Clay

Clay was a basic building material in biblical times and clay pottery was widely used.

Clay pottery

Moulded by potters

Jeremiah 18:3–4 See also Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 41:25, Isaiah 45:9

So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. But the vessel that he was shaping from the clay became flawed in his hand; so he formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best for him to do.

Used to make pots

Leviticus 6:28 See also Leviticus 11:33, Leviticus 14:5, Leviticus 14:50, Leviticus 15:12; Lamentations 4:2

The clay pot in which the sin offering is boiled must be broken; if it is boiled in a bronze pot, the pot must be scoured and rinsed with water.

Used to make jars

Jeremiah 19:1–3 See also Numbers 5:17; Jeremiah 32:14; 2 Corinthians 4:7

This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests, and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you, saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring,

Other uses of clay

To make idols

Daniel 2:31–35 See also Daniel 2:41–45

As you, O king, were watching, a great statue appeared. A great and dazzling statue stood before you, and its form was awesome. The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were part iron and part clay. As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

To make moulds

1 Kings 7:46 parallel 2 Chronicles 4:17

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

To make bricks

Nahum 3:14 See also Jeremiah 43:9

Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!

In plastering

Leviticus 14:42

So different stones must be obtained to replace the contaminated ones, as well as additional mortar to replaster the house.

To make furnaces

Psalm 12:6

The words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace, like gold purified sevenfold.

To seal documents

Job 38:14

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

Clay tablets were used for writing on

Ezekiel 4:1

“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.

Clay was a relatively weak material

Job 13:12 See also Job 4:18–19

Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

Clay was a very common material

Job 27:16 See also 2 Timothy 2:20

Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,

God and his people compared to a potter and the clay

Isaiah 64:8 See also Job 10:9, Job 33:6; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:19–21

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.