All things bear record · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 18

0 witnesses of Christ here, and 4 further echoes from the reading.

The potter and the price of Christ

Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Jeremiah 18:2–3

Jeremiah's lessons from the potter (chapters 18-19) are part of the background Matthew draws on when he cites 'Jeremy the prophet' about the thirty pieces of silver paid for Jesus and used to buy the potter's field.

A readingEchoAn echo of Him
  • alluded to by Matthew 27:9-10 — The price of Jesus buys the potter's field, 'spoken by Jeremy the prophet' (with Zechariah 11:12-13).

Jehovah the Potter

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Jeremiah 18:4–6

Jehovah is the Potter and Israel is the clay. A marred pot is not thrown away but reshaped into a new vessel. That is a picture of how Christ can remake a broken life when we yield to His hands.

A readingJehovah — the LORDallegory_parable
  • the same title in Isaiah 64:8 — 'We are the clay, and thou our potter.'
  • alluded to by Romans 9:20-21 — 'Hath not the potter power over the clay?'

Cold flowing waters from the rock

Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Jeremiah 18:14–15

No one would give up fresh water from mountain snow and rock, yet Israel forgot the LORD, their true source. The image echoes Jehovah as the fountain of living waters and the Rock that followed Israel, which Paul says was Christ.

A readingEchoAn echo of Him

Plotted against, repaid evil for good

Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. Jeremiah 18:18–20

The religious leaders plot to trap Jeremiah and silence him, even though he had pleaded with God for them. Jesus was paid evil for good in the same way. But where Jeremiah then asks God not to forgive them (verse 23), Jesus prayed, 'Father, forgive them.'

A readingEchoA person who is a type of Him
  • a type of what is in Matthew 26:3-4 — The chief priests consult to take Jesus by subtilty and kill Him.
  • a type of what is in John 10:32 — 'Many good works have I shewed you... for which of those works do ye stone me?'