Old Testament # 41
“I Have Made Thee This Day . . . an Iron Pillar”
Jeremiah 1–2; 15; 20; 26; 36–38
Introduction
Having had Isaiah’s final testimony before his martyrdom, we jump straight into Jeremiah, who spent a lot of his life imprisoned in terrible circumstances for preaching the truth that the people of Judah did not want to hear. Jeremiah was contemporary with Lehi and therefore gives us a glimpse of the environment from which Lehi and his family fled into the wilderness. His ministry started under the reign of Josiah who followed Mannaseh—the wicked king who obliterated the worship of Jehovah from Judah and had Isaiah brutally killed. Josiah was just a boy when he came to the throne but he tried to restore the true Church to Judah. He succeeded during his reign, but the four kings after him, during Jeremiah’s ministry, retreated further and further away from the truth.
Interestingly enough, the metaphor of pottery and clay is carried forward by Jeremiah who talks also of broken cisterns—vessels of various sizes that held the very precious commodity of water.
In Jeremiah 18 the Lord instructs Jeremiah to go to the potter’s workshop and observe what goes on there. The potter has a pot “on the wheels” which doesn’t turn out right, so he breaks it back down to clay and starts over. I have read a few interpretations of this object lesson that the Lord gave to Jeremiah. Here is a compelling one from Heber C. Kimball:
President Heber C. Kimball provided the following insights into the comparison in Jeremiah 18:1–10:
“All [who] are pliable in the hands of God and are obedient to His commands, are vessels of honor, and God will receive them” (History of the Church,4:478).
“There are many vessels that are destroyed after they have been moulded and shaped. Why? Because they are not contented with the shape the potter has given them, but straightaway put themselves into a shape to please themselves; therefore they are beyond understanding what God designs, and they destroy themselves by the power of their own agency. [These people] have to go through a great many modellings and shapes, then … have to be glazed and burned; and even in the burning, some vessels crack” (in Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer[1981], 270).
This is such an important metaphor, and certainly Jeremiah must have felt the pains of being molded, as we discussed in Sunday School last week. Some years ago, Sister Camille Fronk explained the process and I am including it here because I think it will help those of us facing what might seem like insurmountable obstacles to understand what is happening to us and what we might look like at the other end.
First, let’s look at the qualities in the clay itself. This readily available raw material is part of the earth. It is in itself one of God’s creations. . . . How appropriate to compare our mortal bodies to tabernacles of clay (see Mosiah 3:5), a lowly substance capable of being formed into vessels of glory. . . . Of all sculpting materials, clay responds the easiest to touch and retains the most minute detail, even a thumbprint. Each detail can be changed innumerable times until the potter is satisfied and declares the vessel complete. As sons and daughters of God, each of us bears his imprint. . . .Every human soul is stamped with the image and superscription of God. . . .In the metaphor of the potter, the Lord’s handiwork and detail in the clay is an enduring reminder that he has formed us and that we will “not be forgotten of [him]” (Isaiah 44:21).
However, the clay is not without its weaknesses. . . . Water brings the clay to life. The symbolic water we receive from the Savior is as critical to our existence as physical water is to the clay. . .Another form of preparation occurs when the potter dries out the clay while kneading it and eliminating air pockets. . . . These “kneadings” of the potter can be paralleled to disappointments and at times severe challenges we experience individually or as a people. They are not intended to destroy but have a refining capacity to bring increased perspective and wisdom. . . .Joseph Smith recognized the growth and progress that came from his life of adversity. Likening himself to a rough stone, he said:
The only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priestcraft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, . . . backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women—all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty. [Teachings, p. 304]. . . .
During the kneading process, the potter will become aware of stones and other foreign objects mixed in with the clay. They will need to be identified and removed by running a wire through the clay as the final preparation to shaping. . . . Now that the clay is pliable and free from debris, the potter is ready to anchor the clay wedge on a wheel. . . . It is critical that the clay be totally centered or it can never respond to the directives of the potter and therefore never be formed into a vessel of honor. . . . Our focused faith in Christ even enables us to perform beyond our natural abilities. . . .As we become “centered” on the wheel of the Potter or “fix our eyes on Jesus,” as President Hunter said it, we too can walk successfully over “the swelling waves of disbelief’ and remain “unterrified amid the rising winds of doubt” (ibid.). . . . The clay is now cleansed, pliable, and centered, allowing the potter to form and shape it into the vessel he has envisioned. . . .Not all clay vessels go into their desired shape the first time. Some become marred while they are on the potter’s wheel. . . . While there are no guarantees that once on the wheel you will never go wrong, all is not lost for those who contend against the Potter. The clay is “cut off the wheel and then thrown back again into the mill, to go into the next batch” (HC 4:478). . . .Even so, through sincere repentance, individuals may start again and be found humble before the Lord, willing to hear his word and follow his direction.
In all this imagery of being submissive in the hands of the Lord, some of you may be uncomfortable with the apparent absence of agency. In reality, agency is constantly present, but it is not the so-called agency the world has designed. A good potter always gives the clay respect by not moving it faster than it is capable of enduring and will never force it into a shape. . . . We must be as clay in the hands of the potter to permit our lives to be molded in the pattern that the Savior of mankind set for us. . . .
You are the clay—and as such you are of utmost importance to the Lord. He loves you and desires to shape you into a magnificent vessel of honor—designed and glazed for all eternity. May we therefore set aside our fears and concerns for the future and “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart[s]; and lean not unto [our] own understanding. In all [our] ways” let us “acknowledge him,” and I bear witness “he will direct [our] paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6). He loves us and will continue to support us. I bear witness of that love and that we are not forgotten of him. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.[1]
As we interact with each other, both in and out of the Church, I think it will be good to realize that whether we/they acknowledge it or not, all Heavenly Father’s children are being molded by the Master Potter, our Savior Jesus Christ. And we can help ourselves and others make this process more comfortable as we come closer to Him.
Additional Material
Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah
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