And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: What seest thou? I see a boiling caldron, and the face thereof from the face of the north.

“Here he sets down the destruction of the city itself. First is set down the rousing to see: "What dost thou see?" As above. Second, the vision: "And I said: A kindled pot," which signifies the burning of the city; and "the face" — the base — "of the north," whence the fire was kindled. Ezek. 24: Set the pot empty upon the coals, that it may grow hot, and its bronze may melt, and its filth may be melted together in the midst of it, and its rust may be consumed. Third is set down the exposition: "And the Lord said"; and first it is expounded in general: "from the north" — that is, from the king of Babylon, who was to the north with respect to the holy land — "the inhabitants of the land" — of Jerusalem, or of the other neighboring places, which were laid waste by him. Below, 10: Behold, a great commotion shall come from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah wildernesses and habitations of dragons. Second, he pursues the whole order of the matter. And first is set down the summoning of the army: "for behold, I will call together" — by inspiring — "the kingdoms" — those subject to Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah 5: He shall lift up a sign to the nations afar off. Second is set down the siege of the city: "and there shall come ... a throne, a tent, at the entrance of the gates," as though they will lay siege all the way to the walls. Isa. 22: Horsemen shall set their seats in the gate, and the covering of Judah shall be uncovered. Or he sets down the very captivity of the city: and what is found below, 39, is touched upon: "all the princes of the king of Babylon entered in, and sat in the middle gate." Third is set down the punishment of the inhabitants: "and I will speak judgment" — not with words, but with punishments. Ezek. 16: They shall judge thee with the judgments of adulteresses, and of them that shed blood. "Thou therefore gird thyself." Here he teaches the manner of carrying it out. And first, that he execute it promptly: "gird thy loins," as one who prepares himself to go quickly. Job 40: Gird thy loins like a man. Second, that he do it securely; and concerning this, first he excludes fear. "Be not afraid." Ezek. 3: Fear them not, neither be thou afraid of their face, for it is a provoking house. Isaiah 51: Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away like grass, and hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast been afraid all the day at the face of his fury who afflicted thee, and had prepared to destroy? Where is now the fury of the oppressor? Second, he promises strength to resist: "for I have this day made thee a city" — for sustaining others — "a pillar." Isa. 50: The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to sustain by a word him that is fallen, and that he should not fail in himself. "And a wall of brass." Ezek. 3: I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint. Third, he promises the frustration of the enemies: "and they shall fight, and shall not prevail" — they will not be able to turn thee away from the truth. Below, 15: I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass; and they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail, for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Concerning the foregoing, it should be known, first, that God can have knowledge of someone by way of approbation, as has been said. Of foresight. Eccl. 23: To the Lord God, before they were created, all things are known; and so too, after they are perfected, he beholds all things. Of predestination. 2 Tim. 2: The Lord knoweth who are his. Of the infusion of grace. John 10: I know my sheep, and mine know me. Of special familiarity. Exod. 33: and I have known even thee by name. Of glorification. Eccl. 44: he knew him in his blessings, and gave him an inheritance. Likewise it should be noted, that the Lord touches some by reproving them. Job 19: Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me. By cleansing from sins. Matt. 8: And Jesus touched him, saying: I will; be thou made clean. By infusing grace. Cant. 5: My beloved put his hand through the hole, and my belly trembled at his touch. By strengthening in grace. Dan. 10: And behold, a hand touched me, and set me up upon my knees, and upon the joints of my hands. By rousing fervor. Ps. 143: Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Likewise it should be noted, that the sinful soul is called a pot on account of the fervor of concupiscence. Job 41: He shall make the deep of the sea boil like a pot, and shall make it like ointments boiling. On account of the carnality of the work. Mich. 3: They have broken their bones, and cut them in pieces as in a caldron, and as flesh in the midst of a pot. On account of the blackness of the stain. Nahum 2: The faces of all as the blackness of a pot. Likewise it should be noted, that the aforesaid pot is kindled by the fire of disordered love. Ps. 79: Burnt with fire, and undermined, they shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Of wrath, and of contention. Isa. 50: Behold, all you that kindle a fire, girded about with flames. Of eternal damnation. Deut. 32: A fire is kindled in my rage, and shall burn even to the lowest hell. Likewise it should be noted, that the Devil is called the North on account of the onslaught of temptation. Eccl. 43: The voice of his thunder struck the earth, the storm of the north, and the gathering together of the wind. Because he hinders the fruit of a good work. Cant. 4: Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and its spices shall flow. Because he dries up the river of tears. Prov. 25: The north wind driveth away rains, as doth a sad countenance a backbiting tongue. Likewise it should be noted, that the Church, or the soul, is fortified by divine help. Zach. 2: I will be to them a fire round about, and I will be in glory in the midst of it. By the guard of angels. Isa. 33: The fortifications of rocks are his height. By the example of the holy fathers. Cant. 4: The tower of David is thy neck, which is built with bulwarks. By the support of brothers. Prov. 18: A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city. By the remedy of the sacraments. Cant. 8: I am a wall, and my breasts are as a tower, since I have become in his presence as one finding peace.”

