The Master Potter: Pottery Making in the Bible

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The Master Potter: Pottery Making in the Bible

Non-Technical - 05, 2011 - by Bryant G. Wood PhD

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This article was first

published in the Summer
1988 issue of Bible and
Spade.

EXCERPT Pottery played a vital and important role in the everyday lives of the people of

Bible times. It is not surprising therefore, that pottery and pottery making is often
mentioned in the Bible. Many times prophets and preachers of the Bible used everyday
experiences as object lessons to illustrate spiritual truths. The bowls, jars, and the
manufacturing processes which produced them were familiar to everyone. The holy
men of God used these to good advantage. This article will briefly consider how pottery
was made during Bible times and explore a few of the references to pottery making in
the Bible. Continue reading

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Because of its durability, the primary means by which archaeologists determine dates, ethnic
affinities, and trade connections is through a study of pottery. Earthenware vessels were used in
antiquity for storing, cooking and serving food, as well as for containers for shipping a variety of
liquid commodities.
Pottery played a vital and important role in the everyday lives of the people of Bible times. It is
not surprising therefore, that pottery and pottery making is often mentioned in the Bible. Many
times prophets and preachers of the Bible used everyday experiences as object lessons to
illustrate spiritual truths. The bowls, jars, and the manufacturing processes which produced them
were familiar to everyone. The holy men of God used these to good advantage. This article will
briefly consider how pottery was made during Bible times and explore a few of the references to
pottery making in the Bible. In a later article we shall consider the use of pottery in the Bible.
Metal vessels were used in antiquity as well. However, these were expensive and largely limited
to the upper classes of society. Thus the quantity of metalware found is relatively small
compared to earthenware. Receptacles of wood, basketry and skins were also in use. But these
perishable materials generally do not survive, to be discovered by the archaeologist.
Pottery is different. Once fired in a kiln, pottery is virtually indestructible. Unless intentionally
ground up, the remains of all the pottery made in antiquity, even though broken and discarded,
are still with us today. Thus, when you visit an ancient site, the ground is littered with pottery
sherds. One site is even named after its potsherds. While doing survey work in Egypt a few years
ago, I visited a site called Tell el-Ahmar, the red ruin. The name was derived from the
abundance of red pottery lying on the surface.
Clay is common in Palestine. Consequently, pottery-making was carried out in numerous
locations in the country. Many excavators have found evidence of the pottery industry in the
form of remains of potters wheels, potters tools, unfired vessels, prepared clay, kilns, etc.
Taken together, these data indicate that the pottery industry in ancient Palestine was quite
sophisticated with a potters wheel and permanent kilns being used. This industry is in contrast
to more primitive cultures where hand forming and open firing in bonfires were the mode of
production. Incidently, studies of pottery-making in contemporary cultures have revealed that
when vessels are formed by hand and fired in open bonfires, production is carried out by women.

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Whereas, when the potters wheel and permanent kiln are used, production is in the hands of
men. The word for potter in the Old Testament, yatsar, the one who forms, is masculine
gender. We can be certain that the vast majority of potters in Bible times were men.
Early Potters' Wheel
After the clay was extracted from the ground, it was brought to
the potters shop where it was prepared. Foreign objects (such as
stones, sticks, etc.) were removed and usually water was added to
soften the day. Many times a tempering agent such as sand was
added to make the clay more workable or to give it particular
qualities desired by the potter. One of the potters assistants
prepared the clay by kneading it with his feet. Ancient tomb
scenes from Egypt show clay being prepared in this fashion. In
Isaiah 41:25, where God is telling of His great power, He alludes
to this process:
I roused one from the north, and he obeyed; I called one from the east, summoned him in
My name, he marches over viceroys as if they were mud, like a potter treading his clay.
(NEB)
With the clay properly prepared, the potter was ready to form his vessels. He did this on a
potters wheel. In the biblical period the potters wheel was a type called the double wheel, or
kick wheel. A flywheel, which turned on a stone bearing (many of which have been found in
excavations) was placed in a shallow pit in the floor of the potters workshop. A shaft was
attached to the top of the flywheel and at the end of the shaft was a small, round wooden
platform upon which the potter worked. He placed the clay on the platform, turning the platform
by kicking the flywheel with his foot. As the lump of clay on the platform spun, the potter could
form, or throw, a pot by guiding the clay with his fingers and allowing the centrifugal force to
aid in shaping a symmetrical vessel. Having formed the pot, the potter separated it from the
remaining lump of clay by pinching it off with his fingers or cutting it off with a string. Elihu
refers to this process in his speech to Job:
Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was formed from a piece of clay (Job 33:6,
RSV).
The Hebrew word translated formed, qoras, means to nip or pinch. The correct translation
should be, I too was pinched off from a lump of clay.

