The Potter and the Clay
Jeremiah watched a potter reworking a marred vessel on his wheel and heard God ask, 'cannot I do with you as this potter?' - a vivid picture of God's sovereign right to shape, break, and reshape his people according to his purposes, much as clay has no standing to argue with the one forming it. Isaiah and Paul both extend the image, insisting it is absurd for the clay to say to the potter, 'what makest thou?' The symbol calls for humble submission to God's sovereign purposes, trusting that the potter who shapes his people, even through breaking and reforming, does so with wisdom and purpose beyond what the clay itself can see.
Details
- Symbolizes
- God's sovereign authority to shape his people as he wills
Old Testament Type
Jeremiah's visit to the potter's house, where a marred vessel is reworked into a new one
New Testament Fulfillment
Paul's appeal to the same image to affirm God's sovereign right over his creation (Romans 9)
Key Chapters
Key Passages
The Potter's House
Jeremiah 18:1-6
God uses a potter reshaping marred clay to teach Israel - and every reader - that he holds the same sovereign right to shape his people according to his purposes.
1he word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Did You Know?
Jeremiah watched a potter reshape a marred vessel at the wheel.
It pictures God's sovereign right to shape his people.
Isaiah asks, 'Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?'
Paul uses the same image in Romans 9 to affirm God's freedom.