“And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time,.... In the same vision: saying, what seest thou? besides the almond tree rod; which perhaps was now removed out of sight, and another object appears: and I said, I see a seething pot; a pot with fire under it, boiling and bubbling up: and the face thereof was towards the north; either the mouth of the pot where it boiled up, which might be turned to the north in the vision; or that side of the pot, as Kimchi thinks, on which the liquor was poured out; it may be that side of it on which the fire was put to cause it to boil; and so denotes from what quarter the fire came, and was put under it, and the wind that blew it up. The Targum paraphrases the words thus, "and I said, I see a king boiling as a pot, and the banner of his army, which was brought and came from the north.'' The explanation follows:”

“Another vision, signifying what is the "word" about to be "performed," and by what instrumentality. seething--literally, "blown under"; so boiling by reason of the flame under it kept brisk by blowing. An Oriental symbol of a raging war. toward--rather, "from the north." Literally, "from the face of the region situated towards the north" (compare Jer 1:14-15) [MAURER]. The pot in the north rested on one side, its mouth being about to pour forth its contents southwards, namely, on Judea. Babylon, though east of Judea, was regarded by the Hebrews as north, because they appropriated the term "east" to Arabia-Deserta, stretching from Palestine to the Euphrates; or rather [BOCHART], the reference here is not to the site, but to the route of the Babylonians; not being able to cross the desert, they must enter the Holy Land by the northern frontier, through Riblah in Hamath (Jer 39:5; Jer 52:9).”

“The Seething Pot. - Jer 1:13. "And there came to me the word of Jahveh for the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said: I see a seething-pot; and it looketh hither from the north. Jer 1:14. Then said Jahveh to me: From the north will trouble break forth upon all inhabitants of the land. Jer 1:15. For, behold, I call to all families of the kingdoms towards the north, saith Jahveh; that they come and set each his throne before the gates of Jerusalem, and against all her walls round about, and against all cities of Judah. Jer 1:16. And I will pronounce judgment against them for all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have offered odours to other gods, and worshipped the work of their hands." סיר is a large pot or caldron in which can be cooked vegetables or meat for many persons at once; cf. Kg2 4:38., Eze 24:3. נפוּח, fanned, blown upon, used of fire, Ezek. 21:36; Eze 22:20.; then by transference, seething, steaming, since the caldron under which fire is fanned steams, its contents boil; cf. Job 41:12. The פּנים of the pot is the side turned to the spectator (the prophet), the side towards the front. This is turned from the north this way, i.e., set so that its contents will run thence this way. צפונה, properly: towards the north; then, that which lies towards the north, or the northerly direction. In the interpretation of this symbol in Jer 1:14, תּפּתח, assonant to נפוּח, is introduced, just as in Amo 8:2 קיץ is explained by קץ; so that there was no occasion for the conjecture of Houbig. and Graf: תּפּח, it is fanned up; and against this we have Hitzig's objection that the Hophal of נפח never occurs. Equally uncalled for is Hitzig's own conjecture, xaw%pt@f, it will steam, fume, be kindled; while against this we have the fact, that as to xpanf no evidence can be given for the meaning be kindled, and that we have no cases of such a mode of speaking as: the trouble is fuming, steaming up. The Arabian poetical saying: their pot steams or boils, i.e., a war is being prepared by them, is not sufficient to justify such a figure. We hold then תּפּתח for the correct reading, and decline to be led astray by the paraphrastic ἐκκαυθήσεται of the lxx, since תּפּתח gives a suitable sense. It is true, indeed, that פּתח usually means open; but an opening of the caldron by the removal of the lid is not (with Graf) to be thought of. But, again, פּתח has the derived sig. let loose, let off (cf. ,פּתח בּי Isa 14:17), from which there can be no difficulty in inferring for the Niph. the sig. be let loose, and in the case of trouble, calamity: break forth. That which is in the pot runs over as the heat increases, and pours itself on the hearth or ground. If the seething contents of the pot represent disaster, their running over will point to its being let loose, its breaking out. are the inhabitants of the land of Judah, as the interpretation in Jer 1:15 shows. In Jer 1:15 reference to the figure is given up, and the further meaning is given in direct statement. The Lord will call to all families of the kingdoms of the north, and they will come (= that they are to come). The kingdoms of the north are not merely the kingdoms of Syria, but in general those of Upper Asia; since all armies marching from the Euphrates towards Palestine entered the land from the north. משׁפּחות, families, are the separate races of nations, hence often used in parallelism with גּוים; cf. Jer 10:25; Nah 3:4. We must not conclude from this explanation of the vision seen that the seething pot symbolizes the Chaldeans themselves or the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar; such a figure would be too unnatural. The seething pot, whose contents boil over, symbolizes the disaster and ruin which the families of the kingdoms of the north will pour out on Judah.”