God tells Jeremiah to go and buy a clay jar from a potter and take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, Jeremiah 19:1-2. There are other occasions in this book when Jeremiah himself became a part of his message. They are the Linen Belt in Jeremiah 13, God telling him he must not marry, Jeremiah 16, the Potter’s Clay, Jeremiah 18, the yoke around his neck, Jeremiah 27, and his buying a Field, Jeremiah 32.
The Valley of Ben Hinnom was the dumping ground of Jerusalem and there was a continual fire, a perpetual fire, that burned in this valley. Years later, when Jesus Christ came onto the scene, He might have been looking out over that very valley when He taught the important lessons on Gehenna, the fire of hell, Matthew 5:22 / Matthew 5:29-30 Matthew 10:28 / Matthew 18:9.
The Valley of Ben Hinnom was located south of Jerusalem and was the location of the shrine of Molech. This is where their infants were burned as sacrifices to that god. After Josiah defiled the place it was used for burning waste and cremating the bodies of dead criminals. The potter’s field is believed to be a little bit south of this, and it was there that Judas Iscariot committed suicide after betraying Jesus, Matthew 27:5-10 / Acts 1:18-20. Some suggest that this was one reason why Golgotha was called the Place of Skulls, Matthew 27:33, because of the dead bodies.
Scribner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Two gates led to the Valley of Ben Hinnom.
1. The Fountain Gate in the southeast corner.
2. The Dung Gate at the southwest corner.
Scholars are not sure which one this refers to. One scholar believes that it was the gate that they used for throwing out their rubbish. If this were the case, the symbol of this is of the proud nation being carried out of the back door to be broken up for rubbish.’
God said to Jeremiah, he is to take that piece of pottery, and invite the leaders of the city and the religious leaders, to go with him and he is to go down there to preach a sermon, Jeremiah 19:2. It wasn’t a pleasant sermon, it was a sermon about captivity, it was a sermon about destruction, it was a sermon which will make people’s ears tingle, Jeremiah 19:3.
God is going to punish them because they have forsaken Him, committed idolatry and filled the land with innocent blood, Jeremiah 19:4.
Scribner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This verse doesn’t refer to the blood of the infants who were sacrificed to Molech. It is believed to refer to the innocent people who were murdered by Manasseh, 2 Kings 21:16.’
The high places were built to burn their children as burnt offerings to Baal, Jeremiah 19:5. This identifies Baal with the horrible Molech. Because of the dead, the Valley of Topheth would have its name changed to the Valley of Slaughter, Jeremiah 19:6. It will become like a rubbish dump.
No one is sure what Topheth means, Jeremiah 19:6, although it is suggested that it means ‘fireplace’ and it was one of the names given to the Valley of Ben Hinnom. Whatever it means, it was the place where the shrine of Molech was kept.
Jamieson, Fausset And Brown’s commentary, say the following.
‘It was in this valley that the Babylonians made their camp and it was at this scene of slaughter that Babylon came to slaughter God’s people.
God is going to ruin the plan of Judah and Jerusalem, and they will fall by the sword, Jeremiah 19:7. Devastation awaits the city and God will make it an object of horror and scorn and everyone passing by be appalled and they will scoff at them because of their sorrowful state, Jeremiah 19:8.
Jeremiah 19:9, is a terrible warning which is almost a quotation from Deuteronomy 28:53. This is when Moses was warning Israel of their fate if they should give up serving the true God and so, Jeremiah is warning them that the Mosaic penalty was going to be enforced.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Did such an awful thing actually happen? Alas, the answer must be that it did. 1. In the siege of Samaria that led to the fall of the Northern kingdom in 722 B.C. 2 Kings 6:26-33. 2. again in 586 B.C. in the Babylonian invasion by Nebuchadnezzar and 3. also in A.D. 70 preceding the total destruction of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus. The Biblical confirmation of these sad episodes is found in Lamentations 2:20 / Lamentations 4:10 / 2 Kings 6:28-29, and the historical record of Josephus confirms that in 70 A.D.’
Following the instructions given to him by God, Jeremiah threw the jar of clay down on the ground, so that it broke into pieces, Jeremiah 19:10. This is the perfect example, symbol, of what is going to happen to the nation. This disaster is not going to happen by accident, the nation and the city are going to be deliberately broken, Jeremiah 19:11-12.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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.’
God intended it, man accomplished it. It wasn’t partially shattered, it was completely smashed. God’s people had turned their backs on Him and worshipped idols by offering up their children to slaughter for burning. God was now going to do the same to them by slaughter, by burning, by offering them up to a foreign nation. This destruction was going to fall upon the city as a whole. This would include the roofs of houses where they had burned incense to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods, Jeremiah 19:13.
Wycliff, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In 2 Kings 21:5, and 2 Kings 23:12, we learn that Ahaz and Manasseh introduced this pagan cult in Judah, probably from Mesopotamia, where it was practiced from remote antiquity.’
God sent Jeremiah to stand in the court of the temple and announced that judgment is coming because they are stiffened neck and refuse to listen to God’s Words, Jeremiah 19:14-15. I would imagine that this was only a brief summary of what Jeremiah said in the court of the temple, Jeremiah 19:14-15.
I say this because, when we come to Jeremiah 20, we find that Pashhur, who was the chief officer of the temple, gets irritated and angry by what Jeremiah was saying. But Jeremiah doesn’t say much in this last verse of this chapter and so, so I guess this was just a brief summary of what he said.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This action by Pashhur follows immediately after Jeremiah’s speech in the court of the Lord’s temple and it is this connection between these two chapters that leads some scholars to believe that Jeremiah 19:14-15, should have been the opening verses of the next chapter.’