{"id":70298,"date":"2020-02-17T19:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T17:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70298"},"modified":"2023-09-14T14:03:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T11:03:03","slug":"potter-poetry-a-metaphor-with-multiple-messages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/potter-poetry-a-metaphor-with-multiple-messages\/","title":{"rendered":"Potter Poetry: A Metaphor With Multiple Messages"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[823,506,571],"acf":{"old_id":"70298","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"418","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The bottom line? Stay flexible, and open to change\r\n\r\n","content":"

One\u2019s appreciation of a metaphor can be vastly different depending on how one understands the elements of the metaphor and their respective analogues in real life.<\/span><\/p>\n

When God sends Jeremiah to visit a potter and observe his work, we might be inspired by the way the potter fixes his mistakes. \u201cAnd if the vessel he was making was spoiled, as happens to clay in the potter\u2019s hands, he would make it into another vessel, such as the potter saw fit to make\u201d (18:4). What a beautiful metaphor! There are endless possibilities in a lump of clay, and we might think when reading this verse of the endless possibilities in a human life. We might think of the human capacity to pick ourselves up when something goes wrong, to realize all is not lost and to redirect our efforts towards a new goal \u2013 whatever we see fit \u2013 and shape our lives to meet that goal. It\u2019s a message of hope and empowerment\u2026 or is it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the word of the LORD came to me: O House of Israel, can I not deal with you like this potter?\u2014says the LORD. Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hands, O House of Israel! (ibid. 5-6).<\/span><\/p>\n

Shoot. We\u2019re not the potter; God is. The prophecy isn\u2019t about our ability to repurpose and reshape what goes wrong in our lives; we <\/span>are<\/b> what goes wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least, Jeremiah\u2019s audience at the time had gone wrong \u2013 and as every prophecy included in the Bible is presumed to contain an eternal message (Megillah 14a), his audience today might internalize the risk of similarly going wrong and finding ourselves reshaped by powers beyond our control.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the potter in the prophecy has the power, and the people are on the brink of being reshaped \u2013 or worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next chapter, God has the prophet obtain a potter\u2019s jug and smash it, symbolizing His plans to \u201csmash this people and this city, as one smashes a potter\u2019s vessel, which can never be mended\u201d (19:11).<\/span><\/p>\n

Yikes. That\u2019s worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

But perhaps there is still a sense here of hope and empowerment. After all, it\u2019s only once the clay has hardened into a misshapen jug that it has to worry about being shattered. As long as it remains soft, it can\u2019t be broken; only changed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe the eternal message is the importance of remaining flexible and open to change, like clay in the potter\u2019s hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if we can maintain our potential to be reshaped without breaking \u2013 perhaps we can indeed reshape ourselves as called for, if only we are able to recognize the need before we\u2019ve hardened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":70300,"id":70300,"title":"jer18-gumby2","filename":"jer18-gumby2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/potter-poetry-a-metaphor-with-multiple-messages\/jer18-gumby2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer18-gumby2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":70298,"date":"2020-02-17 17:12:41","modified":"2020-02-17 17:12:57","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":235,"height":340,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2-207x300.jpg","medium-width":207,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","medium_large-width":235,"medium_large-height":340,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","large-width":235,"large-height":340,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","1536x1536-width":235,"1536x1536-height":340,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","2048x2048-width":235,"2048x2048-height":340,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","post_full_size-width":235,"post_full_size-height":340,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer18-gumby2.jpg","home_baner-width":235,"home_baner-height":340}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"The Potter and the Clay - III","main_caption":"Potter Poetry: A Metaphor With Multiple Messages","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The bottom line? 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