pottery Summary and Overview

the art of, was early practised among all nations. Various materials seem to have been employed by the potter. Earthenware is mentioned in connection with the history of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18), of Abraham (18:4-8), of Rebekah (27:14), of Rachel (29:2, 3, 8, 10). The potter's wheel is mentioned by Jeremiah (18:3). See also 1 Chr. 4:23; Ps. 2:9; Isa. 45:9; 64:8; Jer. 19:1; Lam. 4:2; Zech. 11:13; Rom. 9:21.

The art of pottery is one of the most common and most ancient of all manufactures. It is abundantly evident, both that the Hebrews used earthenware vessels in the wilderness and that the potter's trade was afterward carried on in Israel. They had themselves been concerned in the potter's trade in Egypt, #Ps 81:6| and the wall-paintings minutely illustrate the Egyptian process. The clay, when dug, was trodden by men's feet so as to form a paste, #Isa 41:25| Wisd. 15:7; then placed by the potter on the wheel beside which he sat, and shaped by him with his hands. How early the wheel came into use in Israel is not known, but it seems likely that it was adopted from Egypt. #Isa 45:9; Jer 15:3| The vessel was then smoothed and coated with a glaze, and finally burnt in a furnace. There was at Jerusalem a royal establishment of potters, #1Ch 4:23| from whose employment, and from the fragments cast away in the process, the Potter's Field perhaps received its name. #Isa 30:11|

POT'TERY . The potter's art was one of the first kinds of manufacture in Egyptian Potter and Pottery. which man became proficient. The Israelites worked at the trade while in Egypt, Ps 81:6; they used earthenware during their passage through the wilderness; and from the earliest time of their settlement in Canaan the trade was established among them. In Jerusalem there was a royal establishment of potters, 1 Chr 4:23, from which it has been conjectured that the potter's field received its name. The method employed by the Israelites and often hinted at by the prophets seems to have been exactly the same as that employed by the Egyptians, such as we find it minutely illustrated by Egyptian wall-paintings. The clay was trodden by the feet into a uniform paste, Isa 41:25; Wisd. 16:7, and a sufficient mass was then placed by the potter on the wooden disc of the wheel. The wheel was turned by the hand or worked by a treadle, Isa 45:9; Jer 18:3, but generally by an attendant, and not by the potter himself. When finished the vessel was coated with glaze and burnt in a furnace. Such vessels were used, however, not only for culinary purposes, but also as a means of preservation; from Jer 32:14 it appears that deeds were kept in them.

Early known in Egypt. Israel in bondservice there wrought at it (Psalm 81:6, so the Hebrew in 1 Samuel 2:14); but translated for "pots" the harden baskets for carrying clay, bricks, etc., such as are depicted in the sepulchral vaults at Thebes (Exodus 5:6-12; 2 Chronicles 16:6). The potter trod the clay into a paste (Isaiah 41:25), then put it on a wheel, by which he sat and shaped it. The wheel or horizontal lathe was a wooden disc, placed on another larger one, and turned by hand or worked by a treadle (Jeremiah 18:3); on the upper he molded the clay into shape (Isaiah 45:9); the vessel was then smoothed, glazed, and burnt. Tiles with painting and writing on them were common (Ezekiel 4:1). There was a royal establishment of potters at Jerusalem under the sons of Shelab (1 Chronicles 4:25), carrying on the trade for the king's revenue. The pottery found in Israel is divisible into Phoenician, Graeco-Phoenician, Roman, Christian, and Arabic; on handles of jars occur inscriptions: "to king Zepha .... king Shat" and Melek (Israel Exploration, Our Work in Israel). Emblem of man's brittle frailty, and of God's potter-like power to shape our ends as He pleases (Psalm 2:9; Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 30:14; Jeremiah 19:11; Lamentations 4:2). As Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1 are thrown together in Mark 1:2-3; also Isaiah 62:11 and Zechariah 9:9 in Matthew 21:4-5; and Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 28:16 in Romans 9:33; so Jeremiah 18:3-6; Jeremiah 18:19, and Zechariah 11:12-13 in Matthew 27:9. Matthew presumes his reader's full knowledge of Scripture, and merges the two human sacred writers, Jeremiah and Zechariah, in the one voice of the Holy Spirit speaking by them. In Matthew and Zechariah alike, the Lord's representative, Israel's Shepherd, has a paltry price set upon Him by the people; the transaction is done deliberately by men connected with the house of Jehovah; the money is given to the potter, marking the perpetrators' baseness, guilt, and doom, and the hand of the Lord overrules it all, the Jewish rulers while following their own aims unconsciously fulfilling Jehovah's "appointment."