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Interior of a potter's wheel and a typical kiln.

After a vessel was formed, it was allowed to air dry to a leather hard condition before it was
fired. This drying process took several days, depending on the temperature and humidity. When
a sufficient number of pots were thus prepared, they were stacked in a kiln and baked for
several hours to turn them into the impervious jars, bowls, and cooking pots which are studied
so diligently by archaeologists today.

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The Apocrypha, from the period between the Testaments, tells of the various activities of the
potter:
So [it is] with the potter sitting at his labor, revolving the wheel with his feet. He is
always concerned for his products, and turns them out in quantity. With his hands he
molds the clay, and with his feet softens it. His care is for proper coloring, and he keeps
watch on the fire of his kiln (Ecclesiasticus 38:2930).
God sent Jeremiah to a potters workshop to give him an object lesson:
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise and go down to the
potters house and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the
potters house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he
made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the
clay is in the potters hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel (18:16, KJV).
Pottery workshops were usually located outside of town so as not to antagonize the residents
with the smoke from the kilns. It brought the potters closer to their raw materials and, more
importantly, it removed a potential fire hazard also. Notice that Jeremiah went down to the
potters house, indicating that he went from the heights of Jerusalem to a lower place outside
the city walls. The pottery workshops of ancient Jerusalem were probably located in the Hinnom
Valley on the west and south sides of the city since a gate opening onto this valley was called the
Potsherd Gate (Jeremiah 19:2, mistakenly translated East Gate in the King James Version).
Allusions to a Tower of Furnaces in Nehemiah 3:1 and 12:38 may refer to a fortification tower
overlooking potters kilns In the Hinnom Valley.
The Hinnom Valley was also called Topheth, a place renowned for child sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10;
Jeremiah 7:31; 19:47). In Isaiah 30, Gods judgment is depicted as a devouring fire (vss. 27,
30). Part of the imagery is a reference to fires burning in Topheth:

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For Topheth has long been prepared; yea, for the king (of Assyria, vs. 31) it is made
ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance, the breath of the
Lord, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it (vs. 33, RSV).

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It is possible that the prophet is alluding to the well-known potters kilns in the Hinnom Valley. At
this location there were many kilns belching hot flames and thick black smoke and the sky was
darkened from the smoke much of the time. The squalor of this industrial quarter would have
been considerable, with piles of clay, heaps of wasters (pottery ruined in the kiln) and filthy
workers on every hand. One can imagine that a walk down Hinnom Valley was indeed an eerie
experience. The Valley of Hinnom, gehlnnom in Hebrew, became the Gehenna of the New
Testament. Why the place of eternal punishment came to be named after this valley is
understandable.
Jeremiah tells us that the potter was working at his wheel, ovnayim in Hebrew. The word is in
the dual form (giving rise to the translation wheels in the KJV) and it literally means pair of
stones. This truth may derive from the fact that the earliest potters wheels were probably
simple tournettes made from two fiat stones, one rotating on the other (see picture on page 28).
The potter apparently was unhappy with the first vessel he made in Jeremiahs presence, so he
re-consolidated his clay and made a second one. This project was an illustration for the prophet,
for God told hIm, O house of Israel... as the clay is in the potters hand, so are ye in mine
hand. God was demonstrating His sovereignty and this is generally the way in which the potter
is used as an illustration in the Bible.
In the creation account, God is pictured as forming man from the earth as a potter forms his
pots from clay:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).
The Hebrew word used here for formed is the same word that is used for potter, the one who
forms. God created man from aphar rain haadamah, native clay of the earth. Likewise,
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air
(Genesis 2:19).
In the midst of his tribulation, Job cried out to God,
Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet Thou dost destroy
me. Remember, I beseech thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay; and writ Thou bring
me into dust again? (Job 10:89).
The word for clay here, homer, means refined potters clay, whereas the word for dust, aphar,
means undefined natural clay.
In speaking to Jerusalem, God said:
How you turn things upside down, as if the potter ranked no higher than the clay! Shall
the thing made say of its maker, He did not make me? Shall the pot say of the potter,
He has no skill? (Isaiah 29:16, NEB)
Here, God is speaking out against the impertinence of man who thinks he can place himself
above God, the One who created him. In the same vein, God says:
Will the pot contend with the potter, or the earthenware with the hand that shapes it?
Will the clay ask the potter what he is making? or his handiwork say to him, You have no
skill? (Isaiah 45:9, NEB)
Isaiah learned the illustration of the potter well, for near the end of his book he uses it to
describe the proper relationship between God and man.
But now, O Lord, thou art our father, we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we all are

