And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which [is] by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
Ver. 2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom.] See Jeremiah 7:3, that where the Jews had sinned, there they might be sentenced.
Which is by the entry of the east gate.] Or, as others render it, Portam fictilem seu testaceam, the gate of clay or brick, the potters' gate (because the potters dwelt near to it, and thereby carried forth their potsherds), called also the dung gate, saith the Chaldee paraphrase; an allusion being hereby made both to the pot he carried and to the pieces of it when broken, which should be cast to the dunghill. Inde ad gehennam via erat. This was the way to Tophet, and thither Jeremiah led them, said an expositor, that a considering their graves in that valley, according to Jeremiah 7:32, and that their bodies, those earthen vessels, should soon after be broken and carried out as dung into Tophet by the Chaldeans, and their souls into hell by the devils, they might repent, and so prevent such a mischief.
And proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.] God took his own times to tell his prophets what they should tell the people. The privilege of infallibility, saith a divine, was perpetual to the apostles: Prophetis vero saepius intervallatum, et fere non extra ipsos prophetandi paroxysmos durans; not so to the prophets, but while they were prophesying only for the most part; neither knew they many times what they should prophesy, till the very instant.
a A Lapide.