These two chapters describe two sign acts. Both involve clay pots. In the first a marred pot is a prelude to a call to repentance—a call that is defiantly rejected. In the second sign act, a pot is smashed as a visual message about the coming catastrophe upon the city of Jerusalem. God’s sovereignty is evident throughout. If one includes chapter 20, one can see two symmetrical halves, the second half of each (2 and 4 below) more elaborate and precise than the first:

1. Pottery making/smashing 18:1–10; 19:1–13

2. God shapes disaster 18:11–17; 19:14–15

3. Attack on the prophet 18:18; 20:1–16

4. A response of lament 18:19–23; 20:17–18

The sign act or symbolic action is in the traditional form: (1) an instruction, (2) a report of compliance, and (3) an interpretation. The potter’s equipm…