God sends Jeremiah on another outing.
Before I dive in, I just want to note two things.
First, we're about to see God send Jeremiah and the elders on another outing, this time with an earthenware jar. God is an excellent teacher. He uses multiple techniques to ensure everyone has a fair chance to learn and grow. Notice how thorough and creative He is. I bet other professions find Him in their reading as well. he made it all and He made all of us. He's going to demonstrate to us how to live as individuals but also as a society. I should write a book and all the ways God is a good teacher.
Second, God has had a unique relationship with each prophet and author in the Bible; but I really get the vibe that He is uniquely unique with Jeremiah. There's a quirkiness we see in a single story, such as Gideon; but there is a personal warmth, which opens a window to see another aspect of God. I love that he sends Jeremiah on field trips and gives him these metaphors to pass along. He always speaks to people where they are; but it feels even more authentic in this book. It just occurred to me that the Lord kept Jeremiah single- so no wife or kids. I wonder if one aspect of that is that Jeremiah can draw closer to God than those who are married with a family.
Ok, back to the text.
So this time, Jeremiah is to take the earthenware, grab some elders and priests and meet at a specific gate. Then Jeremiah will receive his prophesy from the Lord.
He must have had massive street cred to get these officials to do this BEFORE he even had a message for them. And if this is in chronological order, he's asking this of them AFTER they have heard endless catastrophic prophesies and AFTER they have plotted against him multiple times.
The message: calamity is coming from the Lord.
Because of idolatry, forsaking the Lord, shedding innocent blood, bringing foreign gods to the land He gave them, worshiped baal, sacrificed their children in fire.
Now this place will become the valley of slaughter where the birds and beasts will eat their dead. It will become a place of desolation and place people will hiss when they pass. The siege will lead them to eat other humans.
In verse 10 Jeremiah is the commanded to break the jar he brought.
...and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial. 12 This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth.
Notice when God used the potter and potter's wheel metaphor in chapter 18, the clay became spoiled and had to be reshaped into a new vessel. But now the clay has been hardened into a jar. When it falls and shatters it cannot be repaired. Judah has become hardened. The potter is going to break them and start over with new clay altogether.
The chapter ends with Jeremiah leaving the site of the prophesy and coming to the court of the Lord's house with a message for all of the people, not just the elders and priests. He tells them all a calamity is coming because they have stiffened their necks and not heeded Jeremiah's warnings.