _in his hands_, thus avoiding harshness. "The potter" has doubtless crept into MT. from being a marginal gloss. Its admission to the MT. drew with it, through the influence of the wording of Jeremiah 18:6, the addition of the Hebrew for "of the clay," whic... [ Continue Reading ]
"First of the prophets, Jeremiah proclaims distinctly what had been more or less implied throughout, that predictions were subject to no overruling necessity, but depended for their fulfilment on the moral state of those to whom they were addressed; that the most confident assurance of blessing coul... [ Continue Reading ]
_At what instant_ lit. _Suddenly_. The same word occurs at the beginning of Jeremiah 18:9. The rendering in the two cases probably is _At one moment at another_. (So Oxf. Heb. Lex.)... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. note.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will repent_ speaking after the manner of men. The sense is, _I will alter my treatment_, for among men change of conduct implies change of purpose.... [ Continue Reading ]
The direct application of the figure to the people here begins. _frame_ The Hebrew root is the same as that for _potter_. _amend your ways and your doings_ See on ch. Jeremiah 7:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_no hope_ It is too late to turn back now. See on Jeremiah 2:25. _stubbornness_ Cp. ch. Jeremiah 3:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ask ye now among the nations_ Cp. ch. Jeremiah 2:10 f., Jeremiah 5:30. _the virgin of Israel_ The people collectively (see on Jeremiah 4:11), tended with the utmost care by the Almighty, have in spite of it all broken through the sanctity which hedged them around. Cp. Jeremiah 14:17 for the collec... [ Continue Reading ]
The unnatural conduct of Israel (cp. Jeremiah 8:7) is illustrated. _rock of the field_ The strangeness of the expression has led to the conjectural substitution for "field" (_sâdeh_) of either (_a_) Shaddai, a title of Jehovah (e.g. Genesis 17:1), or (_b_) Sirion (Psalms 29:6), the Phoenician name... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ This continues the thought of the 13th _v_., Jeremiah 18:14 being parenthetic. _vanity_ lit. _unreality_, meaning idols, but a different word from that used in Jeremiah 2:5, where see notes. Here the sense is materially or morally unsubstantial or groundless. See Dr. _Parallel Psalter_, p. 46... [ Continue Reading ]
_as with an east wind_ better, perhaps, _as an east wind_. _look upon … their face_ mg. _shew them the back, and not the face_, in answer to the people's own behaviour towards Him. See ch. Jeremiah 2:27. They shall flee for shelter from the enemy as from the sirocco, the scorching wind in Palestine... [ Continue Reading ]
_they_ the prophet's enemies, who are plotting against his life. Cp. Jeremiah 11:18 ff., Jeremiah 12:1 ff., Jeremiah 15:10 f., Jeremiah 15:15 ff. _the law shall not perish_ See on ch. Jeremiah 8:8. Cp. Ezekiel 7:26 (last part of _v_.). "The wise" were those who composed such sayings as we find in P... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. note to section.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall evil be recompensed for good_?] Jeremiah had interceded for the people in times past, e.g. ch. Jeremiah 14:7; Jeremiah 14:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Jeremiah 17:18. Here also we may be permitted to consider the passage to be an editorial addition. Erbt retains 22 _b_and 23 as genuine, Gi. all but "and their … battle" (Jeremiah 18:21), while Du. and Co. reject the passage, which in its bitter imprecations indeed forms a harsh contrast to t... [ Continue Reading ]
The havoc wrought in battle outside the walls is followed by the sacking of the houses of the city. _they have digged a pit … and hid snares_ Cp. Psalms 57:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_overthrown_ lit. as mg. _made to stumble_. Cp. Jeremiah 6:15; Jeremiah 6:21.... [ Continue Reading ]