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Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 18:1

CHAPTER XVIII _The type of the potter's vessel, and its signification_, 1-10. _The inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem exhorted to repentance_, 11; _but on their refusal, (which is represented to be as unnatural_ _as if a man should prefer the snowy Lebanon or barren rock to a_ _fruitful plain,... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:2

Verse Jeremiah 18:2. _GO DOWN TO THE POTTER'S HOUSE_] By this similitude God shows the absolute state of dependence on himself in which he has placed mankind. They are as clay in the hands of the potter; and in reference to every thing _here below_, he can shape their destinies as he pleases. Again;... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:3

Verse Jeremiah 18:3. _HE WROUGHT A WORK ON THE WHEELS._] אל האבנים _al_ _haabnayim, upon the stones_, the potter's wheel being usually made of such; the spindle of the moving stone being placed on a stone below, on which it turned, and supported the stone above, on which the vessel was manufactured,... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:4

Verse Jeremiah 18:4. _THE VESSEL - WAS MARRED IN THE HANDS OF THE POTTER_] It did not stand in the working; it got out of shape; or some _gravel_ or _small stone_ having been incorporated with the mass of clay, made a breach in that part where it was found, so that the potter was obliged to knead up... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:6

Verse Jeremiah 18:6. _CANNOT I DO WITH YOU AS THIS POTTER?_] Have I not a right to do with a people whom I have created as reason and justice may require? If they do not answer my intentions, may I not reject and destroy them; and act as this potter, make a new vessel out of that which at first did... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:7

Verse Jeremiah 18:7. AT WHAT _INSTANT I SHALL SPEAK CONCERNING A_ _NATION, C. - IF THAT NATION, AGAINST WHOM, C. - AND_ AT WHAT _INSTANT,_ _ C. - IF IT DO EVIL, C._] These verses contain what may be called _God's decree_ by which the whole of his conduct towards man is regulated. If he purpose destr... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:13

Verse Jeremiah 18:13. _THE VIRGIN OF ISRAEL_] Instead of ישראל _Yisrael, three_ of _Kennicott's_ and _De Rossi's_ MSS., with the Alexandrian copy of the _Septuagint_, have ירושלם _Yerushalem, Jerusalem_.... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:14

Verse Jeremiah 18:14. _WILL_ A MAN _LEAVE THE SNOW OF LEBANON_] Lebanon was the highest mountain in Judea. Would any man in his senses abandon a _farm_ that was always watered by the melted snows of Lebanon, and take a _barren rock_ in its place? How stupid therefore and absurd are my people, who ab... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:17

Verse Jeremiah 18:17. _I WILL SCATTER THEM AS WITH AN EAST WIND_] It is the property of this wind, almost every where, to parch up, blast, and destroy grain and trees, and even cattle and men suffer from it. Hence the old metrical proverb: - "When the wind blows from the east, 'Tis good for neithe... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:18

Verse Jeremiah 18:18. _COME, AND LET US DEVISE DEVICES_] Let us form a conspiracy against him, accuse him of being a _false prophet_, and a contradicter of the words of God, for God has promised us protection, and he says we shall be destroyed, and that God will forsake his people. _LET US SMITE HI... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:20

Verse Jeremiah 18:20. _THEY HAVE DIGGED A PIT FOR MY SOUL._] For my _life_; this they wish to take away. _STOOD BEFORE THEE TO SPEAK GOOD FOR THEM_] I was their continual intercessor.... [ Continue Reading ]

Jeremiah 18:21

Verse Jeremiah 18:21. _THEREFORE DELIVER UP THEIR CHILDREN_] The execrations in these verses should be considered as simply _prophetic_ _declarations_ of the judgments which God was about to pour out on them. If we consider them in their _grammatical_ meaning, then they are not directions to us, to... [ Continue Reading ]

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