a chamber pot

thunder jug man

Jeremiah 22:24-30 (JDV)

Jeremiah 22:24 “As I live” – this is what Yahveh declares – “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would tear you from it.

Jeremiah 22:25 In fact, I will give you to the hand of those who seek to take your throat, whose faces you fear – and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

Jeremiah 22:26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die.

Jeremiah 22:27 They will never return to the land they long to return to.”

Jeremiah 22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known?

Jeremiah 22:29 Land, land, land, hear the word of Yahveh!

Jeremiah 22:30 This is what Yahveh says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his days. None of his offspring will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.

thunder jug man

Decades ago, when visiting a rustic campground, I saw and used my first thunder jug. They are also called chamber pots. They come in handy when the cabin you are staying in has no indoor plumbing. You can do your business in the middle of the night – into the thunder jug, and empty it out into a toilet in the morning.

In Jeremiah’s day, they used clay jars that were somehow damaged for this purpose. Some commentators suggest that Jeremiah is referring to this when he calls Coniah “a jar no one wants.” When he is sent into exile, he will go from an authoritative signet ring to an embarrassing thunder jug in one fell swoop.

This is a lesson for those who think they are something. What you are depends on how useful you are to your creator. Don’t presume you are something special.

Lord, our only ambition is to be your humble disciples.

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