The Broken Jar
19:1 to 20:18
605 BC during the eleven-year reign of Jehoiakim
At the command of the Lord, Jeremiah made a second trip to the potter’s house, this time as a customer and not a spectator, and he took with him some of the Jewish elders. Knowing their evil plots against him, it’s evidence of his faith that he was willing to walk with them and then, do so daring a thing as, declare in their very presence that disaster was coming to the Land because of their sins. Obviously his prayer to the Lord had brought him peace and courage. In this place I will ruin the plans of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim (19:7). To demonstrate this, Jeremiah broke a clay jar and said: ADONAI-Tzva’ot says that this is how I will break this people and this City, just as one smashes a potter’s vessel beyond the possibility of repair (19:11a). The nation was beyond discipline (2:23), beyond prayer (7:16), and now, beyond repair! They had so hardened themselves against the LORD that all hope was gone.
What before had been threats now became a reality. Pash’chur, son of Immer, the chief overseer and security officer for the Temple, didn’t like what Yirmeyahu was saying. Therefore, he had Jeremiah arrested, beaten, and put into the stocks until the next day. The stocks were located at a prominent place in the Temple area, in order to add shame to pain. Spending all night with your body bent and twisted wouldn’t be at all comfortable, and when you add the pain of the beating, you can imagine how Jeremiah felt.182
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