Jeremiah 19:6

19:1-9 The prophet must give notice of ruin coming upon Judah and Jerusalem. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it. That place which holiness made the joy of the whole earth, sin made the reproach and shame of the whole earth. There is no fleeing from God's justice, but by fleeing to his mercy.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,.... Or, "are coming" (o); a little while and it will come to pass, what follows; to which a "behold" is prefixed, as calling for attention and admiration, as well as to assure of the certain performance of it: that this place shall no more be called Tophet: as it had been, from the beating of drums in it, that the cries and shrieks of infants burnt in the fire might not be heard by their parents: nor the valley of the son of Hinnom; which was its name in the times of Joshua, and long before it was called Tophet; but now it should have neither names: but the valley of slaughter; or, "of the slain", as the Targum; from the multitude of those that should be killed here, at the siege and taking of Jerusalem; or that should be brought hither to be buried; see Jeremiah 19:11 and See Gill on Jeremiah 7:32. (o) "dies (sunt) venientes", Montanus, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 19:6-9 . Therefore, behold, the days come — And are at no great distance; that this place shall no more be called Tophet, &c. — In Joshua’s time it was called The valley of the son of Hinnom; in after ages, it had the name of Tophet, from the noise of drums and tabrets sounding there while children were burning. Here it is foretold that it should have a new name and be called, The valley of Slaughter. See note on Jeremiah 7:32-33 . I will make void the counsel, &c., in this place — They shed innocent blood in this place, and in this place God would discomfit them, and cause their blood to be shed by the hands of the Chaldeans. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters — A terrible judgment threatened by Moses, Deuteronomy 28:53 ; and actually fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem. See Lamentations 4:10 .

6. no more … Tophet—from Hebrew, toph, "drum"; for in sacrificing children to Molech drums were beaten to drown their cries. Thus the name indicated the joy of the people at the fancied propitiation of the god by this sacrifice; in antithesis to its joyless name subsequently. valley of slaughter—It should be the scene of slaughter, no longer of children, but of men; not of "innocents" (Jer 19:4), but of those who richly deserved their fate. The city could not be assailed without first occupying the valley of Hinnom, in which was the only fountain: hence arose the violent battle there.

For this God, by his prophet, threateneth that this place, anciently, in Joshua’s time, called The valley of the son of Hinnom, and more lately Tophet , from the noise of drums and tabrets there, whilst children were burning, should have a new name, and be called The valley of slaughter, from the multitude of dead bodies which upon the taking of the city should be slain and thrown into this valley. It was expounded Jeremiah 7:32,33 , For they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place; and the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall fray them away.

In Jeremiah 19:6-13 the threatened punishment is given again at large, and that in two strophes or series of ideas, which explain the emblematical act with the pitcher. The first series, Jeremiah 19:6-9 , is introduced by בּקּותי, which intimates the meaning of the pitcher; and the other, Jeremiah 19:10-13 , is bound up with the breaking of the pitcher. But both series are, Jeremiah 19:6 , opened by the mention of the locality of the act. As Jeremiah 19:5 was but an expansion of Jeremiah 7:31 , so Jeremiah 19:6 is a literal repetition of Jeremiah 7:32 . The valley of Benhinnom, with its places for abominable sacrifices (תּפת, see on Jeremiah 7:32 ), shall in the future be called Valley of Slaughter; i.e., at the judgment on Jerusalem it will be the place where the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah will be slain by the enemy. There God will make void (בּקּותי, playing on בּקבּק), i.e., bring to nothing; for what is poured out comes to nothing; cf. Isaiah 19:3 . There they shall fall by the sword in such numbers that their corpses shall be food for the beasts of prey (cf. Jeremiah 7:33 ), and the city of Jerusalem shall be frightfully ravaged ( Jeremiah 19:8 , cf. Jeremiah 18:16 ; Jeremiah 25:9 , etc.). מכּתה (plural form of suffix without Jod; cf. Ew. 258, a), the wounds she has received. - In Jeremiah 19:9 is added yet another item to complete the awful picture, the terrible famine during the siege, partly taken from the words of Deuteronomy 28:53 . and Leviticus 26:29 .

That this appalling misery did actually come about during the last siege by the Chaldeans, we learn from Lamentations 4:10 . - The second series, Jeremiah 19:10-13 , is introduced by the act of breaking the pitcher. This happens before the eyes of the elders who have accompanied Jeremiah thither: to them the explanatory word of the Lord is addressed. As the earthen pitcher, so shall Jerusalem - people and city - be broken to pieces; and that irremediably. This is implied in: as one breaks a potter's vessel, etc. (הרפה for הרפא). The next clause: and in Tophet they shall bury, etc., is omitted by the lxx as a repetition from Jeremiah 7:32 , and is object to by Ew., Hitz., and Graf, as not being in keeping with its context. Ew. proposes to insert it before "as one breaketh;" but this transposition only obscures the meaning of the clause. It connects very suitably with the idea of the incurable breaking in sunder. Because the breaking up of Jerusalem and its inhabitants shall be incurable, shall be like the breaking of a pitcher dashed into countless fragments, therefore there will be lack of room in Jerusalem to bury the dead, and the unclean places of Tophet will need to be used for that purpose. With this the further thought of Jeremiah 19:12 and Jeremiah 19:13 connects simply and suitably.