The Broken Pitcher. - Jeremiah 19:1. "Thus said Jahveh: Go and buy a potter's vessel, and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests, Jeremiah 19:2. And go forth into the valley of Benhinnom, which is before the gate Harsuth, and proclaim there the words which I shall speak unto thee, Jeremiah 19:3. And say: Hear the word of Jahveh, ye kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus hath said Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle. Jeremiah 19:4. Because they have forsaken me, and disowned this place, and burnt incense in it to other gods whom they knew not, they, and their fathers, and the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, Jeremiah 19:5. And have built high places for Baal, to burn their sons in the fire as burnt-offerings to Baal, which I have neither commanded nor spoken, nor came it into my heart. Jeremiah 19:6. Therefore, behold, days come, saith Jahve, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet and Valley of Benhinnom, but Valley of Slaughter. Jeremiah 19:7. And I make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of them that seek their lives, and give their carcases to be food for the fowls of the heaven and the beast of the earth. Jeremiah 19:8. And make this city a dismay and a scoffing; every one that passeth thereby shall be dismayed and hiss because of all her strokes; Jeremiah 19:9. And make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each shall eat his neighbour's flesh in the siege and straitness wherewith their enemies and they that seek after their lives shall straiten them. - Jeremiah 19:10. And break the pitcher before the eyes of the men that go with thee, Jeremiah 19:11. And say to them: Thus hath Jahve of hosts said: Even so will I break this people and this city as one breaketh this potter's vessel, that it cannot be made whole again; and in Tophet shall they bury them, because there is no room to bury. Jeremiah 19:12. Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jahveh, and its inhabitants, to make this city as Tophet. Jeremiah 19:13. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall become, as the place Tophet, unclean, all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense to the whole host of heaven and poured out drink-offerings to other gods."

The purpose for which Jeremiah was to buy the earthen jar is told in Jeremiah 19:10, and the meaning of breaking it in the valley of Benhinnom is shown in Jeremiah 19:11-13. בּקבּק, from בּקק, to pour out, is a jar with a narrow neck, so called from the sound heard when liquid is poured out of it, although the vessel was used for storing honey, 1 Kings 14:3. The appellation יוצר, former of earthen vessels, i.e., potter, is given to denote the jar as one which, on being broken, would shiver into many fragments. Before "of the elders of the people" a verb seems to be awanting, for which cause many supply ולקחתּ (according to Jeremiah 41:12; Jeremiah 43:10, etc.), rightly so far as sense is concerned; but we are hardly entitled to assume a lacuna in the text. That assumption is opposed by the ו before מזּקני; for we cannot straightway presume that this ו was put in after the verb had dropped out of the text. In that case the whole word would have been restored. We have here rather, as Schnur. saw, a bold constructio praegnans, the verb "buy" being also joined in zeugma with "of the elders:" buy a jar and (take) certain of the elders; cf. similar, only less bold, zeugmatic constr. in Job 4:10; Job 10:12; Isaiah 58:5. "Elders of the priests," as in 2 Kings 19:2, probably identical with the "princes (שׂרי) of the priests," 2 Chronicles 36:14, are doubtless virtually the same as the "heads (ראשׁי) of the priests," Nehemiah 12:7, the priests highest in esteem, not merely for their age, but also in virtue of their rank; just as the "elders of the people" were a permanent representation of the people, consisting of the heads of tribes, houses or septs, and families; cf. 1 Kings 8:1-3, and my Bibl. Archol. ii. S. 218. Jeremiah was to take elders of the people and of the priesthood, because it was most readily to be expected of them that the word of God to be proclaimed would find a hearing amongst them. As to the valley of Benhinnom, see on Jeremiah 7:31. שׁער החרסוּת, not Sun-gate (after חרס, Job 9:7; Judges 8:13), but Pottery or Sherd-gate, from חרס equals חרשׂ, in rabbin. חרסית, potter's clay. The Chet. חרסוּת is the ancient form, not the modern (Hitz.), for the Keri is adapted to the rabbinical form. The clause, "which is before the Harsuth-gate," is not meant to describe more particularly the locality, sufficiently well known in Jerusalem, but has reference to the act to be performed there. The name, gate of חרסוּת, which nowhere else occurs, points no doubt to the breaking to shivers of the jar. Hence we are rather to translate Sherd-gate than Pottery-gate, the name having probably arisen amongst the people from the broken fragments which lay about this gate. Comm. are not at one as to which of the known city gates is meant. Hitz. and Kimchi are wrong in thinking of a gate of the court of the temple - the southern one. The context demands one of the city gates, two of which led into the Benhinnom valley: the Spring-or Fountain-gate at the south-east corner, and the Dung-gate on the south-west side of Zion; see on Nehemiah 3:13-15. One of these two must be meant, but which of them it cannot be decided. there Jeremiah is to cry aloud the words which follow, Jeremiah 19:3-8, and which bear on the kings of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. "Kings" in the plural, as in Jeremiah 13:13, because the matter concerned not the reigning king only, but his successors too, who had been guilty of the sins to be punished.

Jeremiah 19:7 Parallel Commentaries

I will make.

Job 5:12,13 He disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise...

Psalm 33:10,11 The LORD brings the counsel of the heathen to nothing: he makes the devices of the people of none effect...

Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.

Isaiah 8:10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nothing; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

Isaiah 28:17,18 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies...

Isaiah 30:1-3 Woe to the rebellious children, said the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit...

Lamentations 3:37 Who is he that said, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?

Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yes, we establish the law.

Romans 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

I will cause.

Jeremiah 9:21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without...

Jeremiah 15:2,9 And it shall come to pass, if they say to you, Where shall we go forth? then you shall tell them, Thus said the LORD...

Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword...

Jeremiah 22:25 And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your life, and into the hand of them whose face you fear...

Jeremiah 46:26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon...

Leviticus 26:17 And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you...

Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD shall cause you to be smitten before your enemies: you shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them...

and their.

Jeremiah 7:33 And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth...

Jeremiah 8:2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served...

Jeremiah 9:22 Speak, Thus said the LORD, Even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman...

Jeremiah 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried...

Jeremiah 22:19 He shall be buried with the burial of an donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 34:20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life...

Deuteronomy 28:26 And your carcass shall be meat to all fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

Psalm 79:2,3 The dead bodies of your servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven...

Revelation 19:18-21 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses...