Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 19:11
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.
11. and they shall bury to bury ] The absence of connexion shews this (not found in LXX) to be an insertion from Jer 7:32. Gi. and Schmidt omit the clause and onwards to end of Jer 19:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Made whole again – literally, healed. In this lies the distinction between this symbol and that of Jer 18:4. The plastic clay can be shaped and re-shaped until the potter forms with it the vessel he had predetermined: the broken bottle is of no further use, but its fragments are cast away forever upon the heaps of rubbish deposited in Tophet.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Even so will I break this people and this city] The breaking of the bottle was the symbolical representation of the destruction of the city and of the state.
That cannot be made whole again] This seems to refer rather to the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, than to what was done by the Chaldeans. Jerusalem was healed after 70 years: but nearly 1800 years have elapsed since Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Romans; and it was then so broken, that it could not be made whole again.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord of hosts; a name ordinarily given to God, here very properly, to let them know that he said nothing with his lips but what he had power by his hand to accomplish, being the Captain-general of all the armies of his creatures. God, by ordering the prophet to carry no other vessel but one of earth, had a design, upon the breaking of it, not only to show them that he would bruise, wound, or endamage them greatly, but so destroy them, as there should be no present remedy. If a vessel of brass, silver, gold, &c. be broken, it may be mended, but an earthen vessel, if broken, cannot be made whole. See the like Isa 30:14. He tells them that this Tophet, which they had made a place of barbarous slaughter for the children, killed for idolatrous sacrifices, should continue for a slaughter-house, but of another nature, even for them that had committed such wickedness in it, who should be slain there in such plenty, that they should want ground to bury dead carcasses in.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. as one breaketh a potter’svesselexpressing God’s absolute sovereignty (Jer 18:6;Psa 2:9; Isa 30:14,Margin; Lam 4:2; Rom 9:20;Rom 9:21).
cannot be made whole againAbroken potter’s vessel cannot be restored, but a new one may be madeof the same material. So God raised a new Jewish seed, not identicalwith the destroyed rebels, but by substituting another generation intheir stead [GROTIUS].
no place to bury (Jer7:32).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts,…. Of armies above and below; and so able to execute what he here threatens:
even so will I break this people and this city: the people, the inhabitants of this city, and that itself, by the sword, famine, burning, and captivity:
as [one] breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again; or “healed” r; a potter’s vessel, upon the wheel, such an one as the prophet had seen, and to which the Jews are compared, Jer 18:3; being marred, may be restored and put into another form and shape; but one that is dried and hardened, when broke, can never be put together again; so a vessel, of gold, silver, and brass, when broke, may be made whole again; but an earthen vessel never can; a fit emblem therefore this to represent utter and irrecoverable ruin; see Isa 30:14. Jerom here again observes, that this is clearly spoken, not of the Babylonish, but of the Roman captivity; after the former the city was rebuilt, and the people returned to Judea, and restored to former plenty; but since the latter, under Vespasian, Titus, and Hadrian, the ruins of Jerusalem remain, and will till the conversion of the Jews:
and they shall bury [them] in Tophet, till [there be] no place to bury: where there should be such great numbers slain; or whither such multitudes of the slain should be brought out of the city to be buried there, that at length there would not be room enough to receive the dead into it; or, as the Syriac version renders it, “and in Tophet they shall bury, for want of a place to bury” in; in such a filthy, abominable, and accursed place shall their carcasses lie, where they were guilty of idolatry, and sacrificed their innocent babes, there being no other place to inter them in: an emblem this of their souls suffering in hell the vengeance of eternal fire.
r “sanari”, Montanus; “curari”, Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet again confirms what he had shewn by the external symbol, and he does this by a new coremtrod from God. We know that signs are wholly useless when the word of God does not shine forth, as we see that superstitious men always practice many ceremonies, but they are only histrionic acts. But God never commanded his prophets to shew any sign without adding doctrine to it. This is what we see was done on this occasion; for Jeremiah spoke against impious superstitions, and as a celestial herald denounced punishment; he then sealed the prophecy by breaking the bottle, and a repetition of the doctrine follows again, Thus shalt thou say to them. This is not said of the Prophet’s companions, the pronoun is without an antecedent, but the whole reople are the persons referred to.
