Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18:1

G. Jeremiah at the Potter’s House (Chap. 18)18:1-12 The Lord is the potter; Judah (here called Israel) is the vessel. The spoiling of the vessel was not God’s fault but Israel’s. The clay is in God’s hand to do with it as He wishesjudgment or blessing. God threatens disaster if the people don’t repent, but their answer is that they will walk according to their own plans. 18:13-17 The LORD pronounces their behavior as unparalleled and unnatural. By their idolatry they invite destruction that will astonish those who see the land made desolate. The RSV probably gives the sense of verse 14: “Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing stream?” You could depend on these things in nature, but God couldn’t depend on His people! “Although the snow does not forsake Lebanon, Israel has forgotten the fountain of living water from which water of life flows to it.” 18:18 Hearing this, the people of Jerusalem devise plans against Jeremiah, express continued faith in their own priests and prophets, and plot to attack him by slander. 18:19-23 Jeremiah expresses regret that he ever asked God to spare them. Such a prayer is scarcely suitable for believers in this age of grace.