Jeremiah Chapter 18; They sacrifice to a delusion.

 

                                                                Chapter 18

 

My apologies to all that I must skip chapters sixteen and seventeen but my computer crashed and it was too difficult to juggle lap- top time with my son.

Chapter 18 commences with God directing Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house to be instructed. This pottery- making metaphor will be used as an abject lesson to illustrate the spiritual retooling of man with God cast as the master potter. Rabbi has pointed out that this will be a reoccurring thematic trope in many chapters to come. There are other references to pottery- making in the Tanakh found in: Genesis 2:7, 2:19, Job 10:8-9, and Isaiah 29:16, 45:9 and 64:8. Unlike ancient Israeli potters, contemporary potters have the option of purchasing pre-wedged slabs of clay in all manner of colors, firing capabilities and textures to suit one’s aesthetic sensibilities and needs. A profitable biblical potter’s business would have enabled the addition of an apprentice(s) to do the physical labor of collecting and preparing the clay for the master crafts- person/the “Yatsar”, the one who forms. Archeologists believe that there was a thriving pottery industry in ancient Jerusalem/Israel having found potter’s wheels (kick wheels), raw and prepared clays, kilns and potter’s tools. Many of these artifacts were unearthed in the Hinnom Valley outside of the city exiting from what Jeremiah calls the Potsherd Gate 19:2 ( our JPS translation referring to it as the Harsith Gate). As man creates vessels, so God formed man from the clay of the earth.

 

Jane: So, God is molding the people like a potter raising clay on the wheel.

 

Joel: I can’t figure Jeremiah out. He pleads for the people, then he is against them, then he is angry with God. And perhaps God is easier to figure out, but less sympathetic. He seems a trifle arbitrary, like the good and the bad will be re-sculpted all at the same time.

Bill: Do you think the potter can be making idols too? Do you think that’s what the metaphor is alluding to?

 

Joel: Well, once you form objects you are moving into that realm because you are making form. The form here is divine form made by the creator, not a human craftsman.

 

Ceil: Pottery is an essential vessel in the life of these people, but there is no indication that potters were in the same business as idol makers.

 

Jane: When throwing clay on the wheel, if your hands slip or are off- center, the clay responds and the vessel is off-center or thrown off entirely.

 

Rabbi: That is a situation that is either the fault of the potter or the material, but this feels more like… “I brought you into this world and I can take you out”. God seems to be saying that he has the power to determine what is right and what is wrong.

 

Jane: I don’t think this is a good metaphor. Clay is an inert material – it doesn’t have a will or an intention.

 

Ceil: There is a difference between God saying, if this creation, man is no good I will wipe him out and if I feel like it, for my own reasons , I will wipe him out.

Jane: God is all powerful so why doesn’t he eradicate evil? I understand the concept of free will but why not just dispense with the evil impulse altogether?

 

Joel: This is what I think. We are still developing – we are being sculpted to be a higher Jew. We are a work in progress. It’s like Clark Kent peeling off the suit.

 

Rabbi: This is very nuanced and complicated. If we are suffering we can feel that this is God’s will. We can also consider that we can be made stronger from hardship.

 

Bill: When clay is soft it is pliable and can be molded but, once it becomes dry, it is brittle and will crumble back to dust.

 

Julie: This is a great metaphor. I love it!

 

Joel: The writer/prophets really shake up the genres. They weave in and out of many forms such as poetry, prose, history, art metaphor etc.

Ceil: Yes, like a stream of consciousness.

 

Rabbi: I’m currently reading William Gibson essays and he discusses the challenge of switching from non-fiction to fiction.

 

Gerry: This was so long ago. There was a verticality of effort. People had to be experienced at doing many things. The potters had to dig their own the clay and

prepare it. They had to make their own tools. This was a long and involved process- not like today.

 

Bill: God seems angrier than usual.

 

Ceil: Maybe Jeremiah needs to be shaken up!

Bill: He is already shaken up. Reading him feels more direct than Isaiah – he is more concerned for his own safety and for good reason.

Jane: This is similar to Plato’s Cave. We don’t see who he is talking to. It’s like the shadows on the wall. This is a one way conversation.

 

Jerry:  We don’t know what the people thought.

 

Rabbi: We know what some of the people though – they want to silence/kill him. For example in verse 18, “They said, “Come let us devise a plot against Jeremiah…”

 

Jerry: It’s not a good sign when the people want to kill the artists.

 

Joel: Or, it is a very good sign.  The artist is saying something truthful which is shaking up the people. He’s doing his job.

 

Ceil: Referring to 18:19, “Listen to me, O LORD- And take note of what my enemies say!”

This is very self- serving.

 

Jane: He feels betrayed – he has pled the people’s case to God and now they turn on him.

 

Ceil: There is a bit of whining going on here.

 

Rabbi: This is a new low for Jeremiah. He has done all that has been asked of him and has pleaded on behalf of the people but now, his own townsmen are turning on him.

 I would like to point out that this is page 812. It marks the half- way point of the Tanakh. We should plan a celebration!

 

As an artist I feel that art making is one of the most human of endeavors. The artist empowers herself with the authority to determine what will remain in the work and what will be “wiped-out.”  One must know the tendencies and limits of a material’s capabilities in order to determine how it can best suit a process and a finished product. Every artist knows there is a profound relationship between one’s materials and oneself. This intimacy occurs over time from experience and mastery. It is gained not over the material by mere force, but rather by being in partnership with it. The metaphor is a good one. If there is to be a new or higher Israel, there is a synthetic process going on between the maker and the made. It is a potent formula in reshaping human consciousness and history.