Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 18

Verse 4

18:4 And the vessel that he made of {a} clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make [it].

(a) As the potter has power over the clay to make what pot he will, or to break them, when he has made them: so have I power over you to do with you as seems good to me, Isaiah 45:9, Romans 9:20-21 .

Verse 8

18:8 If that nation, against which I have pronounced, shall turn from their evil, I will {b} repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

(b) When the Scripture attributes repentance to God, it is not that he does contrary to that which he has ordained in his secret counsel: but when he threatens it is a calling to repentance, and when he gives man grace to repent, the threatening (which ever contains a condition in it) takes no place: and this the scripture calls repentance in God, because it so appears to man’s judgment.

Verse 12

18:12 And they said, {c} There is no hope: but we will walk after our own plots, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

(c) As men who had no remorse but were altogether bent to rebellion and to their own selfwill.

Verse 14

18:14 Will [a man] leave the snow of Lebanon [which cometh] from the rock of the field? {d} [or] shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

(d) As no man that has thirst refuses fresh waters which he has at home, to go and seek waters abroad to quench his thirst: so they should not seek help and comfort from strangers and leave God who was present with them.

Verse 15

18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways [from] the {e} ancient paths, to walk in paths, [in] a way not cast up;

(e) That is, the way of truth which God had taught by his law, Jeremiah 6:16 .

Verse 17

18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and {f} not the face, in the day of their calamity.

(f) I will show my anger and not my favour toward them.

Verse 18

18:18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law {g} shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the {h} tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

(g) This argument the wicked have always used against the servants of God. The church cannot err: we are the Church, and therefore whoever speaks against us, they ought to die, 1 Kings 22:24, Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 20:2, Malachi 2:4 and thus the false Church persecutes the true Church, which stands not in outward pomp, and in multitude, but is known by the graces of the Holy Spirit.

(h) Let us slander him and accuse him: for we will be believed.

Verse 21

18:21 Therefore {i} deliver their children to the famine, and pour out their [blood] by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and [be] widows; and let their men be put to death; [let] their young men [be] slain by the sword in battle.

(i) Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, who grew daily more and more, the prophet being moved with God’s Spirit, without any carnal affection prays for their destruction because he knew that it would be to God’s glory, and profit of his Church.