Texts in Conversation
Sirach and Romans use the image of a potter shaping clay from Isaiah, using it to explain how the divine will orders human life. In both, the potter’s control symbolizes God’s authority to form people for different purposes.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 33:13
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
8 They were distinguished by the Lord’s knowledge, and he varied seasons and feasts. 9 Some of them he exalted and hallowed, and some of them he has made ordinary days. 10 And all men are from the ground. Adam was created from dust. 11 In the abundance of his knowledge the Lord distinguished them, and made their ways different. 12 Some of them he blessed and exalted, and some of them he made holy and brought near to himself. Some of them he cursed and brought low, and overthrew them from their place. 13 As the clay of the potter in his hand, all his ways are according to his good pleasure, so men are in the hand of him who made them, to give to them according to his judgment. 14 Good is the opposite of evil, and life is the opposite of death; so the sinner is the opposite of the godly.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Romans 9:21
New Testament
17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 20 But who indeed are you—a mere human being—to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? 22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction?
Date: 55–58 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Verses 20-21 underscore the statement with a double illustration. This must not be allegorized. It comes from a broad Old Testament tradition (compare Isaiah 29:16; 45:9; 64:7; Jeremiah 18:3-6; Job 10:9; 33:6 and the ensuing Jewish texts ... Sirach 33:7-15). Paul develops the tradition in his own way but seems to borrow from Isaiah 29: 16 in verse 20 and comes very close to Wisdom of Solomon 15:7 in verse 21. The question in verse 20 reminds us of Isaiah 45:9 but is hardly borrowed from there. The Old Testament texts do not have the focus ... which points not to the manner (Zahn) but the result (Kuhl) ..."
Ernst Käsemann, Commentary on Romans, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 269.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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