@Jer 19:1-15. THE DESOLATION OF THE JEWS FOR THEIR SINS FORETOLD IN THE VALLEY OF HINNOM; THE SYMBOL OF BREAKING A BOTTLE.
Referred by MAURER, &c., to the beginning of Zedekiah's reign.
1. bottle--Hebrew, bakuk, so called from the gurgling sound which
it makes when being emptied.
ancients--elders. As witnesses of the symbolic action
(@Jer 19:10 Isa 8:1,2), that the Jews might not afterwards plead
ignorance of the prophecy. The seventy-two elders, composing the
Sanhedrim, or Great Council, were taken partly from "the priests,"
partly from the other tribes, that is, "the people," the former
presiding over spiritual matters, the latter over civil; the seventy-two
represented the whole people.
2. valley of the son of Hinnom--or Tophet, south of Jerusalem, where
human victims were offered, and children made to pass through the fire,
in honor of Molech.
east gate--Margin, "sun gate," sunrise being in the east.
MAURER translates, the "potter's gate." Through it lay the road to the
valley of Hinnom (@Jos 15:8). The potters there formed vessels for
the use of the temple, which was close by
(compare @Jer 19:10,14 Jer 18:2 Zec 11:13).
The same as "the water gate toward the east" (@Ne 3:26 12:37); so called from the brook Kedron.
CALVIN translates, as English Version and Margin. "It was
monstrous perversity to tread the law under foot in so conspicuous a
place, over which the sun daily rising reminded them of the light of
God's law."
3. The scene of their guilt is chosen as the scene of the denunciation
against them.
kings--the king and queen (@Jer 13:18); or including the king's
counsellors and governors under him.
tingle--as if struck by a thunder peal (@1Sa 3:11 2Ki 21:12).
4. (@Isa 65:11).
estranged this place--devoted it to the worship of strange gods:
alienating a portion of the sacred city from God, the rightful Lord of
the temple, city, and whole land.
nor their fathers--namely, the godly among them; their ungodly fathers God makes no account of.
blood of innocents--slain in honor of Molech (@Jer 7:31 Ps 106:37).
5. commanded not--nay, more, I commanded the opposite (@Le 18:21; see @Jer 7:31,32).
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.
7. make void the counsel--defeat their plans for repelling the enemy
(@2Ch 32:1-4 Isa 19:3 22:9,11). Or their schemes of getting help by
having recourse to idols [CALVIN].
in this place--The valley of Hinnom was to be the place of the
Chaldean encampment; the very place where they looked for help from
idols was to be the scene of their own slaughter.
8. (See on Jer 18:16).
9. (@De 28:53 La 4:10).
10. break . . . bottle--a symbolical action, explained in
@Jer 19:11.
the men--the elders of the people and of the priests (@Jer 19:1;
compare @Jer 51:63,64).
11. as one breaketh a potters vessel--expressing God's absolute
sovereignty (@Jer 18:6 Ps 2:9 Isa 30:14, Margin; @La 4:2 Ro 9:20,21).
cannot be made whole again--A broken potter's vessel cannot be
restored, but a new one may be made of the same material. So God raised
a new Jewish seed, not identical with the destroyed rebels, but by
substituting another generation in their stead
[GROTIUS].
no place to bury--(@Jer 7:32).
12. make this city as Tophet--that is, as defiled with dead bodies as Tophet.
13. shall be defiled--with dead bodies (@Jer 19:12 2Ki 23:10).
because of all the houses--Rather, (explanatory of the previous "the
houses . . . and . . . houses"), "even all the houses," &c.
[CALVIN].
roofs--being flat, they were used as high places for sacrifices to
the sun and planets (@Jer 32:29 2Ki 23:11,12 Zep 1:5). The Nabateans,
south and east of the Dead Sea, a nation most friendly to the Jews,
according to STRABO, had the same usage.
14. court of the Lord's house--near Tophet; the largest court, under the open air, where was the greatest crowd (@2Ch 20:5).
15. her towns--the suburban villages and towns near Jerusalem, such as Bethany.