“and say to them, “‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no room.”
– Jeremiah 19:11
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know what you need and what you need to do to make a piece of pottery? For a potter to make a piece of pottery, he or she needs clay. The clay that the potter needs to make a piece of pottery cannot be any kind of clay. The clay that a potter needs to make a piece of pottery must have a consistency after being moistened that will allow the potter to form – as he or she spins the moistened clay on a flat wheel, what it is that he or she is making. If the potter is not pleased with the piece of pottery that he or she is in the process of making as he or she is spinning the flat wheel, the potter will begin all over again making another piece of pottery using the very same moistened clay. When the potter is satisfied with the piece of pottery that he or she has made, the potter will put the piece of pottery someplace for at least a week to three weeks where the piece of pottery can become completely dry. After the piece of pottery has dried completely, the potter will put the piece of pottery in a kiln – with other pieces of pottery that he or she has made, where the pottery will be fired using a very hot wood fire – which will harden the piece of pottery. Your grandmaa, your Aunt Lynn and your ma have pieces of pottery that they have either bought or that have been given to them as gifts. Do you like the pottery that your grandmaa, that your Aunt Lynn and that your ma have?
The pieces of pottery that your grandmaa, your Aunt Lynn and your ma have all have been glazed. Putting a glaze on a piece of pottery that a potter made is an additional step that a potter did 2,600 years ago. Jeremiah – who God used for over 40 years as a spokesman to His specially chosen guys and gals – who are the Israelite people group guys and gals, who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem, was told one day by God to go to and purchase a clay pot from a potter. What Jeremiah wrote about what he was to do with the clay pot that God told him to buy from a potter and why he was to do what he did with that clay pot is found in Jeremiah 19 – in his Jeremiah Book. Per Jeremiah, God told him that after he bought a clay pot from a potter, that he was to find elders and priests who were living in the city of Jerusalem and that he was to take these elders and priests with him to the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. The Potsherd Gate overlooked the dump that was used by guys and gals who were living the city of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem’s dump was located at Topheth. Topheth was also known as the Valley of Ben Hinnom. Guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem would go through the Potsherd Gate to dump their refuse including broken pieces of pottery – which is why this gate was called the Potsherd Gate. The Potsherd Gate – which may also have been known as the Dung Gate, was also used by the city of Jerusalem officials to take out bodies of criminals who they had executed to toss in the dump. The Israelite people group guys and gals also worshipped in Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom manmade false gods – such as Baal and Molech. One way that an Israelite people group guy or gal worshipped Baal or Molech in Topheth was to burn one of their kids on an altar as a sacrifice to these inanimate manmade idols. A meaning for Topheth is drum. The loud beating of drums was apparently used to drown out the sounds of screaming kids as they were being . . .
Jeremiah scribed in verse 11 what God told him to do after breaking the clay pot, “and say to them, “‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no room.” What Jeremiah did as a visual in front of elders and priests who were living in the city of Jerusalem took place in 586 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army first besieged and then overran the city of Jerusalem. Do you think that what took place almost 2,600 years ago to God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem could happen again today? Do you think that guys and gals today are discounting God’s holy wrath when they turn their backs on Him by rejecting Who He is through intentionally buying into religiosities that are work based? Do you think that guys and gals today are discounting God’s righteous ire as they continue to dumb down His divine direction that He has had many different canonical authors affirm that just may be behind the natural disasters that He has been activating at a seemingly increased rate? Do you think that guys and gals today are discounting God’s moral anger after it was decided by legal minds that an unborn baby was a health impediment equal to an illness and that the fetus can be removed by whatever means that the mother decides to remove it? Your grandpaa thinks that God today is at the end of His rope regarding the stiff-necked guys and gals who are refusing to heed to His truths by not listening to His words. God’s visual of smashing a clay pot that He had Jeremiah do to show elders and priest who were living in the city of Jerusalem that their very bleak future may be apropos for the guys and gals who are living on planet Earth today as . . . God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids as God – as God the Spirit, leads them one by one to and through the faith/grace door into His ever growing family of Christ-followers to constantly thank Him that He – as the Potter, is forming them into new clay pots to serve Him with reverent fear and to rejoice in Him with trembling – which has your grandpaa being prompted right now to. . .
Jeremiah 19 (1163)