Back to Course

Jeremiah and Lamentations: Babylonian Crisis

  1. Lesson One
    The Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1–6, 26–29, 35–38)
    19 Activities
    |
    4 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Jeremiah: Idolatry and Anguish (Jeremiah 39–51)
    20 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Jeremiah: Shame and Dignity (Jeremiah 7–20)
    21 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  4. Lesson Four
    Jeremiah: A Future Hope (Jeremiah 21–25, 30–34)
    21 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Lamentations
    21 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

Participants 12

Show more
Lesson Progress
0% Complete

Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and shall say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. Thus will I do to this place, declares the LORD, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—all the houses on whose roofs offerings have been offered to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.”
Jeremiah 19:10-13 ESV

Some symbolic acts of the prophets feel obscure; this one seems as simple as it gets—a broken jar is a broken people. When Jeremiah tells the people he will “make this city like Topheth,” he’s referencing a place in the Valley of Hinnom where trash is burned outside the city. It’s also where the people have been sacrificing children to Molech (32:35). He’s basically telling the people, “You yourselves will burn where you have burned children against the will of YHWH.” This is an example of retributive justice (determining your own fate) that we have seen throughout the Bible.