Jeremiah 19 - Introduction

Jeremiah 19:1 to Jeremiah 20:6. The symbol of the broken vessel and the consequences to the prophet

See introd. note on ch. 18. Certain parts of this ch. are probably editorial insertions. See notes below. The date may be placed in Jehoiakim's reign, and, from the distinctness with which Babylon is mentioned (Jeremiah 20:4) as the source of danger, it probably followed, rather than preceded, the battle of Carchemish (in the 3rd year of his reign, b.c. 605).

The section may be summarized as follows.

(i) Jeremiah 19:1. The Lord bids the prophet take an earthen bottle, and go, accompanied by leading persons, to the valley of Hinnom, and proclaim the message which he shall there receive. (ii) Jeremiah 19:3. Calamities which shall shock all who hear of them shall be the punishment of the idolatrous and cruel rites practised in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, abhorrent to Jehovah's mind. The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be put to the sword, and their corpses shall be a prey to birds and beasts. All who see their fate shall be filled with horror and contempt. Lack of food shall drive the besieged to cannibalism. (iii) Jeremiah 19:10. Then Jeremiah is to break the bottle, in token of the city's irremediable fate. The houses of Jerusalem, the roofs of which have been defiled by idolatry, shall be even as the unclean Topheth. (iv) Jeremiah 19:14 to Jeremiah 20:6. Jeremiah returns to the Temple court, and repeats his warning. Pashhur, chief officer in the Temple, places him in the stocks, and, on setting him free next day, is warned by the prophet of the calamities in which he and the rest of Jerusalem shall soon be involved.