Approaching studies within Jeremiah, instead of trying to follow chronologically, which is difficult with this book, for roughly the first half of the book, the first 29 chapters, we will instead only produce studies within their appropriate chapters, theming them as follows:

• Jeremiah’s Calling                     Ch.1
• Jeremiah’s Main Message        Ch.2,3,5,7,21,22
• Jeremiah’s Action Parables      Ch.13,18,19,27
• Jeremiah’s Opposition              Ch.11,12,14,18,20,26,28
• Jeremiah’s Message of Hope   Ch.3,23,24,25,29

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, and the particular theme, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

Jeremiah’s Action Parables: 2 – The Potter

Jer 18:1-12

 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ ¹² But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

A. Find Out:

1. Why was Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house? v.2
2. What was wrong with the pot? v.4a
3. So what did the potter do with it? v.4b
4. What did this portray? v.6
5. When would the Lord relent over destruction? v.7,8
6. So what does He call Israel to do? v.11

B. Think:

1. What was the point of watching a pot being reformed?
2. How did the Lord say His mind could be changed?
3. Why was it pointless with Israel?

C. Comment:

In this next “action parable” instead of doing something himself, Jeremiah simply has to watch what another person is doing.

First, note that the Lord wants him to see what is happening before He will give Jeremiah His message. Often the Lord wants us to have a clear visual picture before His word of explanation comes, so that we will remember it clearly.

Second, note that the Lord is sovereign. He is as different from Israel as the potter is from the clay. He can do what he likes with the clay.  He decides in His wisdom whether or not to reshape a nation.

Third, God’s dealing with a nation depends on how that nation responds to Him. He will not judge an evil nation if it repents. He will not bless a good nation if it turns to evil. God’s dealings with nations are not arbitrary. It depends on the nation itself!  In no way is this the picture of a capricious God who is hasty in His actions. It is the picture of God who waits for a nation to decide its own fate. 

Finally it is clear that every nation has a free will to choose its course, and Israel has chosen evil, and for that it will be destroyed.  They have fixed their minds and will not change. The end is therefore inevitable destruction. They have chosen it!

D. Application?

1. Praise God that He is sovereign and almighty and deals with the nations as He will.
2. Pray for your own nation today.

Jeremiah’s Opposition: Further Opposition

Jer 18:18-23

¹⁸ They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹ Listen to me, Lord;
    hear what my accusers are saying!
²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil?
    Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember that I stood before you
    and spoke in their behalf
    to turn your wrath away from them.
²¹ So give their children over to famine;
    hand them over to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be made childless and widows;
    let their men be put to death,
    their young men slain by the sword in battle.
²² Let a cry be heard from their houses
    when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
    and have hidden snares for my feet.
²³ But you, Lord, know
    all their plots to kill me.
Do not forgive their crimes
    or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
    deal with them in the time of your anger.

A. Find Out:

1. How were they attacking Jeremiah? v.18c
2. What did Jeremiah consider they had done? v.20
3. What more had they planned? v.23
4. What did Jeremiah ask the Lord to do first? v.19
5. Then what did he ask? v.20b
6. What finally did he ask? v.21,22

B. Think:

1. Why were “they” saying they didn’t need to listen to Jeremiah?
2. How had they obviously gone much further than just ignoring him?
3. What did Jeremiah see was the only way for them to be dealt with?

C. Comment:

Again, as Jeremiah has brought God’s word he receives rejection from the people, but unfortunately it is far more than mere rejection. In this passage we see the stages of opposition that we can receive. First there is SIMPLE REJECTION  i.e. refusal to hear or listen to God’s word being brought. That isn’t very easy to take! Second there is attacking with tongues  i.e. SLANDER against God’s servant to pull him down with words. That is harder to take. Third there is seeking to TRAP him and pull him down by some form of snare that will make him cease his activities of bringing the sword of God.  Fourth there is the blatant attempt to DESTROY him.

These are the stages that people go through in opposing the word of God, both non-Christians and, tragically, sometimes Christians. The excuse these people made was that they already had God’s word from the past so they didn’t need a “now-word”. That was refusal to hear God and in Jeremiah’s eyes that warranted their death. A tough time for Jeremiah.

D. Application?

1. Ensure that you never oppose God’s word coming through his servants and especially that you never act against his servants bringing the word.
2. Ask God to cleanse you of any unbelief.