TY - JOUR
T1 - Lessons from the potter's workshop
T2 - A New Look at Jeremiah 18.1-11
AU - Frese, Daniel A.
PY - 2013/3
Y1 - 2013/3
N2 - Jeremiah 18.1-11 is a familiar passage, describing Yahweh in terms of a potter and Judah as his clay. Yet despite its familiarity, interpretations of the passage vary wildly. It is understood by various interpreters as a message of doom, a message of hope, a neutral message of neither doom nor hope, and a message of doom reworked into a message of hope by a later editor. Some commentators believe that Yahweh's sovereignty is the point of the text; others think that Yahweh has only partial control. Still others think the point is that the clay (Judah) has the capacity to thwart the potter's (Yahweh's) purposes. Scholars are united, on the other hand, in regarding Yahweh's contingent plans for 'nations' in vv. 7-10 as an interpretation of the potter's symbolic pot-making in vv. 1-4. In this article, this approach, which has led to the divergent and mutually exclusive views of the passage, is critiqued. Following a brief analysis of symbolic actions in Jeremiah and in the larger prophetic corpus, an alternative understanding is presented wherein vv. 7-10 are not directly related to the actions of the potter. Verses 1-6 and 7-10, rather, serve distinct but complementary roles in service of the larger purpose of vv. 1-11, which is to call the people of Judah to repentance.
AB - Jeremiah 18.1-11 is a familiar passage, describing Yahweh in terms of a potter and Judah as his clay. Yet despite its familiarity, interpretations of the passage vary wildly. It is understood by various interpreters as a message of doom, a message of hope, a neutral message of neither doom nor hope, and a message of doom reworked into a message of hope by a later editor. Some commentators believe that Yahweh's sovereignty is the point of the text; others think that Yahweh has only partial control. Still others think the point is that the clay (Judah) has the capacity to thwart the potter's (Yahweh's) purposes. Scholars are united, on the other hand, in regarding Yahweh's contingent plans for 'nations' in vv. 7-10 as an interpretation of the potter's symbolic pot-making in vv. 1-4. In this article, this approach, which has led to the divergent and mutually exclusive views of the passage, is critiqued. Following a brief analysis of symbolic actions in Jeremiah and in the larger prophetic corpus, an alternative understanding is presented wherein vv. 7-10 are not directly related to the actions of the potter. Verses 1-6 and 7-10, rather, serve distinct but complementary roles in service of the larger purpose of vv. 1-11, which is to call the people of Judah to repentance.
KW - Jeremiah 18
KW - Potter
KW - clay
KW - repentance
KW - symbolic actions
KW - symbolism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84874637454&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84874637454&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0309089213479570
DO - 10.1177/0309089213479570
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84874637454
SN - 0309-0892
VL - 37
SP - 371
EP - 388
JO - Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JF - Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
IS - 3
ER -