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the work of thy hand (64:8).

In the New Testament, as well, the theme of Gods sovereignty is illustrated by the potter.
You will say, Then why does God blame a man? For who can resist His will? Who are
you, sir, to answer God back? Can the pot speak to the potter and say, Why did you
make me like this? Surely the potter can do what he likes with the clay. Is he not free to
make out of the same lump two vessels, one to be treasured, and the other for common
use? (Romans 9:1921, NEB)
Gods sovereignty over man is one of the great doctrines of the Bible and its truth can no better
be illustrated than by the example of the potter. As the clay yields itself to the potter, so the
Christian must submit to the authority of God. When clay is first brought in from the field it is
unusable; it is hard and full of impurities. As the clay must be refined, so too must the Christian
be refined before he can be shaped into a useful vessel by the Master Potter. Impurities have to
be removed and tempering agents added; the Christian has to be softened and kneaded. After
the Master Potter has formed and shaped the Christian according to His will and pleasure, he
must then be tried by fire in order to be strengthened for the function God wishes him to
perform.
We must learn to be content with the way the Master Potter has made us and with the task He
has called us to perform. In the final analysis, this is in our own best interest because God knows
each of us better than we know ourselves and His plan for our lives is tailor-made to our
individual needs and abilities. He knows the end from the beginning and can direct our paths
much better than we can ourselves.
Put yourself in the hands of the Master Potter and allow Him to make you into a beautiful vessel
fit for His service.

Egyptian tomb painting showing a pottery workshop in the time of the Eighteenth
Dynasty (late 15th - early 14th century BC). The potter sits at a simple wheel
fashioning a vessel from a conical lump of clay. An assistant turns the wheel and aids
the potter with the clay. Behind the potter are rows of vessels, probably newly formed
and in the process of drying. In the foreground another assistant kneads clay with his
feet, preparing it for the potter. Beside him are two large Jars, probably containing
water to be mixed with the clay. In the background are two baskets containing reddish
material, possibly prepared clay, and a pile of the same material is on the floor. To the
right of the scene a worker seals the top of a kiln, probably in preparation for firing.

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(After N. G. Davies, The Tomb of Kenarnun at Thebes, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1930, Pl.
39.)

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2011/10/4 12:07 #
Mr Wood,
I have been greatly intrigued by your re-dating of Jericho. On the subject of the pottery, I have
heard in rebuttal to your arguments that Middle Bronze pots were all wheel made and light, while
Late Bronze were hand made and heavier - and that all the pots found at Jericho were wheel-made.
Is this a valid argument? I'm sure you have good reasons for your dating of the pottery, so I'd be
interested to know.
Praying for your recovery.

Ben Smith - 2011/10/4 12:07:14

2012/5/11 06:40 #
Dear Ben,
It is not true that Late Bronze Age pottery was hand-made. In all cases, LB pottery was
wheel-made, although of a slightly lower quality than Middle Bronze Age pottery. A minor point of
interest is that one of the most common vessels of the MB period was a flat-bottomed cooking pot,
which was hand-made.
Best regards,

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Bryant Wood

ABR - 2012/5/11 06:40:41

2013/6/10 12:55 #
Many thanks for this very interesting material, particularly enjoyed the Hebrew language references
for clay. I am a religious educator who finds this sort of information very energising. Thanks again.

Georgina Hall - 2013/6/10 12:55:32

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