Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 18:1-6

"The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter`s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter`s house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter`s hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel." — Jeremiah 18:1-6 (ASV)

1. Here, he shows the obstinacy of the people themselves as if through experience:

• First, because they reject his preaching.
• Second, because they persecute the preacher, as in and they said, ‘Come, and let us devise schemes against Jeremiah’ (Jeremiah 18:18).

Concerning the first point, there are two aspects:

• First is the preaching which calls them to repentance.
• Second is the desperation of those who rejected it, as in and they said, ‘We have no hope; we shall go after our own thoughts’ (Jeremiah 18:12).

Concerning the first of these, there are two things:

• First, the Lord designates the place of revelation for the prophet—into the house of the potter—so that the prophecy could be drawn from a comparison to his work. This signifies that the words of the Lord are revealed to the one who humbles himself to consider his own weakness. His speech is with the simple (Proverbs 3:32). The phrase I went down means, “I went to the lower part of the city where craftsmen of this kind worked.”
• Second, the revealed word is given.

This revealed word has two parts:

• First, he presents the simile.
• Second, he draws the lesson from the simile, as in I shall speak suddenly against a nation (Jeremiah 18:7).

Concerning the first of these, there are two points:

• First, the potter’s action is noted, from which the simile is drawn when he speaks of the vessel’s destruction: and behold he was making his work upon the wheel. The potter sitting at his work, and turning the wheel with his feet, who is always carefully set to his task, and innumerable is all his work . And the restoration of the destroyed vessel: and turning he made another vessel. The potter pressing a mass of earth, laboriously crafts each vessel for our use, and from the same clay makes vessels which are for clean use, and in like manner those which are the opposite .
• Second, he presents the application of the simile: and the word of the Lord came to me.

This application has two parts:

• First, the question is posed: cannot I do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter? And now, O Lord, you are our father, and we are the clay; and you are our maker, and we are all the work of your hands (Isaiah 64:8).
• Second, the response is given: behold, as clay. In his hand are both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and the skill of the knowledge of works .