* Compare xvii, 13.
^ In verse 4 the text reads : " The vessel which he made
was marred as clay in the hands of the potter. The italicized
words are borrowed from verse 6. They are not in the LXX.
THE POTTER'S WHEEL 157

The potter takes the lump of clay and, thrusting
it back into the bed, kneads it again, smoothing out
the knots, and then, replacing it on the swift revolving
wheel, fashions a vessel, " as it seemed good to the
potter," i.e. satisfactory to the eye of a professional
artist. It was the triumph of mind over matter,
of patience and skill over unfavourable conditions.
In a moment, light dawns on the prophet's mind. In
that commonplace event, he has found his philosophy
of life. " The word of Jahveh " had come to him.
God is sovereign in history ; more so than the potter
over his clay. For, while the latter accepts his ma-
terial, the former creates it. Yet the sovereignty of
God is subject to limits which He has Himself imposed.
He has given to man the mysterious gift of freedom,
the power to negative the proposals of Omniscience.
If man will not, God cannot. What then of sovereignty
in God ? Much ; infinite patience and boundless
resource, the power to bear and forbear, to make
and unmake, to apply all possible considerations
and expedients so as to soften the heart and subdue
the will. And then ? Frankly and fearlessly, let us
face the conclusion as the prophet does. The issue
rests with man.
The Jewish nation had been dominated by a strange
and fatal delusion. They thought that, as they
were the Covenant people, their future was secure.
