Jeremiah 19:11

That cannot be made whole. The Lord had repeatedly warned His people that He was bringing evil upon them for all their sins (chs. 4:6, 7; 18:11; etc.). By a striking enactment the prophet was now to impress this truth upon their minds. The breaking of the vessel dramatically illustrated what the effects of the Babylonian invasion would be. However, the threat was conditional. It was not yet too late to avert the doom upon the city and the nation. God had declared, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them” (ch. 18:7, 8).

The words, “that cannot be made whole again,” were not intended to imply that God had withdrawn His promises of a return and a reinstatement in the Promised Land following the Babylonian captivity (see p. 31). These promises were subsequently repeated (Jer. 29:10; 30:3; etc.). They were in no wise contradicted by this present prophecy.

Not until the Jews rejected Christ were they finally cast off from being God’s people (Matt. 21:33-43). On the relationship of the present return of the Jews to ancient prophecy see p. 33.

Bury them in Tophet. See on v. 6. Their burial in Tophet expresses, as it were, the fiery judgment on God that would come upon the apostates because of their iniquity.

There be no place. See on ch. 7:32.