The Potter's Hand

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This is a compelling idea but the novel never quite does it justice. Though several of the invented characters have the spark of life, their stories are too peremptorily abandoned and too often their dialogue, stuffed to the brim with historical information, is as wooden as the potter's peg-leg. This stiffness is exaggerated by a self-consciously intrusive authorial presence, a novelistic style that is perhaps intended to summon the spirit of 18th-century fiction. As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So are ye in My hand, O house of Israel.

Is this morally edifying? No. Did I learn anything of value about the Wedgwood or Darwin family? Yes, BUT I learned a whole lot, true or otherwise that I didn't want to know. Was it well written? Yes. Is this writer exceptional? Yes. BUT it is one of those books that is best avoided if you would like to preserve your moral integrity. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from theLord:“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. If perhaps the clay dried out and became hard and brittle, the potter can still redeem it. He will break it into multiple pieces and submerge them in water to make it malleable. Then the potter will let the clay dry to the right consistency and start the process again. Strong's 2563: A bubbling up, of water, a wave, of earth, mire, clay, a heap, a chomer, dry measure Israel, can't I deal with you like this potter?" declares the LORD. "Look, Israel, like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.God, as the Master Potter never gives up on us (Jeremiah 18:6). No one is too far gone or too broken that God can’t rescue or heal. If we turn to Him and repent from our sins, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from our sins (1 John 1:9). Next, the potter will dry the vessel and put it in a kiln —a furnace or oven with temperatures ranging between 800-1000 degrees Celsius. The high heat will permanently alter the molecular structure of the clay and will change the vessel from weak and soft to firm and durable. Without the firing process, the vessel will not withstand its intended use, and even the slightest amount of pressure will break it. O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.

On the face of it, this is the story of the Wedgwood family and how their personal history crossed over with the Darwin family. It is important to say on the one hand that Wilson's father was the MD of Wedgwood for a time and it is apparent that Wilson has an extensive knowledge of the Wedgwood family. On the other hand Wilson is keen to point out that this is a work of fiction and while based on fact, he has manipulated time to coincide events that did not actually occur concurrently.

But when the time finally came, I was abysmal. My only achievement in that class was my consistent poor performance. It turned out I was not that kind of creative. Three years ago, a friend invited me to a women’s event at her church. I don’t usually attend women’s events, but since it had a free buffet, I agreed. We arrived a little late, and the keynote speaker was already on stage. As some volunteers quietly ushered us to empty seats at a table, I got a better view of the podium, and what I saw excited me. The speaker was doing pottery! Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) Cannot I do with you as this potter?--The question implies a theory of the universe, which is neither (as some have thought) one of absolute fatalism, crushing man's freedom, nor, on the other hand, one which merges God's sovereignty in man's power of choice. The clay can resist the potter, or can yield itself willingly to his hands to be shaped as he wills. Its being "marred" is through no fault of the potter, but--in the framework of the parable--through the defect of the material, and, in its application, through the resistance of the human agents whom God is fashioning. And when it is so marred one of two courses is open to the potter. He can again re-mould and fashion it to his purpose, to a new work which may be less honourable than that for which it was originally designed; or, if it be hopelessly marred, can break it and cast it away, and with fresh clay mould a fresh vessel. The history of nations and churches and individual men offers many examples of both processes. They frustrate God's gracious purpose by their self-will, but His long-suffering leads them to repentance, and gives them, to speak after the manner of men, yet another chance of being moulded by His hands. Here the prophet invites the people, as the clay, to accept the former alternative. St. Paul, taking the same analogy, looks forward to the time when the marred vessel of Israel shall be restored to the Master's house and be honoured in His service ( Romans 9:21; Romans 11:26). The closing verses of Browning's poem, "Rabbi Ben-Ezra," in Men and Women, may be referred to as embodying the same thought :-- The Bible frequently uses the imagery of God as a potter, and we as the clay to describe His relationship with us. And part of that speaker’s ministry involved sharing the gospel using that imagery. She took us through the various steps in pottery, explained their spiritual significance, and seasoned it with her gut-wrenching but beautiful testimony.

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in My hand, O house of Israel. This means we must surrender to God’s will for our lives and only go where He calls us to go. The clay doesn’t tell the potter what to make; the potter decides what to make of the clay. So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Jeremiah 18:3-4Then there are bizarre episodes like the real life Tom Byerley taking part in Washington’s real life crossing of the Delaware, though there is no historical evidence to support the idea that he was present for this event, nor that he ever had a romantic liaison with a Cherokee woman who equally bizarrely ends up working as a potter in Wedgwood’s factory. Wilson admits in his postscript that the account is heavily fictionalised, especially in respect to Tom's life, but excuses this because his purpose is to pay homage to Wedgwood rather than give an accurate biographical account of his life. For me, this means the book ends up being neither one thing nor the other and is less satisfying as a result. Cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter?' says the LORD. 'Look, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.' I have always had a weird fascination with clay. The idea of using raw material and transforming it into a beautiful piece of art attracts me like a bee to a flower. When I was in primary school (the grades before junior high), I used to watch with envy fine arts students working on their creative projects in the corridors outside the classroom. I looked forward to the day when I will be able to take the class and unleash my creativity. He's not much of a father, either, turning his sons into gentlemen with the result that none of them have any desire or ability to step into the business, and expecting his nephew Tom first to bring him white clay from the Cherokees in America and then run the business without much affection, respect or trust in return. Not that his progeny didn't amount to something a generation on, as in the aforesaid Charles Darwin and many more leading lights of their day.