The Pulpit Commentary
The simple and familiar craft of the potter becomes a parable of religious truth (comp. Isa_29:16; Isa_45:9; Isa_64:8; Ecclesiasticus 33:13; Rom_9:20; and the account of man's creation in Gen_2:7, which has doubtless given rise to the figure). God has the sovereign right to do as he wills with his own handiwork; thus much can be expressed by the figure. But the moral element in Jeremiah's teaching stands outside this, viz. that the Divine action is governed, not by mere caprice, but a regard for character. "The thought is not so much the arbitrariness as the patience of God, who will bring men to be what he would have them be in the end, as the potter eventually twists the clay to the shape he originally intended, stubborn as the clay may be." But whether Jeremiah meant the lesson which Mr. Maurice deduces from his words may be gravely doubted. It is not of individuals that the prophet is thinking, but of the nation, and not of the nation as destined to be all but certainly saved, but as placed before a serious and awful decision. (For different lessons derived from the same figure, see the ' Rabbi Ben Ezra' of Browning.) Egypt and Palestine were, as it seems, at one in the extreme simplicity of the potter's art. Dr. Birch has given us an account of the Egyptian potter at his work, as he appears in the pictorial representations at Beni Hassan, and Dr. Thomson has described the procedure of a potter in modern Palestine. The chief difference between them seems to be that in Egypt the wheel was turned with the left hand, and the vase shaped with the right, while in modern Palestine the wheel is turned with the fool "Taking a lump in his hand," says Dr. Thomson, "he placed it on the top of the wheel (which revolves horizontally), and smoothed it into a low cone, like the upper end of a sugar-loaf; then thrusting his thumb into the top of it, he opened a hole down through the center, and this he constantly widened by pressing the edges of the revolving cone between his hands. As it enlarged and became thinner, he gave it whatever shape he pleased with the utmost ease and expedition." It should be observed that in verse 3 the "wheels," or rather "two wheels," spoken of are simply the two round plates which formed the horizontal lathe of the potter.

And the vessel that he made, etc.; rather, And whensoever the vessel … was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel

Jer_18:7, Jer_18:8

At what instant, etc.; rather, One instant I may speak … but if that nation, against which 1 have spoken, turn from their evil, I repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. A similar rendering for the next verse.

The Pulpit Commentary
And they said; rather, But they go on saying (comp. Eze_33:17, Eze_33:20). There is no hope. The rendering may be easily misunderstood. The speakers are not, as we might suppose, despondent about their state and prospects, but they seek to check the troublesome preacher by the warning that he has no chance of success (so Jer_2:25). Imagination; rather, stubbornness (as constantly).

The Pulpit Commentary
Will a man leave the anew of Lebanon, etc.? This passage is unusually obscure. Literally we must, it would seem, render, Doth the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field (or possibly, cease to flow from the rock unto the field)? This is explained as pointing a contrast to the infidelity of God's people. "The snow never leaves the summit of Lebanon; the waters which take their rise therein never dry up; but my people have forgotten the law of their being, the source of their prosperity." The rendering of the first clause is, however, grammatically dubious (there is no example of this construction of ‛āzabh), and all the old versions point to (or at least favor) a reading, Shaddai (the Almighty) instead of sadai (the field). If we keep the text, we must explain "the rock of the field" on the analogy of "my mountain in the field" (Jer_17:3), as meaning "the rock which commands a wide prospect over the open lowland country," i.e. Mount Lebanon. The cold flowing waters; i.e. the numerous "streams from Lebanon," referred to in Son_4:15. That come from another place; i.e. whoso sources are foreign. But as this does not suit the connection, it is better to take the Hebrew word (zārı̄m), usually rendered "foreign," in the sense of "pressing or hurrying along," with Ewald, Graf, and virtually Henderson. It thus becomes descriptive of these streams "as contracted within narrow channels while descending through the gorges and defiles of the rocks." Camp. "like an oppressing stream," Isa_59:19 (a cognate verb). Be forsaken. The Hebrew text has "be plucked up' (i.e. destroyed?); but as this is unsuitable, we must transpose two letters (as in not a few other cases), and render, dry up. So Gesenius, Graf, Keil, Delitzsch, and Payne Smith.

