19:1 The Lord told Jeremiah, “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take with you some of the leaders of the people and some of the leaders of the priests.
Jeremiah was commanded to take the civil and governmental leaders with him in order to purchase a clay jar.
19:2 Go out to the part of the Hinnom Valley which is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Announce there what I tell you.
“The Hinnom Valley” was the place where innocent children were sacrificed to Moloch and Baal. It later became the garbage dump area of Jerusalem. Jesus called it “Gehenna” and used it to symbolize the realities of hell. During the days of Jesus, garbage continually burned in Gehenna, just as the garbage of the human race will continually burn in hell. Today, it is the location of the Dung Gate. Jeremiah gave a message to Judah from this valley of human sacrifice.
19:3 Say, ‘Listen to what the Lord says, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “I will bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring!
Notice that “kings” is plural. Jeremiah was addressing the entire house of David. Jehovah is going to bring disaster to Jerusalem at the place of this valley.
19:4 I will do so because these people have rejected me and have defiled this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children.
God is going to bring disaster upon Jerusalem for several reasons. First, the people of Judah have rejected Jehovah. Second, Jerusalem has been defiled with idols. Third, Judah was offering sacrifices to demonic gods. Fourth, they sacrificed innocent children to these demonic gods.
19:5 They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!
Fifth, Judah sacrificed their children to Baal.
19:6 So I, the Lord, say: “The time will soon come that people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Hinnom Valley. But they will call this valley the Valley of Slaughter!
Since so many children were sacrificed at Topheth, the name will be changed to “The Valley of Slaughter.”
19:7 In this place I will thwart the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword at the hands of their enemies. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.
Since Judah was slaughtering their own innocent children in the Topheth Valley, then God would now bring in foreign armies to slaughter the parents who were offering these child sacrifices.
This is a very deep prophecy with tremendous insight. When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and announced Himself as the Messianic King, then the Jewish religious leaders counseled together in an attempt to stop His coronation. In their counsel, they agreed to assassinate Him. Judas was to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas betrayed Jesus, but then gave the 30 pieces of silver back to the Jewish religious leaders. The Jewish religious leaders then used this 30 pieces of silver to buy a Potter's field. The Potter's filed was called Akeldama, meaning “field of blood.” Akeldama was located in Gehenna. When the Jewish religious leaders bought this field, then they also bought the curse that went with it. These same religious leaders would later be slaughtered by the Romans at the Temple destruction of 70 A.D. Their dead bodies were scattered over Akeldama. Their dead bodies became food for the wild birds and beasts.
19:8 I will make this city an object of horror, a thing to be hissed at. All who pass by it will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it.
People will pass by and hiss at Jerusalem, because it was such an evil city.
19:9 I will reduce the people of this city to desperate straits during the siege imposed on it by their enemies who are seeking to kill them. I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters and the flesh of one another.” ’
Since Jerusalem was sacrificing their own children to demons, then God will bring famine upon Jerusalem. The judgment will be so terrible, that the Jews will eat their own children.
19:10 The Lord continued, “Now break the jar in front of those who have come here with you.
Jeremiah was to break this jar in front of many witnesses. Once the clay jar was broken, then it could not be repaired.
19:11 Tell them the Lord who rules over all says, ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel which is broken beyond repair. The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’
Just as Jeremiah smashed the clay jar, Jehovah will smash the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. The smashing will be so complete, that the jar will be beyond repair. Since the Jews were sacrificing their children to demons, then God will bury their bodies in the Valley where these sacrifices took place.
19:12 I, the Lord, say: ‘That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth.
God will sacrifice the citizens of Judah and Jerusalem at Topheth, just as they sacrificed their children at Topheth.
19:13 The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’ ”
Judah and Jerusalem offered sacrifices to the stars from the roofs of their houses, so God will defile their roofs with dead bodies.
19:14 Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood in its courtyard and called out to all the people.
Jeremiah left Topheth and went back to the courtyard of the Jewish temple to repeat this message.
19:15 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused to pay any attention to what I have said!’ ”
Jeremiah was not a seeker-friendly pastor. He predicted that since Judah was stiff-necked, their nation would soon be destroyed.