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.