The Pulpit Commentary
Because my people hath forgotten me; rather, Surely, etc.; or better still, Yet surely. It is not uncommon for a particle of asseveration to acquire a contrasting force from the context; see e.g. Jer_3:20; Isa_53:4; and, still more completely parallel, Isa_2:6; Jer_9:1, where Authorized Version, with substantial correctness, has "nevertheless." Israel "forgot" Jehovah (as Jer_2:32); no doubt he was responsible for so doing, but still it was not "of malice preponse." To vanity; i.e. to the unreal idol-gods. And they have caused them to stumble; viz. the idol-gods; these are responsible (.for they have a real existence in the consciousness of their worshippers) for this interruption of Israel's spiritual progress. In their ways from the ancient paths. "From," however, is interpolated by the Authorized Version; the Hebrew places "the ancient paths" in apposition to "their ways," "Stand ye in the ways," Jeremiah cried at an earlier period, "and see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way" (Jer_6:16). These "old" or "ancient" paths were ideally "their ways," the ways appointed for the Jews to walk in. To walk in paths; rather, in tracks, footpaths leading up and down and often ending in nothing; or, in other terms, in a way not cast up (Isa_40:3, Isa_40:4, gives a graphic picture of the operation of "casting up a way").

The Pulpit Commentary
The effect of this is to make the land of the transgressors an object of horror and astonishment (so render rather than desolate).

The Pulpit Commentary
As with an east wind. The east was a stormy wind (Psa_48:7; Job_27:21). I wilt show them the back; as they have done to Jehovah (Jer_2:27; Jer_32:33).

The Pulpit Commentary
A fresh conspiracy (comp. Jer_11:18), called forth by the preceding discourse; Jeremiah's prayer.

The law—or rather, direction, instruction, which was a special function of the priests (Deu_33:10; Deu_17:9-11)—shall not perish from the priest. The Jews were but obeying the Deuteronomic Law (on which Jeremiah, as we have seen, laid so much stress) in alluding to the priests. Unhappily, the priests in Jeremiah's time (Jer_2:26), as in Isaiah's (Isa_28:7), were forgetful of their high mission. Nor counsel from the wise. The wise men formed an important order in Jewish society, the importance of which in the Divine education of Israel has not been sufficiently recognized. It was their custom to sit in public places, generally in the chambered recess in the city gate, and give advice on questions of moral practice to those who applied for it. But there were wise men and wise men. Some appear, to have "mocked" at the earnest preaching of the prophets (hence the solemn rebukes in the Book of Proverbs), others to have as it were prepared the way for the latter by a more or less distinct recognition of the religious foundation of morality, and of these we have ample monuments in the canonical Proverbs. There may also have been other shades and varieties of wise men, for their characteristic was not a faculty of intuition, but rather of reflectively applying fundamental moral principles. One highly esteemed branch of "wisdom" would, of course, be political, and this would be the most liable to perversion. It is of such (Pro_29:14). Nor the word from the prophet. "The word" is a general term for prophesying. Of course, the speakers take no account of the advance in prophecy from the time, at any rate, of Amos. They are satisfied with the lower order of prophets; but still they are afraid of Jeremiah, much as Balak was afraid of Balaam, when that soothsayer was blessing Israel (Num_23:25). Smite him with the tongue; i.e. by slanderous accusations. The same figure as in Jer_9:3, Jer_9:8.

Jer_18:19, Jer_18:20

Them that contend with me. Shall evil, etc.? Compare the phraseology of Psa_35:1-12 (either Jeremiah imitated this psalm or vice versa); and for another point of contact with this psalm, see on Jer_23:12. They have digged a pit, etc. Comp. Psa_57:6. To speak good for them. See Jeremiah's intercessions in Jer_14:7-9, Jer_14:19-22.

The Pulpit Commentary
Pour out their blood by the force, etc.; rather, spill them into the hands of, etc. (see Psa_63:10); a phrase akin to that in Isa_53:12. The sword is personified. Let their men he put to death; another personification, for the Hebrew has "slain of Death"—pestilence is referred to, as Jer_15:2.

The Pulpit Commentary
Let them be overthrown before thee; i.e. count them as those who have been brought to ruin. This explanation seems required by the parallelism, the companion clause meaning "do not regard their sin as cancelled." The ruin may be either spiritual or temporal; the parallelism favors the former (comp. Jer_18:14; Hos_14:1-9 :10, where "fall" should be "stumble"). Deal thus with them. "Thus" is interpolated by the Authorized Version; "deal" should rather be deal terribly ("deal" is constantly used in a pregnant sense; see on Jer_14:7).