PM October 29th Jeremiah 19

October 29^th Jeremiah 19

The broken pot

1: Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; 2: And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3: And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4: Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5: They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7: And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8: And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9: And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10: Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11: And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. 12: Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: 13: And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. 14: Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people, 15: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

Jeremiah 20 Pashur cursed

1: Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2: Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD. 3: And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib. 4: For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5: Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6: And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

Jeremiah’s lamentation

7: O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. 8: For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. 9: Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. 10: For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 11: But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. 12: But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause. 13: Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. 14: Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. 15: Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad. 16: And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; 17: Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. 18: Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

The Lord calls on Jeremiah to go to go and get a pot from the potters house and get the very old men of the people and the very old priests and take them to the valley of Hinnon and proclaim there the words of the Lord. The message was to be that the Lord will bring evil on this place which will cause men’s ears to itch. And then he lists their spiritual adulteries. There will come a day says the Lord when the valley will not be called the valley of Hinnon any more but it will be called the valley of slaughter. All the wisdom of Judah and Jerusalem will cease and the bodies of the people will be food for vultures. The people will eat each other in the famine. Then Jeremiah is told by the Lord to break the bottle of clay. And he is to say in the same way God will break this people. And just like the bottle of clay cannot be made whole again so the people will be destroyed and the slaughter will be so great that they will run out of space to bury the dead. There was a man called Pashur who was the son of Immer the priest and he came and stuck Jeremiah and put him in the stocks then the next day when Pashur came to release him Jeremiah said the lord says that you are to have a new name, Magor-missabib which means ‘terror on every side’. This is because this man will be horrified by himself and all men will be terrified of him. And the Lord said that he would be transported to Babylon he and all his friends and he would die there because he prophesied lies to his friends. Jeremiah was so persecuted that he thought of not speaking in the name of the Lord again, but he could not keep from speaking. The Word of the Lord was like a fire in his chest. Although the people sough to persecute and kill him yet the Lord stood with Jeremiah like a ‘mighty terrible one’. Then Jeremiah bursts forth into a song of blessing on the deliverance of God.

• What was the message of the broken pot?
• What did Pashur do to Jeremiah?
• How did Jeremiah celebrate the deliverance of God?