Commentary on Jeremiah 18:1-11

Andrew Wymer

Many preachers and Christians of a certain age will remember Eddie Espinosa’s praise song “Change My Heart, O God.”¹ You can listen and see lyrics here, among many online options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEtsHWFE6-w&list=RDCEtsHWFE6-w&start_radio=.

This song provides an anthropocentric interpretation of this passage in which God is pictured as the potter molding clay, and it is a possible interpretative move that can be made as you grapple with this text.

In its literary context, this text falls squarely amid Jeremiah’s laments and prophecies of coming punishment for the wickedness of God’s people. The image of the potter provides a throughline that connects this passage to chapter 19, in which the nation is represented as a smashed potter’s jar that can no longer be repaired. (In each instance, God’s people are represented by the clay.) You can see Jeremiah’s discourse evolve here, moving from this passage in which repair to the clay is still possible to a hardened clay pot that cannot be repaired in chapter 19.

While we cannot be exactly certain of the dates at which this portion of Jeremiah was written, we know that Jeremiah lived during a period of intense social and religious upheaval. Amon, an idolatrous king who reigned during a period of unchecked foreign inculturation, was assassinated, and his son Josiah implemented intense religious and cultural reforms, eradicating idolatry, destroying sites of idol worship, restoring the temple in Jerusalem, and removing foreign cultural influences. However, Josiah’s reforms were short-lived, and they ended upon his death.

Josiah was followed as king by his son Jehoahaz, who only briefly reigned and then was dethroned by Egyptian political influence and forcibly removed to Egypt. Jehoiakim was installed as king, and he was beholden to external powers (Egypt and Babylon), switching allegiances, which would eventually result in his execution. Biblical and rabbinical sources document him as being incredibly violent, idolatrous, and unjust. Shortly after his death at the hand of the Babylonians, much of Judah would be led into Babylonian exile. Is this passage decrying the abandonment of Josiah’s reforms? Is this passage foretelling the Babylonian exile? We cannot be certain, but each represents a reasonable interpretative move.

While sociocultural detail helps us frame this passage in historical awareness, the most important work that needs to be done with this passage is theological. While Espinosa’s song runs through my mind, there are aspects of this passage that make me very hesitant to proclaim, “I am the clay.” I am not so sure I want to be the clay, because there are several theological issues that are not neatly resolved.

One of the challenges of this passage is the limit of the imagery of the potter and the clay. In ancient and contemporary pottery, clay plays a role in the throwing process, but it is ultimately inanimate and has no agency. Note that the potter shapes the clay “as it seem[s] best to him” (verse 4). The potter is completely in charge here, and it can be helpful to interpret the image of the potter and the clay as God shaping the future of Israel (the clay) based on the present decisions of Israel (the nation). What the potter determines to do with the clay in the future will be decided based on Israel’s present behavior.

While this passage presents an image of God as completely sovereign, this is held in tension with a God who is open and changeable. There is a dimension of process theology to be glimpsed here: God’s mind is not yet made up, and God is changing and reacting to the self-determination of God’s people. A tension between God’s sovereignty and the self-determination of God’s people runs throughout this passage. God alone makes the decisions, yet the people of God play a role in shaping whether God’s decisions are destructive (in other words, uprooted, torn down) or constructive (in other words, built up, planted).

Contrast the image of Israel as clay in the potter’s hands in this passage with the imagery of the nation of Israel as the hardened clay pot (chapter 19), which when broken cannot be repaired. These two images contrast malleability with brittleness, adaptivity with rigidity, and new possibility with finality.

God is represented here as threatening the destruction of entire nations. God “inflicts,” “prepares,” and “devises” disaster. Similar theological images can be found throughout Jeremiah. As a preacher, how do you engage Jeremiah’s theology? One of the most important and advanced skills my preaching students can develop is the ability to contest and disagree with biblical texts, and Jeremiah requires contesting if you do not wish to endorse a theology of a punitive, violent God who (within that theology) could be considered one of the most violent single forces in human history.

Even as my own theology leads me to strongly critique the potential violence of God glimpsed in this text, I can still gain new perspectives through which to reflect on God. This passage can even lead me to reflect on potential tensions within my own theology, such as the possible tension between a God who will ultimately judge evil and a God who would not commit mass or systemic violence. Disagreeing with and contesting the biblical text must be accompanied by deep humility in which we realize our own contextual, theological, and human particularity and accompanying limitations.

Espinosa’s song is an important frame for this passage because he makes an interesting interpretative move that can be illustrative for us. This passage is potter-centered. Espinosa’s song is clay-centered. This passage is focused on God’s perspective. Espinosa’s song is focused on a human perspective. This interpretative move invites questions. What does it mean to “be the clay”? How do we relate to the potter? It even cues for me further interpretative play with this passage. If the people of God can change God’s heart, perhaps after we sing “Change our hearts, oh God,” we could sing, “Change your heart, oh God.”