Thus saith Jehovah, I will so break this people and this city. He mentions the city, in which they thought they had an impregnable fortress, because the temple of God was there. But as they had profaned the temple and polluted the city with their crimes, Jeremiah reminded them that no confidence or hope was to be placed in the city. Then he says, As one breaks a vessel which cannot be repaired, etc. Here again he shows that they were wholly to perish, so as no more to rise again. We indeed know that sometimes those who are most grievously afflicted retain some remnants of strength, and are at length restored to their former vigor; but the Prophet shews that the approaching calamity would be wholly irremediable. It is no objection to say, that God a. fterwards restored the people, and that the city and the temple were rebuilt, for all this was nothing to the ungodly men of that age, as their memory wholly perished. A curse and God’s vengeance remained on the heads of those who thus continued obstinate in their wickedness; and hence those who returned from exile are said in Psa 102:19, to have been a people created again, as though they rose up as new men,
“
A people, who shall be created, shall praise the Lord.”
He then says, Buried shall they be, in Tophet, for there will be no place elsewhere (220) They had chosen that place at a time when they thought that they had some evidence of God’s favor, and a cause for joy; but he declares that that place would be filled with dead bodies, for they would flee in great numbers into the city, which afterwards would become so full of dead bodies that no room for burial could be found except in Topher. It follows —
(220) This is evidently the meaning, and not that given in our version. See note in vol. 1, p. 415. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
11. Cannot be made whole again In this it differed from the symbol of the preceding chapter. That set forth the one unfailing, invincible purpose of God in crushing the vessel for its more perfect moulding, and so bringing a fuller victory out of apparent defeat; here we have the judgment of God dashing into fragments a worthless vessel. The innumerable fragments fitly represent the countless slain.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 19:11 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.
Ver. 11. That cannot be made whole again. ] Heb., Cured. No more was the Jewish state ever restored to its ancient dignity and lustre, after the captivity; neither was Tophet ever repaired at all, but served for a mortuary chapel, a place to lay dead men’s bones in.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD of hosts. See note on Jer 6:6.
as = according as.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Even: Jer 13:14, Psa 2:9, Isa 30:14, Lam 4:2, Rev 2:27
made whole: Heb. healed
bury: Jer 19:6, Jer 7:31, Jer 7:32
Reciprocal: Jos 18:16 – the valley of the son 2Ki 23:10 – Topheth Pro 6:15 – he be Isa 30:33 – Tophet Jer 19:1 – Go Jer 31:40 – the whole Jer 39:16 – Behold Jer 51:63 – thou shalt bind Eze 12:20 – General Mic 6:9 – Lord’s Act 21:11 – he took
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A BROKEN VESSEL
A potters vessel, that cannot be made whole again.
Jer 19:11
I. An earthen vessel is a true emblem of human life, so frail, so brittle.But there is something frailer yet in our resolutions and efforts after holiness. And when once these have failed us, we can never be again what we were. Always the crack, the rivets, the mark of the join.
II. In Gideons days there was a light within the earthen vessels, and when these were broken it shone forth.There is, therefore, a breaking of the vessel which is salutary and desirable. And it is of this that Miss Taylor sings:
Oh to be nothing, nothing!
Only to lie at His feet,
A broken and emptied vessel,
For the Masters use made meet.
Broken, that so unhindered
His life through me might flow.
It reminds me of a piece of pottery I saw in the mountain burn, which was in the water and the water in it. If there be in any one of us a proud and evil disposition, a masterful self-will, which frets for its own way and makes itself strong against God, then indeed we may ask to be so broken as never to be whole again. Take mebreak memake me! is a very wholesome prayer for us all.
III. The apostle speaks of the heavenly treasure in the earthen vessel.How wonderful it is that God should put so much of His spiritual ointment into such common and ordinary receptacles! No one detects what is in the saints till they are broken by sickness, pain, trouble; then the house is filled with the odour of the ointment.
Illustration
But Thou art making me, I thank Thee, sire,
What Thou hast done and doest, Thou knowest well,
And I will help Thee; gently in Thy fire
I will be burning; on Thy potters wheel
I will whirl patient, tho my brain should reel;
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 19:11. The prophet was then to interpret the whole performance to his group. The Lord further instructed Jeremiah to see that they (the men with him) would bury the pieces right there in the valley where so much of the idolatry had been committed.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
19:11 And shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as [one] breaketh a {e} potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury [them] in Tophet, till [there be] no place to bury.
(e) This visible sign was to confirm them concerning the assurance of this plague, which the Lord threatened by his prophet.