Jeremiah 19:14

19:10-15 The potter's vessel, after it is hardened, can never be pieced again when it is broken. And as the bottle was broken, so shall Judah and Jerusalem be broken by the Chaldeans. No human hand can repair it; but if they return to the Lord he will heal. As they filled Tophet with the slain sacrificed to their idols, so will God fill the whole city with the slain that shall fall as sacrifices to his justice. Whatever men may think, God will appear as terrible against sin and sinners as the Scriptures state; nor shall the unbelief of men make his promise or his threatenings of no effect. The obstinacy of sinners in sinful ways, is their own fault; if they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped their ears. We have need to pray that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hardness of heart, and contempt of his word and commandments.

Then came Jeremiah from Tophet,.... When he had broke his earthen bottle, and delivered his prophecy before the elders of the people and priests: or, "from that Tophet" (t), whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and whither he went and prophesied, according to his command; but now returned from thence, it being no doubt signified to him, in some manner or other, that it was the will of God he should; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people; this was the court of the temple, called the outward court, or the court of the Israelites, where all the people met; for into other courts they might not enter; here the prophet placed himself, on purpose to deliver his prophecy to all the people; even the same as he had delivered at Tophet to the ancients of the people and the priests; but lest they should not faithfully represent it to the people, and that they might not be without it, he delivers it openly and publicly to them all, in the following words; which both declare their punishment, and the cause of it. (t)

Jeremiah 19:14-15 . He stood in the court of the Lord’s house — The great court, called the outer court, Ezekiel 46:21 , supposed to be the same with the new court, mentioned 2 Chronicles 20:5 , as having been built since Solomon’s time. And said to all the people — Confirming, and probably repeating to them, who had not heard it, what he had said to the ancients in the valley of Tophet. Thus saith the Lord of hosts — Who is well able to make his words good, I will bring upon this city, and upon all her towns — All the cities of Judah and Benjamin are meant which acknowledged Jerusalem for their metropolis, and were subordinate to her. All the evil that I have pronounced against it — As if he had said, Flatter not yourselves with a conceit that God will be better to you than his word. Whatever you may suppose to the contrary, the execution of the divine threatening will fully answer the prediction, and the former will be found, by experience, to be as terrible as the latter represents it to be; because they have hardened their necks — And would not bend them to the yoke of God’s commands; and would not hear his words — Would not heed and yield obedience to them.

(14) He stood in the court of the Lord’s house. —The acted sermon had been preached in Tophet, in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, in the presence of a few chosen representatives of priests and people. It is followed by one addressed to the whole assembled congregation, announcing the same doom.

The Prophet Jeremiah and the Temple-Warden Pashur. - Jeremiah 19:14 . When Jeremiah, having performed the divine command, returned from Tophet to the city, he went into the court of the house of God and spoke to the people assembled there, v. 15: "Thus hath said Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I bring upon this city, and all its cities, all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they stiffened their necks not to hear my words." "All the people" is the people present in the court of the temple as distinguished from the men who had accompanied Jeremiah into the valley of Benhinnom ( Jeremiah 19:10 ). מבי, the א having dropped off, as in Jeremiah 39:16 ; 1 Kings 21:21 , 1 Kings 21:29 ; 2 Samuel 5:2 , and often. "All its cities" are the towns that belonged to Jerusalem, were subject to it ( Jeremiah 34:1 ); in other words, the cities of Judah, Jeremiah 1:15 ; Jeremiah 9:10 , etc. All the evil that I have pronounced against it, not merely in the valley of Benhinnom ( Jeremiah 19:3-13 ), but generally up till this time, by the mouth of Jeremiah. If we limit the reference of this view to the prophecy in Tophet, we must assume, with Ng., that Jeremiah repeated the substance of it here; and besides, that prophecy is not in keeping with "all its cities," inasmuch as it ( Jeremiah 19:3-13 ) deals with Jerusalem alone.

Apparently Jeremiah must have said more than is written in the verse, and described the evil somewhat more closely; so that the new matter spoken by him here consists in the "Behold I bring," etc., i.e., in his forewarning them of the speedy fulfilment of the threatenings against Jerusalem and Judah, as was the case with the prophecy in the valley of Benhinnom, which also, Jeremiah 19:3 , begins with הנני מביא. On "they stiffened their necks," etc., cf. Jeremiah 17:23 ; Jeremiah 7:26 .