Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Jeremiah Chapter 18
Metaphysically Interpreting Jeremiah 18:1-11
18:1The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 18:2Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 18:3Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 18:4And 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.
18:5Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 18:6O 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. 18:7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; 18:8if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 18:9And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;18:10if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 18:11Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
May [?], 1945: Jeremiah 18:1-10
That the kingdom of the mind and heart is under law similar to the law of growth in the world of nature is one of the first lessons we learn in the study of Truth. The farmer who plants corn knows that he will reap corn. If he sows wheat he counts with confidence on a wheat harvest. That we also reap good as the effect of good thoughts, words, and acts when these become habitual with us, and evil when we have fallen into wrong ways of thinking, speaking, and living, is equally sure. The divine law is like the potter's wheel on which vessels are molded according to the will of the potter. The potter is Divine Mind.
We enter into Divine Mind by creating in the thought realm under divine law. We too are potters and we work in the malleable clay of soul substance. Desire is the driving power that causes the wheel to turn according to our will. The divine law molds our life, but we shape it, and we may misshape the substance with which we work, forming it imperfectly. Thoughts that are formed by hate instead of love turn out life that is lacking in beauty and symmetry, notable only for its imperfections. Words that are lacking in truth create forms that shatter at a touch, without strength and useless. Faithless conduct misshapes our work from the beginning, so that it must be done again.
Jeremiah (“exaltation of Jehovah”) represents spiritual faith demanding that all religious thoughts be true in the observance of divine law. All thoughts, whether religious or not, must be true, if they are to build anything worth having into our character and life. Divine substance built conscientiously into life makes itself visible in the form of dependability and integrity. A person comes to be known by his habitual conduct as one who is to be trusted or distrusted, according to the standard of right, that he upholds or disavows. He who cares more for what is right and who is more concerned to find the right in every situation than to reap any temporary gain realizes the greatest gain of all: a life that is symmetrical because in harmony with divine law.
Nations and kingdoms, in common with individuals, are under the divine law, for nations and kingdoms are composed of individuals. A nation that abandons a policy of national aggression for a policy that allows equality of rights to all nations is aligning its action with the divine law and in due time will reap its reward. The nation that pursues a policy of self-interest without regard to the rights of other nations forfeits the confidence of all and is known as an opportunist that must be watched. All its acts are suspect.
– UNITY magazine.
Metaphysically Interpreting Jeremiah 18:12-17
18:12But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
18:13Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 18:14Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 18:15For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up; 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head. 18:17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Metaphysically Interpreting Jeremiah 18:18-23
18:18Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
18:19Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. 18:20Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them. 18:21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men smitten of the sword in battle. 18:22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 18:23Yet, Jehovah, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 01-29-2014
