In the previous chapter we saw the freedom of God demonstrated by what Jeremiah saw and heard at the potter’s house. God could take a nation formerly appointed for blessing and judge it if it turned to wickedness, and God could bless a nation formerly appointed for judgment and bless it if it turned from its wickedness. Sadly, Judah did not turn to God in repentance. The clay had settled. Opportunities for reprieve were rejected. The disposition of the people was fixed. And as a result, God was going to use pottery once again to make His point. So, the LORD said to Jeremiah (vs.1a):
Tag: Jeremiah (Page 5 of 8)
It’s an image with familiar Biblical overtones. One that strongly demonstrates the dominion that God has over His creatures and over all circumstances. And Jeremiah was going to take a little field trip to see it. The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD (vs.1) said, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words” (vs.2).
The potter’s house was more than simply a house owned by a potter; it was a place where pottery was fashioned and made. And apparently that simple designation was familiar enough to Jeremiah to know where God wanted him to go, so that he could see what God wanted him to see and hear what God wanted him to hear (vs.2b).
When reading through the seventeenth chapter of Jeremiah you can feel like you’ve unknowingly started to read the opening chapter of the psalter. There we also read of the blessed man whose leaf will be green because it does not wither. God apparently did not relegate that imagery to one book of the Bible; rather, He developed it further, as we see here in Jeremiah. by contrasting the blessed man with the cursed man.
Some years back I saw a movie about the prophet Jeremiah. Although I can’t remember it all too well, I do recall having a couple of reactions. One was – I was very glad to see a movie about a book of the Bible that I was less familiar with than others. I had read through the Book of Jeremiah but many of the incidents recorded therein weren’t as easily citable for me as, say, quotations from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Thus, to see so many portions of the fifty-two-chapter book of Jeremiah in an hour and half movie was something I really enjoyed. The second reaction I can recall was – I remember saying to (and with) those who were with me, ‘Wait a minute… I don’t remember Jeremiah having a girlfriend…’ As is fairly common knowledge, Biblical movies sometimes take ‘artistic license’ to fill in details where the Scriptures are silent. Well, in this case, the prophet who is not said to have had a romantic interest had a girlfriend that he had to leave behind because of the call of God. Which is a good reminder – always compare movies about the Bible to the Bible so as to make sure you don’t end up thinking that something is Biblical when it is not. Now even though Jeremiah is not said to have had a particular romantic interest, what is clear is that he was prohibited from that very thing. Chapter sixteen opens with the words,
“Even if you gave me a million dollars I still wouldn’t [fill in the blank]” – that’s an expression that people use to stress how definite their “no” is. It might be surprising to learn that God had an expression of His own to stress how definite the coming judgment on Judah was. To be sure, there’s more to this statement than simply an affirmation of the unrelenting nature of God’s promised wrath on the southern kingdom, but before we see what’s implicit lets understand what’s explicit.
