Jeremiah 19:10-15 – The call to to yield to God

At the beginning of Jeremiah 19, God told the Prophet Jeremiah to buy an earthenware and together with the elders of Jerusalem and senior priests to go to Potsherd gate, located at the valley of Ben-Hinnom. This was the dumping ground where potters would discard their spoilt, broken, and unwanted pottery. God’s harsh message was already indicated by the place where it was to be given. That is, He was about to discard Judah like a potter would discard a ruin earthenware.

Jeremiah’s message from God to those with him showed why He was bringing the impending destruction upon Judah and Jerusalem. The reasons: they had forgotten and forsaken him, went after other gods, offered burnt sacrifices to those false pagan gods, and shed innocent blood through child sacrifice. He foretold of a devastating ruin that was coming upon them that none would escape. From adults to children, husbands to wives all would experience the devastating effect of God’s wrath.

Now Jeremiah 19:10-15, God then instructed Jeremiah to smash the earthenware that he was told to bring along. This was a symbolic message. Through Jeremiah, God was demonstrating the extent of the impending judgment that was coming upon Jerusalem. Just as an earthenware of a potter that had been broken beyond repair, so would Jerusalem be after judgment. The word Tophet in Hebrew meaning “stove or oven” was deliberately twisted to mean “shame or abomination.” For the way the Judean had desecrated Jerusalem God would make it a shame and an abomination and a place where their corpses would be dumped.  What an indictment! Jerusalem would be like Topheth, a dump and a burning place for corpses.  This was how God was making this place to be, a place of horrific defilement.

When Jeremiah had done at the Potsherd Gates, he returned to the temple in verses 14-15. And there he stood in the court of  the Lord’s house  and declared to all the people saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.’” Here we see the crux of their sin reiterated. They had stiffened their necks. Being rebellious they would not heed God’s words. Since their action was a deliberate choice of their will, there was no way other way but for them to face the wrath of God.

God, our divine potter wants to mold and make us each into a vessel fit for honor fit for His use. He will exert the right pressures with His moistened hands to shape us. When we, the clay remain pliable in His hand, there is no need for Him to increase His pressure. But if we stiffen our will, He will have to exert extra pressure to mold us into what He wants. Don’t harden our hearts and resist His gentle molding or God will need to exert greater pressure to reshape us into the vessel of His intention and desire.