Jeremiah 19 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence
Before leaving the potter’s house, after watching him remold and shape his clay, the prophet Jeremiah is directed by the Lord to buy a clay jar from him and to take it with him to the valley of the son of Hinnom. We have no idea who Hinnom was, but the place to which Jeremiah is being sent, just outside the city of Jerusalem, has been associated with the son of Hinnom since the time of Joshua when the Israelites first inherited the Promised Land. Although we don’t know much about the origin of the place, we know quite a bit about what had taken place there throughout the years.
On numerous occasions the Old Testament testifies that this valley was a place of cultic worship to the god Moloch, and part of the customary rites required by this deity was that of child sacrifice. In 2 Chronicles 28:3 we find that Ahaz, king of Judah, sacrificed his own sons in this valley. So too did Ahaz’s grandson, King Manasseh, burning his sons in the fire in this same valley, according to 2 Chronicles 33:6. Later on, during the time of King Josiah, the prophet Jeremiah called on the king to destroy the shrines in this valley in order to end the practice of child sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:31-32 and 32:35), and that Josiah did in fact destroy them (2 Kings 23:10).
Nevertheless, the Lord tells Jeremiah to gather some of the elders of Israel at this God-forsaken place, and when they get there, he is to break the pottery in their sight saying to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended.” The reason for this judgment upon the nation should be obvious. Not only did they forsake the Lord their God, but they turned to other gods even burning their own sons in the fire as a burnt offerings unto them. But not only would the city be destroyed and the peoples harassed by oppressors, the famine and suffering would be so intense during the siege that the Jews would eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters. Jeremiah said that the city of Jerusalem would become so horrible that it would be something to hiss at. In other words, the city of Jerusalem would become just like the valley of Hinnom.
Then, after breaking the earthen vessel and speaking these words to the elders, the prophet Jeremiah went into the temple courts in the city and again spoke to the people saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts…I am bringing upon this city all the disaster that I have pronounced against it because they have stiffened their neck refusing to hear my words.”
The actions of the prophet Jeremiah in this chapter would be similar to taking all the politicians of all the cities in China and taking them to the dump to see all the aborted children bound up in trash bags as a result of their one-child policy and then going to the city square and proclaiming God’s impending judgment upon them. Of course, in America we might not find dead bodies lying in the dump, but the innocents are slaughtered nonetheless and beyond number. And the Lord will bring his just judgment upon any nation that seeks to sacrifice its children to the spirit of the age. It’s only a matter of time; not if, but when this will happen.
This horrific place of child sacrifice was so evil in God’s sight that later Jesus would associate hell itself with the Valley of Hinnom. When translated from the Hebrew to the Greek into the English language, the valley of Hinom becomes Gehenna, the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna). Just as men would throw the bodies of their sons into the valley of Hinnom, so too will God throw the bodies and souls of wicked men into hell who will not repent of their sins and to turn to God by faith.